Graham Mackie - Ceramic Break Sculpture Park, Warialda

Mackie is adaptable working in paint as well as photography. I liked his rodeo shots which are distorted to emphasise the movement of the animals and the rider (see below).

His paintings are colourful but figurative, I mean the colours are half realistic and half not. As if the saturation knob had been turned right up to max (see below).

So a unique and talented artist who is not conforming to metropolitan ideals of how to represent, how to use colour, and how to depict the world. His landscapes are almost surreal in their contemporary feel, though they conform to old styles buried in the country's past. When I see his work I think of course of Albert Namatjira, but also of European models. Even if these models are rooted in Europe Mackie's works remain cemeted in the Australian landscape.