by Cressida Fox
Contemporary Art Society of Victoria Inc.
Vi Owler
Fitzroy Library Exhibition Space
15 October - 16 December 2005
Located at the historic Fitzroy Town Hall
128 Moor Street, Fitzroy, Melbourne
 Sad Farewell by Vi Owler
(mixed-media on canvas, 46 x 61cms)
Review - Vi Owler

Vi Owler's 14 abstract mixed media paintings express a love of colour and the act of painting itself. Of her work, rather than starting with a title or image in mind, she says she likes to begin with an empty mind, starting with colour then building up the work to obtain balance, rhythm, design and harmony; each work is a complete new thing, an experiment. Summer began at a time when Vi wanted to use orange - a colour she'd always been attracted to but didn't use much at the time. As the work progressed it became, to her, like Summer, in rich and lively reds, yellows, orange and white. In Sad Farewell, in which she also wanted to use orange, she wished to paint something to say farewell to her son who had died. Afterwards, she felt it had done her good and given closure. In this very sad and moving work are the minimalist figures of mother reaching to son, painted in black outlines against the warm background of oranges and white scumbling with fine black intersecting lines, perhaps crosses.

Most of Vi's works are built up in layers of flat colours and forms, lines, dots, brushstrokes - textural in appearance. In Problem, the figures are drawn in charcoal lines over paint. The two figures are looking down at something that lies between them, with an abstracted and not immediately obvious question mark. I thought at first that she must have been tackling some technical problem or challenge, but no - interestingly, the problem is theirs, not hers.

In the 1980's, Vi's travels with her husband around Australia in a campervan sparked a number of works which were influenced by Australian outback towns and landscapes. The rich ochres and reds in Near Alice Springs are interspersed with the greys of desert foliage and flashes of blue sky, revelling in the colours of the desert. Shades of Broome shows the town's unique colours and forms which most inspired her - red and white sharp roofed shops, rusty orange beach cliffs, hints of boats and masts, and the stunning blues of sky and water.

Her wide range of subjects takes in the external and internal worlds - emotions, people and places, landscapes. She also has a strong feeling for the sea and sea creatures; many works include fish, coral, sand and sea. In Sea Play 1 and 2 are flat rounded areas of colour - ochres, orange and yellow with blue and green, splattered with pale blue and dark green. I wondered if this is the play of water on sand and rocks, creating shapes and shallows. Of Reef, she says: "This painting happened just playing all over the canvas with colour, then blending colors until I achieved the reef." As with the other works on show, it has been very carefully and skilfully worked up into a well balanced and pleasing piece. I enjoyed looking at the works, and learning about how and why they came to be.

- Cressida Fox

(Extracted from the Contemporary Art Society Newsletter November - December 2005)

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page updated 15 Nov 2005