Inspiration from an amazing Australian C20th Woman Artist
Impressions made and Transcript extracts spoken by the artist!
Can an artist define her
adopted country? I would like to present Rosalie Gascoigne (1917–1999), a
New Zealand / Australian artist, who began a full on art career at the
age of 57 years. Using assemblages of found objects taken from the
landscape surrounding her country home, she clearly has the gift to
connect with the hearts of her audience. I confess that last week I flew
3500 kms across Australia just to feel the intensity of her work. I
could say that I love her perceptive, quirky humour, and that the work
taps directly into the complex timeless poetry the Australian landscape;
but words alone cannot describe the qualities of this remarkable
artist.
Rosalie Gascoigne (1917-1999)
LINKS
(Educational/Reference Material Resources)
http://www.australianbiography.gov.au/subjects/gascoigne/
TRANSCRIPTS/INTERVIEWS
http://www.australianbiography.gov.au/subjects/gascoigne/interview1.html
(from) TAPE 3 (http://www.australianbiography.gov.au/subjects/gascoigne/interview3.html)
Is this associated, this kind of personal freedom, associated in your mind with the Australian landscape...
Yes, it is. It's the width. It's the width and
the rock under your feet and the high sky. And you're on your own a
bit, you see. So you've got to - it's like I always say that an artist
is like someone in the desert - metaphorical desert - and there's
nothing there unless you put it there yourself. See it's all inside you,
what you can put. And that's what art is. You're there in the desert,
you can't draw, you can't paint, you can't do anything. You take the lot
of you. Whatever you can't do, and all you're governed by is by what
you want. You see, you've got to know what you want.
...
Were you doing any arrangements of these that you showed other people?
I didn't ever show anybody. People came in to
look. But they didn't understand mostly, the people that were there, why
you liked something or why you didn't like something. And it takes
decades to get yourself independent of other people's preferences.
Especially if you're vulnerable like that. And I think I was plenty
vulnerable. And it took you some time to sort out. And that's all you've
got, you see. In the end, if you go for other people's appreciation, it
passes and you change anyway. So you have to go for your own, whatever
you like. And that's what makes you different in the end, because
everybody is born different. They conform very quickly, to - for self-defense I think. I think they do.
Other references of interest
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosalie_Gascoigne
Artist Profile
http://www.roslynoxley9.com.au/artists/15/Rosalie_Gascoigne/profile/
http://citygallery.org.nz/rosalie-gascoigne-plain-air/
