The work: Tamzen Brewster, Surrounding Silence, 2023. Acrylic on canvas, 61 x 61cm. Courtesy: the artist.
Brewster is a study in the connectivity throughout all in nature and our interpretation of time, purpose and memory when immersed in natural landscapes. The relationship between all in nature and the collaborative outcomes that inform us to the vast complexities within this vital system are of particular interest. This, in the artist’s words, is ‘the Hum’ of nature. In this work, we see a landscape alive with rich colour shown in a transitioning moment of quiet stillness. The light touches on subtle details of lichen on sea rocks, whilst behind the semi-luminous waters of the lagoon smoke billows into the sky as an unseen fire crawls through
the greenery. As a truly multi-disciplinary artist, Brewster endeavors to elevate the concept through whatever medium best suits the development of her idea. Here, acrylic paint is best suited to convey the verdancy of the soil and forest, and the soft waters along the coast. Blues connect sea and sky, whites the mountains and the smoke, each vital to the overall composition and to the passage of nature as a whole. Brewster epitomises this scene with a quote from Ansel Adams: “The whole world, to me, is very much ‘alive’ – all the little growing things, even the rocks.”