Monolithic portraits of an unspecified race – females of the species – are truncated by the confines of their canvases. Faces pressed up against the picture plane. They inhabit the thin dimension of their painting’s surface.

Exhibition Dates: 14 July – 6 August 2011

Del Kathryn Barton’s monolithic portraits of an unspecified race — females of the species — are truncated by the confines of their canvases. Faces pressed up against the picture plane. They inhabit the thin dimension of their painting’s surface. This council of visionaries have eyes blinded with liquid colour. They look both inward and outward. They probe their carnal beings but also voyage beyond the outer limits of the mundane realm toward knowledge of a kind more cosmic and more alien. Various media – acrylic, gouache, watercolour and ink – are the glue that binds these two distinct dimensions.

A thin and expressive linearity describes Barton’s figures. Their flesh is a colourless void, silence within the decorative field of static that surrounds them. There are two things we can know about this race: 1) They belong to the mammalian class or are mammalian-like, maternal nurturing evidenced by their breasts – of which there are many; 2) In most cases, hair (another feature of mammals) has mutated into feathers, both the hair on their heads and the finer down one might expect on the rest of their bodies has become a decorative armature. The feathers commence a rhythm of repetitive patterning to develop within the painting. The rhythm becomes increasingly manic in other parts of the canvas where feathers give way to galaxies of minute dots. This intense abstraction is oblivious to the large dames that dominate the canvases on a macro scale but is nonetheless buzzing with an intelligence of its own. The ebb and flow of the ‘satellite fade out’ of the paintings’ backgrounds is broken occasionally by eruptions of a greater volume, wormholes to elsewhere.

Back on the figures, ribbons, woven and tied in bows, bind the decorative realm of the human made to that made by nature. And a veil of painted confetti sits between us here and all that Barton has put there on the canvas as if it wasn’t enough already.

—Amanda Rowell

Hide Exhibition Text

Del Kathryn Barton for the feeling, 2011; acrylic, gouache, watercolour and ink on polyester canvas; 240 x 360 cm; enquire
for the feeling, 2011
acrylic, gouache, watercolour and ink on polyester canvas
240 x 360 cm
Del Kathryn Barton satellite fade-out, 2011; acrylic, gouache, watercolour and ink on polyester canvas; 163 x 143 cm; enquire
satellite fade-out, 2011
acrylic, gouache, watercolour and ink on polyester canvas
163 x 143 cm
Del Kathryn Barton satellite fade-out 2, 2011; acrylic, gouache, watercolour and ink on polyester canvas; 163 x 143 cm; enquire
satellite fade-out 2, 2011
acrylic, gouache, watercolour and ink on polyester canvas
163 x 143 cm
Del Kathryn Barton satellite fade-out 3, 2011; acrylic, gouache, watercolour and ink on polyester canvas; 163 x 143 cm; enquire
satellite fade-out 3, 2011
acrylic, gouache, watercolour and ink on polyester canvas
163 x 143 cm
Del Kathryn Barton satellite fade-out 4, 2011; acrylic, gouache, watercolour and ink on polyester canvas; 163 x 143 cm; enquire
satellite fade-out 4, 2011
acrylic, gouache, watercolour and ink on polyester canvas
163 x 143 cm
Del Kathryn Barton satellite fade-out 5, 2011; acrylic, gouache, watercolour and ink on polyester canvas; 163 x 143 cm; enquire
satellite fade-out 5, 2011
acrylic, gouache, watercolour and ink on polyester canvas
163 x 143 cm
Del Kathryn Barton satellite fade-out 7, 2011; acrylic, gouache, watercolour and ink on polyester canvas; 163 x 143 cm; enquire
satellite fade-out 7, 2011
acrylic, gouache, watercolour and ink on polyester canvas
163 x 143 cm
Del Kathryn Barton from her nest in the holm-oak tree the nightingale heard him, 2011; acrylic, gouache, watercolour and ink on polyester canvas; 173 x 153 cm; enquire
from her nest in the holm-oak tree the nightingale heard him, 2011
acrylic, gouache, watercolour and ink on polyester canvas
173 x 153 cm
Del Kathryn Barton its not a little love song, 2011; acrylic, gouache, watercolour and ink on polyester canvas; 182 x 163 cm; enquire
its not a little love song, 2011
acrylic, gouache, watercolour and ink on polyester canvas
182 x 163 cm
Del Kathryn Barton satellite fade-out 6, 2011; acrylic, gouache, watercolour and ink on polyester canvas; 163 x 143 cm; enquire
satellite fade-out 6, 2011
acrylic, gouache, watercolour and ink on polyester canvas
163 x 143 cm
Del Kathryn Barton satellite fade-out 8, 2011; acrylic, gouache, watercolour and ink on polyester canvas; 163 x 143 cm; enquire
satellite fade-out 8, 2011
acrylic, gouache, watercolour and ink on polyester canvas
163 x 143 cm
Del Kathryn Barton face again, 2011; water colour, gouache and ink on hot pressed paper

; 82 x 62 cm; enquire
face again, 2011
water colour, gouache and ink on hot pressed paper
82 x 62 cm
Del Kathryn Barton full flown, 2011; water colour, gouache and ink on hot pressed paper

; 82 x 62 cm; enquire
full flown, 2011
water colour, gouache and ink on hot pressed paper
82 x 62 cm
Del Kathryn Barton it's streaming out, 2011; water colour, gouache and ink on hot pressed paper
; 82 x 62 cm; enquire
it's streaming out, 2011
water colour, gouache and ink on hot pressed paper
82 x 62 cm
Del Kathryn Barton ladder, 2011; water colour, gouache and ink on hot pressed paper
; 82 x 62 cm; enquire
ladder, 2011
water colour, gouache and ink on hot pressed paper
82 x 62 cm
Del Kathryn Barton for the feeling, 2011; water colour, gouache and ink on hot pressed paper; 82 x 62 cm; enquire
for the feeling, 2011
water colour, gouache and ink on hot pressed paper
82 x 62 cm
Del Kathryn Barton for the feeling 2, 2011; water colour, gouache and ink on hot pressed paper; 82 x 62 cm; enquire
for the feeling 2, 2011
water colour, gouache and ink on hot pressed paper
82 x 62 cm
Del Kathryn Barton all these loving bits are from you, 2011; water colour, gouache and ink on hot pressed paper; 82 x 62 cm; enquire
all these loving bits are from you, 2011
water colour, gouache and ink on hot pressed paper
82 x 62 cm
Del Kathryn Barton let me show you what I am also, 2011; water colour, gouache and ink on hot pressed paper; 82 x 62 cm; enquire
let me show you what I am also, 2011
water colour, gouache and ink on hot pressed paper
82 x 62 cm
Del Kathryn Barton even though relief is within grasp, 2011; ink on hot pressed paper; 62 x 82 cm; enquire
even though relief is within grasp, 2011
ink on hot pressed paper
62 x 82 cm
Del Kathryn Barton feelings of her own, 2011; ink on hot pressed paper; 62 x 82 cm; enquire
feelings of her own, 2011
ink on hot pressed paper
62 x 82 cm
Del Kathryn Barton the ground where you came, 2011; ink on hot pressed paper; 62 x 82 cm; enquire
the ground where you came, 2011
ink on hot pressed paper
62 x 82 cm