Lyn Carlin
Leak
Rosemary Laing
Tolarno Gallery
Rosemary Laing shot these strikingly clear panoramas with a medium format digital back camera. Photographed in the Monara district near Cooma in N.S.W. with the aid of five builders and one farmer (who owned the property where the construction took place)
Laing’s vision was to place a house frame inverted on a rural hillside to create a social and economic comment via an installation, which she then photographed.
I interpreted these photographs in many ways, but decided I agreed with the artists’ intention after reading her biography and interests. She has a Masters of Fine Art gained at the University of New South Wales; also an extensive background as a practicing and exhibiting artist -both solo and group. George Lambert, an English landscape painter (who painted many Australian bush scenes as well) was an inspiration for Laing. Her use of romantic, soft light provides the soothing backdrop into which her construction piece plants itself. No matter from what angle or climatic condition in the series, the framework is out of place. Another influence on her work was the Australian painter, Hilda Rix Nicholas, who briefly studied under Frederick McCubbin. You see a similar style of soft romantic light here again and in philosophy, a deep shared and religious love of this country, Australia. An obvious environmentalist and political activist, Laing is not impressed with contemporary and regional planning regulations governing urban expansion into the rural districts. The concept is witty and with a stroke of genius.
The ‘ Visual Crash’ she constructed is not bluntly photographed by intensifying and strengthening with harsh light; but rather using soft grey and green palettes; arousing our empathy for the environment -which the monument sits astride. I do hope the installation was deconstructed after the images were taken as a statement of her principals; and not left as another blight on the...