Deans Marsh artist Rohan Robinson had his first Littoralism show in 1988. Littoralism015, “Littoral, the coastal fringe with “ism” is the ninth instalment. The previous Littoralism forays have been land based, with only a bit of aerial work on the odd occasion. For this exhibition Rohan teamed up with Jeff Sweeney and his jet ski, and Steve English with his yacht “Granuaille” a 50 footer with teak hull, mahogany interior, built in 1905 in Dublin and flying under the aboriginal flag. This new body of work interprets the Australian coastline from the water and draws inspiration from Ian Parry’s paintings focusing through the small windows of a wheelhouse or images of immigrants in boats rounding Cape Otway and sighting land for the first time in months. On his journeys painting and taking in our vast shoreline Rohan discovered that wooden boats really do leak a lot. “It’s whilst on watch in the middle of a moonless night, when your eyes are peeled soaking up the available light, seriously peeled, Eyes constantly “listening”, the reverberating smash of a humpback in the glassy dawn, looking for those red and green lights, when in the shipping lanes, “how far away are they?”, creates some action moments. It’s black inky, the stars are on high-vis, the slap of a rogue chunk of swell on the hull keeps you alert, senses working over/time passes quickly even when you are alone. for full listing of Rohan’s work look here 8 – 31 October / opening Friday 9 Oct 5:30 – 8pm
