clare mcfarlane

the enlightenment project

13 march - 9 april 2009

• press release
• review: pace of life alters vision

Clare McFarlane has been exhibiting with Turner Galleries for several years now, starting in 2002 when we were The Church Gallery.

Each exhibition has been a resounding success with public collections, such as Artbank, the Cruthers Collection and the City of Perth, acquiring her work.

Clare has titled, and themed, her exhibition on The enlightenment project. The Enlightenment, or Age of Enlightenment, is usually cited as a time in which science and reason, as opposed to authority and superstition, were held to be the answer to understanding the world and improving human life in the eighteenth century. This is physically represented in her works with decorative backgrounds, usually the designs of Englishman William Morris, superimposed with highly detailed Australian insects, birds or flora.

Clare states that a “sensitivity to nature, it’s appreciation and reverence is a large influence on my practice, as is a delight in beauty and sadness at its fragility.” “I often paint solitary or broken creatures, searching for the poetry in their form.”

One multi-panelled work is a periodic table of butterflies. The 42 small panels represent different elements in the periodic table and are decorated with butterflies. Clare realised that, like much of science, the periodic table is a creation that is imposed on nature to aid our understanding of it. This is a poetic and lyrical expression of the elements.

Ideas of light and atmospheric colour have also influenced this show. The blinding yellow of the sun, the deepest violet of night, the blue of a brightly lit sky and the orange of a sunset, all appear.

enlightenment project: p.spurius acrylic + silkscreen on canvas 60 x 85cm 2008-09 $2,300	dragonfly project: part I [alpine redspot] acrylic + silkscreen on canvas 26 x 16cm 2009 $475 sold
sirius project: orion [the hunter] acrylic + silkscreen on board 16 x 26cm 2009 $475 sold	dragonfly project: part II [australian emerald] acrylic + silkscreen on board 26 x 16cm 2009 $475 sold
sirius project: canis major [the great dog] acrylic + silkscreen on board 16 x 26cm 2009 $475 sold	enquiring whimsy acrylic + silkscreen on board 89 x 25cm 2008-09 $1,200 sold to janet holmes a court collection
the enlightenment project: corvus acrylic + silkscreen on canvas 45 x 70cm 2008-09 $1,600 sold to edith cowan university	dragonfly project: part III [tau emerald] acrylic + silkscreen on board 26 x 16cm 2009 $475 sold
sirius project: lepus [the hare] acrylic + silkscreen on board 16 x 26cm 2009 $475 sold	evening star: red wattle bird acrylic + silkscreen on canvas 100 x 45cm 2009 $2,100 sold
sirius project: monoceros [the unicorn] acrylic + silkscreen on board 16 x 26cm 2009 $475 sold	the moth project: oxycophina theorina acrylic + silkscreen on board 26 x 16cm 2009 $475 sold
the moth project: meroctena stainonii acrylic + silkscreen on board 26 x 16cm 2009 $475 sold	the moth project: eumelea rosalia acrylic + silkscreen on board 26 x 16cm 2009 $475
morning star: splendid fairy wren acrylic + silkscreen on board 45 x 100cm 2009 $2,100
solus query acrylic + silkscreen on board 18 x 18cm 2008-09 $400 sold	dragonfly project: part V [yellow striped flutterer] acrylic + silkscreen on board 26 x 16cm 2009 $475 sold
curious crusader acrylic + silkscreen on board 58.5 x 22.5cm 2008-09 $800 sold	the moth project: opodiphthera eucalypti acrylic + silkscreen on board 26 x 16cm 2009 $475
caladenia project: part I acrylic + silkscreen on board 16 x 26cm 2009 $475 sold to janet holmes a court collection	dragonfly project: part IV [western red hunter] acrylic + silkscreen on board 26 x 16cm 2009 $475 sold
the enlightenment project: saturnidae acrylic + silkscreen on board 35 x35cm [x4] 2008-09 $2,200
the enlightemment project: papilioninae acrylic + silkscreen on board 35 x 35cm [x4] 2008-09 $2,200
daylight I + II acrylic + silkscreen on board 35 x 35cm [x2] 2008-09 $1,200
twilight I + II acrylic + silkscreen on board 35 x 35cm [x2] 2008-09 $1,200 sold
night I + II acrylic + silkscreen on board 35 x 35cm [x2] 2008-09 $1,200
caladenia project: part II acrylic + silkscreen on board 16 x 26cm 2009 $475 sold to janet holmes a court collection
caladenia project: part III acrylic + silkscreen on board 16 x 26cm 2009 $475 sold to janet holmes a court collection
elements of the periodic table: aluminium series of 45 artworks acrylic on board 10 x 10cm 2008 $165 each sold 21 of 45	elements of the periodic table: arsenic series of 45 artworks acrylic on board 10 x 10cm 2008-09 $165 each sold 21 of 45
elements of the periodic table: boron series of 45 artworks acrylic on board 10 x 10cm 2008 $165 each sold 21 of 45	elements of the periodic table: iron series of 45 artworks acrylic on board 10 x 10cm 2008-09 $165 each sold 21 of 45
elements of the periodic table: lithium series of 45 artworks acrylic on board 10 x 10cm 2008 $165 each sold 21 of 45	elements of the periodic table: nitrogen series of 45 artworks acrylic on board 10 x 10cm 2008 $165 each sold 21 of 45
elements of the periodic table: sodium series of 45 artworks acrylic on board 10 x 10cm 2008 $165 each sold 21 of 45	elements of the periodic table: rhodium series of 45 artworks acrylic on board 10 x 10cm 2008-09 $165 each sold 21 of 45
elements of the periodic table: titanium series of 45 artworks acrylic on board 10 x 10cm 2008-09 $165 each sold 21 of 45	elements of the periodic table: zinc series of 45 artworks acrylic on board 10 x 10cm 2008-09 $165 each sold 21 of 45