Richard Dunlop

Here Comes the Sun: Optimistic Paintings by Richard Dunlop

This inaugural exhibition of new works at Gallery One finds Richard Dunlop returning to a favoured and popular ‘botanical’ body of work which represents a highly original and idiosyncratic take on the Queensland landscape. It follows hot on the heels of a major survey exhibition at Perc Tucker Gallery in North Queensland, and a continuation of a lengthy and successful exhibiting history in this state. It is also a renewed connection with significant nostalgia attached, as Dunlop spent many childhood holidays at his parent’s small fibro shack in Jefferson Lane, Palm Beach.
The colours and imagery of south-east Queensland are depicted in a highly distinctive way by the artist. The ‘botanical’ stream of his output represented by this set of works is possibly the most enduring and popular that he explores in returning waves. The artist also popularly etches the oil paint, adding remarkable detail at times in doing so, and something entirely unique to his practice. The works reveal Dunlop’s continuing interest in Eastern as well as Western conventions of depicting landscape, offering both panoramic vistas and verticalized unfolding. A formidable armory of painterly strategies open up a spacious picture plane of ambiguous depth and subject to multiple perspectives of viewing.