Keith Cowlam

I arrived in Australia in 1977, the Qantas plane door opened. I was hooked with the cerulean sky and the crackling heat. The intense light gave everything a new clarity, these observations I wanted to paint.

My first paintings were suburban studies; people at bus stops, gardeners watering their lawns and bowlers, at play, on the bowling greens. I wanted to express the apparent quiet and safety of Australian suburbs.

In my travels of Australia I was drawn to landscapes that have been touched by human intervention. The farm buildings, the sheds and their yards, all inspire me to create work that is Australian. The trees around these properties are often non indigenous which refer to our European roots. This holds a certain fascination for me because it is all part of conquering and controlling the environment.

The way I do this is to use a realistic style that expresses a high degree of clarity and detail. I use strong and high contrasting colours that exaggerate the effect of light and emphasis the form.