Friday, August 15, 2008

Rick Amor at Liverpool Street Gallery


Rick Amor
" Journey", 2007, oil on canvas, 117 x 130cm

Excitedly ripped open the envelope encasing the forthcoming exhibition catalogue at Sydney's Liverpool Street Gallery, why, because, inside I knew was waiting a Rick Amor catalogue for my eyes to devour. It is a big call, but I've seen hundreds of Rick's paintings, I own one, I love his work, but the image #5 "Journey" is a show stopper, it immediately reminded me of Arnold Böcklin's, "The Isle of the Dead" or "L'ile des morts".



I think others have tackled this imagery, the most obvious other person is Australian artist, James Gleeson, our greatest and oldest living practising artist. I'm sure Gustave Moreau painted something of this subject too but I'm just trying to place that and cannot at this point.

Amor's, "Journey", is a beautifully sinister painting and the emotion the work imbues could hold my attention for hours. So if you are in Sydney, the exhibition opens on Wednesday September 3 6-8pm at Liverpool Street Gallery, 243a Liverpool Street, East Sydney.

7 comments:

A Reason to Paint said...

Wow how mesmerizing is that image! There are another couple of "Journey" paintings of Rick Amor's that I like, particularly "Journey III" I hope we see this latest "Journey" come to Melbourne.

A Reason to Paint said...

Dianne, the catalogue has just arrived in my letterbox for Rick Amor's exhibition at Niagara Galleries. It runs from the 2nd September to 4th October so you should be able to catch it while you are over here for Jim's show.

Brett Hayes said...

Hello Dianne,
I went and saw the Rick Amor show last week. It was an interesting show which offered some great imagery. I would have to say that my fav. painting of the show would have to be the one you mentioned. The darks that Amor has used reminds me of the painter - Odd Nerdrum....

Ostreuss said...

Hello,
I'm sorry for my terrble english.
Rick Amor is very interesting for me. He remind me my favorite artist Konstantin Bogaevskij (Bogaevsky?)? who worked 1910-1930 at Krimea.
There was his "Romantic landscape" with colossal ark, as at "Jorney". Moreover, sky with strange, dark and huge clouds.

This Painting Life said...

Thanks for stopping by my blog Ostreuss, your English is very good. I had a look at your work and found it very interesting. It is great to connect with someone in a completely different part of the world.

jeronimus said...

I was at the Art Gallery of NSW today looking around, and came across the Rick Amor painting you've posted. The AGNSW must have bought it recently. The image transfixed me for some time. It reminded me of old master paintings gone dark and mysterious over time. Thanks for posting an image of it. Though a photo can't give the feeling of standing in front of the actual work (which is quite big), it will remind me of those glazed layers of thinned dark oil paint, like a deep mirror you could fall into! Love it!
I'll try to find some images of his seascapes for my blog: http://marineoilpaintings.blogspot.com/

jeronimus said...

PS Do you know where I could find pics of Rick's seascapes on the net?