John Wolseley

Tracing The Wallace Line

The exhibition has evolved out of John's long held fascination with the minutiae as well as the larger history and evolution of our continent, particularly the margin where the Australian bio-geographical region meets the Asian region. The exhibition investigates how the landmasses of this area have moved towards each other and dramatically collided in recent geological time along what is known as 'the Wallace Line'.

Exhibition Dates: 6 September – 29 September 2001
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Javan leaf and Tiwi leaf, continental drift, 2001
watercolour on paper
56 x 199 cm

Rain forest canopy, olive backed oriole, 1999-00
watercolour on paper
66 x 271 cm

The territories of birds remembering Gondwana and Laurasia, 2001
watercolour on paper
76 x 263 cm

Green Mountain, leaf, lacewing, 2000
graphite & watercolour on paper
two panels: 56 x 111cm; 56 x 41cm

Bower bird, the space between trees, 1999
graphite of paper
56 x 152 cm

The territories of birds remembering Gondwana and Laurasia (detail), 2001
watercolour on paper
76 x 263 cm

Tracing the Wallace Line; wing leaf and land, 1999
watercolour on paper
136 x 205 cm

Jungle tree, Parkia Javanica, Taman Negara, 2000
watercolour on paper
57 x 152 cm

Lichens and liverworts on a leaf, Mt Kinabalu, 2001
watercolour on paper
57 x 76 cm

Where Tembeling and Tahan rivers meet, 2000
watercolour on paper
57 x 76 cm

River Tembeling drawing, 0
from the series 21.
Ink on paper
57 x 76 cm

Nepenthes Rajah, 2001
from the series 12.
watercolour on paper
76.5 x 57 cm

Tapir, Taman Negara, 2000
from the series 19.
watercolour on paper
23 x 76 cm

A history of ferns with hoopoe and hooded pitohui (detail), 2000
watercolour on paper
46 x 147 cm

Logged jungle Sabah, 2001
graphite on invoice slips
73 x 133 cm

Tracing the Wallace Line; descent of dipterocarp, 1999
watercolour on paper
56 x 190 cm

The architecture of leaves in Java and Malaysia, 2000
from the series 14.
watercolour on paper
75 x 260.5 cm

A history of ferns with hoopoe and hooded pitohui, 2000
watercolour on paper
46 x 147 cm

Pitcher plants, Mt Kinabalu, 2001
from the series 17.
graphite on paper
16 x 75.5 cm

Macaranga drift, 2001
watercolour on paper
76.5 x 114 cm

Elia Brown, Tasmania, 1996-00
watercolour. on paper
39 x 60 cm

Migration to Mongolia- the black-tailed godwit, 2000
watercolour. on paper
56 x 23 cm

Bird of paradise- forest canopy, 2000
watercolour on paper
34 x 20.5 cm

Bird of paradise- vulcanism, 2000
watercolour on paper
35 x 20 cm

Barbet and small National Park, 1999
watercolour on paper
36 x 27 cm

White beefwood with lacewings, 1998
speciman, photocopy, overlays
38 x 29.5 cm

Dipterocarp germination, 1998
watercolour on paper
56.7 x 23.5 cm

Two satin bower birds, 2000
pencil on paper
28 x 31 cm

Leaf Island Indonesian Archipelago, 2001
watercolour and pencil on paper
25 x 30 cm

Black-naped orioles, 1998
watercolour on paper
17.5 x 20 cm

Plate tectonics- Sulawesi, 1998
watercolour on paper
15.7 x 23 cm

Olive-backed oriole with papaya, 1999
watercolour on paper
26 x 33 cm

The Great Tectonic Arc: concerning the collision of the Laurasian and Gondwana Metacontinents and the idea of the Wallace Line, 1995-01
arc in watercolour and pencil drawings on paper, plant specimens
variable

Reliquary Cabinet for a disappearing species Eastern Quoll, 2001
wooden cabinet (made by Linda Fredheim, Furniture Design, Hobart)

Reliquary Cabinet for a disappearing species Alsomitra vine, 2001
wooden cabinet (made by Linda Fredheim, Furniture Design, Hobart)

Herbarium for The end of the Millennium Waratah Proteacae, 1996
cabinet in different Australian woods (made by Linda Fredheim, Furniture Design, Hobart) enclosing drawings, watercolours on paper

Herbarium for the end of the Millennium Myrtyle Beech Nothotagus, 1996
cabinet in different Australian woods (made by Linda Fredheim, Furniture Design, Hobart) enclosing drawings and watercolours on paper

John Wolseley One Hundred and One Insect Life Stories
Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, 2019

Group Show, Marrma dilakmala lurruma gurra nathawu — Two Old Artists Looking for Food
Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, 2015

John Wolseley Heartlands and Headwaters
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 2015

John Wolseley all our relations
18th Biennale of Sydney, 2012

John Wolseley Carboniferous
Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, 2010

John Wolseley Natural Selection: MALLEE/MAQUIS
Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, 2008

Group Show, STOLEN RITUAL
Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, 2006-07

John Wolseley The Wood, The World, and The Parrot
Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, 2006

John Wolseley Bird on a Wire
Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, 2005

Group Show, Dirty Dozen
Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, 2002

John Wolseley Six Months in the National Park
Edmond Barton Room, Sydney Grammar School, Sydney, 2002

Group Show, The First 20 Years
Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, 2002

John Wolseley Tracing The Wallace Line
Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, 2001

Group Show, A constructed world (in collaboration with John Wolsely)
Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, 1997