Maskface And Rabbit

Tahnee Lonsdale is a painter of vibrant landscape abstractions. Her compositions are constructed through blocks of colour applied directly onto board or canvas, while the surface is reworked as she removes and adds depths and layers of paint and mark making. Tiny illustrations and ambiguous text is overlaid in pencil with animal and robitic motifs that remain almost hidden; here and there odd sayings and internal thoughts are revealed. The overall effect is subtly startling, for Lonsdale creates work that is engaging and dynamic as one follows form and colour constantly shifting from foreground to background.

Her most recent series of paintings ,Impressions of a Wind-Up Bird is drawn from the title of the novel by Murakami. Indeed, there is a strong connection between the series of paintings and the acclaimed Japanese writer through an overwhelming sense of narrative and the creation of an imagined world; a world where the inhabitants are often lost and lonely. Lonsdale’s figures are isolated and solitary – akin to Murakami’s characters – who are alienated even within their own land.

Good artists will always be inspired and draw inspiration from others, and Lonsdale is no exception. Here, her text and graphics remind us of Basquiat, while the patterning of the pictorial plain has references to Paul Klee and an expressive quality to that of Cy Twombly.

Lonsdale is obviously a young talent to watch. She has a clearly defined aesthetic and the ability to produce beautiful pieces that resonate with a sincere internal narrative, perhaps tinged with sadness. “Loneliness and melancholy are ever looming in my work,” she states, “the lost and lone bear looking into the depths of a forest, a single character gazing up in a large paintscape.” These are, of course, allusions to profound metaphysical subjects.

Her paintings are quietly compelling. The palette is bold and the compositions assured. The graphics, text and marks are all details there to capture and subsume the viewer into the work. With Lonsdale, the closer we look, the more we discover.