quiet of day - bridie gillman

Quiet of day

Hugo Michell Gallery, Adelaide. June 2022.

Quiet of day has been made in response to a feeling. Each work draws from a specific moment where I experienced a sense of letting go, of calm rushing over me, of exhaling out the day and breathing in the sky. This often happens as the sun is setting, and the trees have become silhouettes in the liminal time between the sun and the stars.

The paintings are not a representation of a site, but they are based on seen things – skies, hills, gums. They translate an emotional sense of the place through abstraction, layers of colour and considered brushstrokes.

This process of abstracting what I see has extended into a series of ceramic sculptures that sit alongside the paintings. Distinctive forms taken from different sites – silhouetted rocks and hills – act as the starting points for these objects.

Alongside these works is a soundscape by Reuben Schafer. Reuben was by my side in almost all the memories these paintings are drawn from and has responded to the paintings and the places through various instrumentation and field recordings. To listen to it, scroll to the bottom of this page.

With deep gratitude I acknowledge these works have been made in response to experiences on Turrbal, Yuggera, Bundjalung and Gumbaynggirr Countries.

A poetic response, by Kylie Spear ~

The air moves in swarms here
It eyes the dawn
And sighs out the dusk
Bleeding through the night

Mist clings to the borders
framing the ridges and rises
Haunting the valleys
Humming between canopies
Crawling over the clay and into the sheets

This is where we are alone together
Where our thoughts meet
and stumble into transcendence
Before our toes tangle in the grass
Pulling us back to each other

We flock to the edges
Barefoot and bridled
Wild in the face of order
Tame in the belly of the wilderness

Our breath comes in layers
Collaged pastel hues
Morning light piercing through
Rolling over our flesh
Yawning across the sun

Reaching towards the clouds