Neal Palmer is one of New Zealand’s leading botanical painters, known for his large scale paintings of native fauna. His new exhibition: Connections explores our relationship with the montane forests of Aotearoa:
"There is an inner sense of wellbeing that comes from spending time among trees and plants - a measurable physical reaction to these environments. Maybe it’s the cool oxygenated air, light filtering in through the forest canopy, or perhaps the simplicity of walking that quiets the mind. Whatever it is, I feel a connection to the forests of Aotearoa and I enjoy sharing this connection with viewers of my work.
This exhibition is a continuation of work exploring my relationship with the montane forests of Aotearoa, in particular Auckland’s west coast. It’s a place I have felt drawn to since first moving here in my 20s, spending time at Piha and more recently reconnecting through an artist residency in Karekare. It's about the experience of being in those places, spending time thinking about my relationship with them.
Early in my artistic process, I gather reference to work from. I often start with photography and sketching plein air. I love the language of photography - depth of field, light flares, motion blurring, colour saturation and contrast are all aspects of photography I bring to my painting. Sketching feeds into the work through the looseness of quick expressive mark-making. My paintings are about a push and pull relationship between these approaches, building bridges between visual languages.
In the studio the work becomes more focused on the painting process, considering painterly aspects, like the relationships of objective surface and illusionary space, flat areas of colour and textural brush marks, compositional structure and smaller individual forms. I like to emphasise contrasting elements, I think they enhance each other. Much like putting colours together from opposite sides of the colour wheel, they become more striking together than they would be individually. These stages are a kind of editing process, where the works are shaped and refined, building from the experience of walking in the forest to a finished painting.
I have been moving towards creating work that reflects the complexity of those forest environments. In the past, I’ve been inclined toward simplification, often picking out details that interest me formally and working through an almost abstract interpretation.
I’ve explored botanical forms in many ways over the years - more recently I’ve started to look at just how complicated, interwoven and dense these bush-scapes really are.
Taking a step backwards to see a wider frame has changed the aesthetics. Dealing with multiple smaller forms is an interesting visual challenge. Composing images with different visual scales, I’m using the same compositional backbones to connect these paintings with each other, and also with earlier works.
This show is about connecting past and present ideas in order to keep moving forward, and connecting us all to a positive and protective relationship with the green spaces of Aotearoa."
