Here and Where; A Matter of Time, 2022, acrylic, oil pastel, graphite, 1525 x 1225mm
Photo Credit
Over some 30 years of exhibiting, Wes Fieldhouse has presented everything from photorealism and romantic landscapes through to highly provisional abstraction. True to form, this exhibition marks another stylistic shift. This absence of a signature style is not, however, a result of a lack of critical focus. It is a conscious decision to reject the traditional demand for aesthetic consistency.
Consistency in Fieldhouse’s practice is process, which remains sovereign. It is the impetus and the central focus. His is a process of addition, subtraction, making, unmaking, marking and erasure, a process in which an image is ‘discovered’ rather than produced with prior intent.
In this body of work, Fieldhouse displays a deep awareness of contemporary concerns: climate change, rising sea levels, the dislocation of forced migration, the passing of time, and how that passing will affect the next generation. These aren’t paintings about nothing; they have stories, recurrent themes and imagery. We live in a world where time has become precious, images of time’s passing are everywhere, both within these paintings, and in our lives.
Wes Fieldhouse has an MA (Honours) from AUT School of Art and Design, where he has also held academic Leadership and Lecturers roles in Studio Practice and in Theory, History and Philosophy in visual practices. He held his first solo exhibition with Orexart in 1991.
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- Ponsonby
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Over some 30 years of exhibiting, Wes Fieldhouse has presented everything from photorealism and romantic landscapes through to highly provisional abstraction. True to form, this exhibition marks another stylistic shift. This absence of a signature style is not, however, a result of a lack of critical focus. It is a conscious decision to reject the traditional demand for aesthetic consistency.
Consistency in Fieldhouse’s practice is process, which remains sovereign. It is the impetus and the central focus. His is a process of addition, subtraction, making, unmaking, marking and erasure, a process in which an image is ‘discovered’ rather than produced with prior intent.
In this body of work, Fieldhouse displays a deep awareness of contemporary concerns: climate change, rising sea levels, the dislocation of forced migration, the passing of time, and how that passing will affect the next generation. These aren’t paintings about nothing; they have stories, recurrent themes and imagery. We live in a world where time has become precious, images of time’s passing are everywhere, both within these paintings, and in our lives.
Wes Fieldhouse has an MA (Honours) from AUT School of Art and Design, where he has also held academic Leadership and Lecturers roles in Studio Practice and in Theory, History and Philosophy in visual practices. He held his first solo exhibition with Orexart in 1991.
