A journey into the distorted dream-like memories of Irish-expat Ben Crawford beckons at Boom Gallery next month.
Now living in Queensland, Crawford painted the new exhibition’s namesake piece, Eighty Eight Miles Per Hour, based on a childhood memory in the Irish wilderness.
“When I was a little boy in Ireland, I went to a forest with my older brother and some of his friends.
“A discarded jerry can had been discovered with a little petrol left inside. Somebody thought to recreate the fire trails made by the DeLorean in the Back to the Future movies.
“The last drops of petrol were poured out in two lines and matches were thrown.
“In my mind, the whole event is so vivid and yet hazy at the same time – almost dream-like. As an image, I thought it would make a great painting.”
Crawford began to consider the narrative possibilities of revisiting memories and capturing that dream-like quality in paint.
“The act of painting could almost be a device to transport myself and others to those places and events,” he said.
Some of Crawford’s nostalgic paintings are tinged with regret while others convey contentment and joy.
“Which I suppose, if it were possible to time travel, would be the reasons you would revisit your past,” he said.
The figurative artist paints mostly about his life, exploring the storytelling possibilities of distorted memories and dreams.
Surreal elements transform his landscapes into somewhat mystical realms, bursting with colour and charged with mystery.
Figures, architecture and landmarks drawn from Crawfords’ life imbue his paintings with a sense of narrative, anchoring his work tentatively to reality.
Crawford’s exhibition will be accompanied by Tiel Seivl-Keevers’ Burnt Out, which she described as a “response to the destruction of fires and rejuvenation of our land”.
“During the bushfires of 2019-2020, I was in Europe and watched the devastation from afar,” she said.
“It made me realise how tiny a planet earth is, and how its fragility can impact so many lives.
“Although the headlines disappeared quickly, the damage the fires caused still remains.”
In her work Seivl-Keevers hoped to explore the devastation and beauty upon the earth’s surface and how nature can bring sorrow and joy.
“Through these works I wanted to express death and rejuvenation through colour and mark-making, such as carving into the wood and burning paper,” she said.
“As a society we expect there will be more fires that will destroy the lives of people and animals, even species.
“Yet we are unwilling to truly change our minds, land-management policies and methods in order to protect and nurture the ecosystem.”
She hoped to bring these problems to forefront of her viewers’ minds.
“I paint the landscape in order to escape the realities of life; except the landscape has become the reality,” she said.
