Upland and Furrow

Wendy Kawabata’s latest series of paintings Upland and Furrow are accumulations of geometric shapes that form improvised grids. The works demonstrate a delicate geometry that relates to quilt design, a craft the artist has explored alongside her painting. Quilt-making has the peculiarity of being both prescriptive and flexible, which is reflected in the way these paintings are largely unstructured, yet point to an underlying grid composition. Kawabata’s affinity with handicraft has been an enduring aspect of her practice, as she regularly channels traditionally domestic techniques into fine art applications.

While the works are inherently pattern-based, Kawabata indicates the landscape through the show’s title. Upland is an area of high or hilly land and a furrow is a rut or groove in a trail. This is evident in the way the paintings are address depth / flatness of the picture plane.

Kawabata’s studio inquiry considers painting’s own history and potential for both developmental process and timelessness, to guide her studio inquiry. Through the works the artist is asking: “How does surface speak to space, centre to edge? How does the scale of a painting affect the viewer’s sense of nearness and intimacy?”