Paintings From The Island: Tasmanian artist Melissa Egan

Art and Design

28 Mar

By Art & Design Sub-Editor Elliott Nimmo

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Tasmania has always been in Melissa Egan’s paintings, though it’s only since she returned to Perth in the state’s north in the last seven years, that she has consciously referenced the place of her childhood. Returning to one’s place of origin can stir up a spectrum of emotions - not least for an artist - but, for Melissa, it has been a welcome change. Her oldest friends are a stone’s throw away, and new ones not much further. Most importantly, her studio is set up in an old garrison, from which the paintings for her solo show, Paintings from the Island, are about to be released into the world.

Across densely painted tableaux, Melissa cajoles a cast of well-dressed, anthropomorphised animals into scenes of charming excess. Her work dances on the shoulders of George Stubbs and the Australian Moderns, with complex social scenes playing out across the theatre of the Tasmanian landscape.

*Autumn Stroll At The Great Lakes,* Melissa Egan

Over a storied career CV that includes the Archibald and Sulman Prizes, Melissa has painted nearly every kind of subject in every combination, and yet - three decades on - her point of view remains fresh. This she attributes to never knowing how a painting will turn out: most paintings begin abstractly, with sweeping, scumbling paintwork evoking mood rather than form.

Her latest paintings invite the viewer to embark on an adventure across lutruwita/Tasmania. There’s a gaggle of Gatsby-ish animals enjoying a game of tennis, a lone bride and her sheep, rowboat island races, and domestic scenes with ostensibly rabbit-headed protagonists.

Island Race; Breakfast In Bed; Warm Up For Finals, Hopper Cup; Wedding at Woolmer’s Estate, Melissa Egan

Melissa’s are the kind of paintings whose elegance allows the viewer to simply accept them immediately. For example, in Satellite Island, one doesn’t wonder how the oil-slick ribbons of ocean and puffy scumbling of cloud above could possibly come from the same brush. In other works, the choreography and composition of tennis players, or the exquisite but brief rendering of each element of food, almost ready to eat, are accepted without question. This skill, of course, comes with Melissa’s lifetime of devotion to her medium, and an ever curious mind into the possibility of paint. Ultimately, these paintings offer the viewer humour and delight, and a sense of beauty - a most welcome reprieve for our times.