The work:Irene Majer, Tall gums twenty-nine, 2022. Mixed medium on stretched canvas with high gloss resin, 152 x 152cm. Courtesy: the artist.
On viewing artist Irene Majer’s Tall gums twenty-nine, we find ourselves alongside the artist, watching a flock of yellow-tailed black cockatoos dart through the bush, their distinctive plumage flashing in the evening light. The twisting trunks and boughs of the trees native to the rugged central Victorian landscape she calls home cut a rhythmic pattern across the canvas, their crowns located just beyond the frame, making them seem almost infinite. “I love to couple a realistic theme with an abstract approach to create visually uplifting works,” says the artist, who is deeply inspired by the manifold colours and patterns found in the Australian landscape. Majer delights in using a vast array of mediums to add texture and movement to her works, using acrylics, oils, pencils and crayons to illuminate natural surfaces, creating an almost trompe l’oeil effect. Here, she has also used a coat of reflective gloss resin on the trunks of the trees, contrasting with the matte scrubland beneath and enhancing the tactile nature of her subjects. Using an abstracted, stylised approach, Majer’s piece precisely captures the beauty and strangeness of the Australian landscape, allowing us to meditate on the rhythms of nature. Majer often shows work at Eagles Nest Fine Art Gallery, Aireys Inlet.