E3 art space: 13 - 27 October 2008

 
Donna Hartwig, Whirlpool

The living experience of land and seascape is displayed in Over the Edge, a new exhibition of works by Wagga Wagga artist Donna Hartwig which opens in the E3 art space at Wagga Wagga Art Gallery on Saturday, 18 October.

Donna Hartwig's primary subject of work is landscape, and for this series of paintings Donna has focused her attention on water in its variety of forms. She has always had a fascination with water, in its constantly changing state and the effects it has on both land and people. Her paintings can be read from many levels, macro and micro. Looking at these works, we could be at the mysterious depths of the ocean floor, looking up through the sunlight water, or kilometres high, looking down onto our vast Australian landscape.

Water is transparent and colourless in its base state, but viewed from a distance it takes on colour, texture and a 3D quality. Water can transform from an inanimate phase to that of a living entity, and in these works Donna seeks to capture this effervescent state. And water as our link with the earth, containing the micro organisms that can enhance or degrade our life. Through her constant manipulation, playing with media, the extraction and perforations of surfaces, Donna ultimately evokes a sense of place, structure and form.