‘Begonia and Boats’ by Zuza Zochowski

I went along to see this show organised by Damien Minton at Sheffer Gallery in Darlington on Tues night. There I met Virginia and her friend. I also met Simon from Esag later. It was a great show.

I own nine Zochowski paintings having started collecting her works in about 2008, I have six of them in my house including landscapes and cloudscapes. I also have a painting of African violets. In her show ‘Begonia and Boats’ Zochowski explores the unique Australian landscape with its muted, subtle colours and vibrant light. Minton’s introduction made much of the fact that Zochowski, having come to this country when she was small, possesses a particular sensibility trained in Europe but that matured under different conditions.

You can see the masterly command of colour in the above photo. But there’s also something else, a kind of stillness, a waiting, as if at any moment a bord might flash across the sky, a small marsupial might scuttle through the undergrowth, and insect might jump up in the air.

It’s interesting that Zochowski switches from this living arena to still life, where form is a key ingredient. Again the stillness. In these paintings however again it’s colour that features, but this time as a thing in itself, as though the artist is playing with combinations in order to find the most expressive one.