JANE GUTHLEBEN

Jane Guthleben continues her reinterpretations of the delicate floral masterpieces of Dutch Golden Age painting by amping up the colour and light in response to the Australian environment and emphasising the texture and diversity of Indigenous flora in brushy impasto.

Several paintings in this series explore 1770 flora which were some of the plant specimens collected by Joseph Banks in Botany Bay/Kamay in 1770 (there were over 130 specimens collected). The appearance of these plants has been a recurring theme in Guthleben’s recent exhibitions, thinking about what we have lost and how the environment has changed in the 250 years since the flora were originally collected.