The Gentle Wild

Michael Reid Southern Highlands is delighted to announce the return of Clare Dubina, whose latest collection, The Gentle Wild, opens this week in the Mezzanine Gallery.

Developed following the artist’s move to regional Victoria, The Gentle Wild signals a change within Dubina’s practice. Removed from the frenetic pace of city life, the wide expanses and stillness of the countryside have begun to filter into the work in small ways. Cooler tones now move through the warm earth palette long associated with her paintings, drawing on what the artist describes as “the colours noticed on walks — feathers, lichen and fading light.”

Clare Dubina’s background in fashion and printmaking remains legible in the assured structure of the work. Her surfaces possess a graphic clarity, yet close looking reveals extraordinary sensitivity of touch: dense passages of oil pastel and ink soften the geometry of the compositions, allowing the paintings to retain a sense of warmth and atmosphere beneath their compositional control.