The work: Anna Spencer, Tropical North, 2023. Gouache on watercolour paper, 29.7 x 42cm. Courtesy: the artist.
“I often think of myself as an explorer as much as an artist,” says WA-based painter Anna Spencer. “My paintings are snippets of curiosity.”
Working between the Pilbara and Kimberley regions and travelling further afield, the artist spends a significant amount of time roaming across a diverse Australian landscape, with her works allowing her to enhance her personal experiences with nature.
In Tropical North, we see the artist pay great attention to the many textures found in our country’s steamy northern climes. In amongst a tangle of greenery, Spencer has carefully considered the texture of a towering tree, bedecked with ferns and lianas. Using gouache – her preferred medium for its fluidity and depth of hue – she has traced the many layers of peeling bark that the trunk has accrued over countless years.
This focus on the tactile aspects of her journey through the undergrowth is key to her practice, with the artist consistently paying close attention to details that manifest the passing of time. The steep angle of the composition and the proliferation of vegetation makes the viewer feel enveloped by the landscape, as if brought along on the artist’s journey.