Nature Speaks: HJ, 2021
synthetic polymer paint, gouache on 16 canvasboards, nos. 112574–112589
101 x 141.5 cm

Nature Speaks: HJ (2021) is based on a work by the Australian Impressionist painter John Peter Russell titled Amandiers et ruines, Sicile (Almond trees and ruins, Sicily) (1887). Russell’s image depicts a lyrical scene of temple ruins framed by a blossoming almond tree. The textual references in Tillers’ painting are multiple and varied: INFINITE DISTANCE OF THE BLOSSOMING WORLD is from the work of eighteenth-century writer Novalis; TO THEE INVISIBLE GOD is from an inscription at Curlew Camp, Sirius Cove, Sydney. O GOD SUBTLE OF ESSENCES is from the Australian poet Michael Dransfield, who Tillers met in the 1970s; I SMALL TRANSIENT BEING is from contemporary Vietnamese artist Danh Vo; and THE PRESENCE OF THE POETIC I is a quote from former Latvian President and scholar, Vaira Vike-Freiberga. 

installation view; Imants Tillers Nature Speaks: HJ, 2021; synthetic polymer paint, gouache on 16 canvasboards, nos. 112574–112589; 101 x 141.5 cm; enquire
installation view
Imants Tillers Nature Speaks: HJ (detail), 2021; synthetic polymer paint, gouache on 16 canvasboards, nos. 112574–112589; 101 x 141.5 cm; enquire
(detail)
Imants Tillers Nature Speaks: HJ (detail), 2021; synthetic polymer paint, gouache on 16 canvasboards, nos. 112574–112589; 101 x 141.5 cm; enquire
(detail)
Imants Tillers Nature Speaks: HJ (detail), 2021; synthetic polymer paint, gouache on 16 canvasboards, nos. 112574–112589; 101 x 141.5 cm; enquire
(detail)
Imants Tillers Nature Speaks: HJ (detail), 2021; synthetic polymer paint, gouache on 16 canvasboards, nos. 112574–112589; 101 x 141.5 cm; enquire
(detail)