Tallulah Nunez is a mid-career artist who creates multi-layered abstract paintings, assemblages and most recently drawings of intimate imaginary spaces. She has been a finalist in the prestigious Parkin Drawing Award, the Miles Art Award, the Tasman Art Award and the Cleveland Art Award.
Beauty - I would describe my working style as expressionist maximalism/surrealism. I create work that is extravagantly detailed, inclusive, eclectic and often unashamedly beautiful.
Time - The first thing I’m often asked about the paintings is “How long do they take to do”?
This awareness of time taken points to the depth of multiple layers in the work. Time defines the value of the work, its relevance and its appreciation. The time spent making art is also important for me as the maker. The longer the work takes to create and the more energy I put into the process the more the work reflects its value back to me.
I need to create intently, slowly and methodically. But also randomly, unplanned and irrationally. It’s as though several parts of me take turns creating, each part taking control when needed. To be loose and free, rigid and meticulous, considered and analysing or playful and experimental.
Mark-making - I’m interested in movement and rhythm. I want to create works that vibrate. I set about doing this
by juxtaposing unlikely colours, and the repetitive use of patterns and marks. I embrace the pleasure of process
for its own sake, inviting the viewer to engage with the mark-making and to follow the myriad paths into the work to discover their own interpretation of how and what they see.
The sun as muse - I have been concentrating on the Sun and the Moon as subjects, often populating the surface with numerous phases of each. These geometric circles and half circles often buried deeply within the painting become the only structurally solid images in the swirling cacophony of dots, dashes and biomorphic shapes that sweep around them, much like our solar system. The sun is my muse, (a constant and reliable source of energy and life) she is the light that gives us colour and I cannot resist the urge to paint her in all her guises.
Check out Tallulah's previous exhibition Mar 25 2023 here
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