This exhibition endeavours to honour a fifty-year commitment to artmaking by established Hunter artists Francis (Frank) Celtlan and Rae Richards. Both painters commenced their art studies in the same year – 1957 – and have pursued their studio practices primarily in Newcastle, so it is perhaps understandable that certain parallels present themselves. Their immediate environment is more often than not the subject: with vivid interiors alternating with the view onto the world through a door, a window or just outside.
For each of these artists, place and memory are an important part of their art practice. Intense concentration on the subject is paramount. In their artists’ statements, each alludes to the premise that all painting is abstract and the artist’s eye, heart and hand work together in harmony to identify, filter and bring order to everyday things.
Image above: Rae Richards, Persimmons, 1991. Image courtesy the artist and Newcastle Region Art Gallery
Image below: Francis Celtlan, Couple relaxing (sun shading Rainbow Beach) 1982. Image courtesy the artist and Lake Macquarie City Art Gallery
Museum of Art and Culture Lake Macquarie, 1A First Street, Booragul 2284 View in Google Maps
1A First Street , Booragul 2284