2018-04-29
Vivienne Glance
This exhibition of Jo Darvalls paintings is being held during 6th April to 27th May at Gallery 1, Mundaring Arts Centre, 7190 Great Eastern Highway WA 6073 and Number One Pump Station, Mundaring Weir (more information at: http://www.mundaringartscentre.com.au/).
Every picture tells a story, so the saying goes. And with Jo Darvalls paintings that story is a continuation of her fascination with women artists. For this exhibition, she has taken inspiration from the life and works of Kathleen OConnor, who lived in Western Australia at the turn of the 20th century, before working in Paris and London, and her father, the engineer, C.Y. OConnor. The latter is best known for building Fremantle Port and the 530 km pipeline completed in 1903, which still brings fresh water from Mundaring to Coolgardie and Kalgoorlie today.
The layers of meaning evoked by this exhibition are many. Darvall herself works from the Pakenham Street Arts Studios (PSAS) in Fremantle, and by exhibiting in Mundaring she connects C.Y. OConnors life, work and death to her practice. This is further emphasised by two large-scale works on display inside the Number One Pump Station beside the weir itself.
Darvalls exhibition 'Like Water' is also an exploration of water and what it means to us in WA. She uses both watercolours, sometimes on silk, and oils to create both landscapes and still-life works with colourful brushstrokes that float on the surface and reflect an intangible shimmer like a body of water. The two large paintings (168 x 325 cm) forming the diptych, Mundaring, dominate the gallery and pull the viewer into a contemplation of the contrast between the deep blue of the dam water and the brittle ochre and grey-green of the landscape above.
Other works pay homage to Kathleen OConnors still life paintings which were exhibited in London, Paris, Sydney and Perth, and are now held by many major collections, including the Art Gallery of WA.
This OConnor was a woman who defined her life in her own way, despite the social norms of her day. In a comment on the new Western Australian Art Gallery in 1910, she closed with this quotation: 'Art is not the exclusive toy of a few prigs or the password of a cult. Art is universal, eternal, not parochial'.
This small but engaging exhibition is accessible and enjoyable. It interprets the lives and stories of the two OConnors with a contemporary understanding of water. As it says in the publicity, “Like Water is a tribute to these visionaries and the beautiful waterways – oceans, rivers, lakes…”.
Header photo: 'Water Ways by Jo Darvall. Viv Glance
First text photo: Art works at Mundaring Weir Number One Pump Station. Jo Darvall
Second text photo: Viewing 'Mundaring' by Jo Darvall. Viv Glance