Mount Olympus, Lake St Clair, Geoffrey Dyer
Oil on canvas, 122cm x 214cm
Provenance: Mossgreen, Melbourne.
While arguably best known for capturing Tasmania’s unique and distinct landscape, Geoff Dyer is best known for having won the Archibald with his portrait of Tasmanian environmentalist and writer, Richard Flanagan in 2003. The subjects of Dyer’s studies in Tasmania include such iconic places as the Franklin River, the South West World Heritage Area and, most recently, Cradle Mountain and Lake St. Clare. He does though, paint one portrait per year, for entry in the Archibald Prize - generally a fellow Tasmanian (1).
Geoff Dyer describes the inspiration behind his work. ‘Turner, the genius of light, whose paintings dissolve into vapor and shadowy forms and, ultimately, anticipate a new language of art, that of the abstractionists of the 20th century. Turner’s early work challenges the French painter Claude Lorraine at his own game, transferring the Italianate to the grunge and Dickensian sludge, the Thames; the enduring muse. ‘The Temeraire’ being the resultant masterpiece of the mature period. However the last period, from the 1840’s, show the omnivorous richness of Turner’s mind, lush abstractions, with more than a hint of apocalyptic apprehension, paintings that elude contemporaries and critics alike (even his great supporter Ruskin). The West coast, Ocean Beach and the Henty Dunes are, I suppose, my Thames.’ (2)