Industrial Cathedral

Industrial Cathedral
"Industrial Cathedral" charcoal on paper 131 x 131 cm Jane Bennett. Finalist in 1998 Dobell Drawing Prize Art Gallery of NSW Finalist 1998 Blake Prize Winner 1998 Hunter's Hill Open Art Prize

About Me

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Sydney, NSW, Australia
I'm an Industrial Heritage Artist who paints "en plein air".If it's damaged, derelict, doomed and about to disappear, I'll be there to paint it.

Thursday 28 May 2015

Palimpsest- Painting the abandoned Dunlop-Slazenger Factory

A palimpsest is a manuscript or piece of writing material on which later writing has been superimposed on effaced earlier writing.
The word is also used for something worked upon for one purpose and later reused or altered but still bearing visible traces of its earlier form.
I've recently been painting both inside and outside the abandoned Dunlop-Slazenger factory in Alexandria.
It has been abandoned for about 25 years, and has innumerable layers of graffiti ranging from the sublimely talented to the ridiculously inept.
Plein air oil painting in the abandoned Dunlop-Slazenger factory by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
Painting "Yellow Eye" oil on canvas 75 x 100cm
in the abandoned Dunlop-Slazenger factory





















 
The walls of the abandoned Dunlop-Slazenger Factory are a palimpsest - a fascinating mix of both creation and destruction.
Plein air oil painting in the abandoned Dunlop-Slazenger factory by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
Painting "Yellow Eye" oil on canvas 75 x 100cm
in the abandoned
Dunlop-Slazenger factory
29-04-15 Starting my first canvas of the Dunlop-Slazenger factory. I don't know what the image is of or what it's called, so I've christened it "Yellow Eye".

Plein air oil painting in the abandoned Dunlop-Slazenger factory by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
Painting "Yellow Eye" oil on canvas 75 x 100cm
in the abandoned
Dunlop-Slazenger factory















 

It's an insight into the way different generations alter the landscape of their ancestors.
Plein air oil painting in the abandoned Dunlop-Slazenger factory by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
Painting "Yellow Eye" oil on canvas 75 x 100cm
in the abandoned Dunlop-Slazenger factory






















 The factory is full of ghosts.
Plein air oil painting in the abandoned Dunlop-Slazenger factory by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
Painting "Yellow Eye" oil on canvas 75 x 100cm
in the abandoned Dunlop-Slazenger factory






















On the second day of painting this canvas, I changed the composition to include the bizarre cartoon characters on the upper walls.
There is a grotesque creature which is part baboon part wildebeast and part crocodile with wriggling worm-like hair, and two characters resembling demonic smurfs.
The glass has also been tagged, and the rays of the setting sun make it light up like the stained glass of Chartres cathedral.
Plein air oil painting in the abandoned Dunlop-Slazenger factory by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
Painting "Yellow Eye" oil on canvas 75 x 100cm
in the abandoned
Dunlop-Slazenger factory












 
 
The building is now being sand-blasted back to the original brick and will be redeveloped for apartments.
Plein air oil painting in the abandoned Dunlop-Slazenger factory by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
Painting "Yellow Eye" oil on canvas 75 x 100cm
in the abandoned
Dunlop-Slazenger factory












 
 
Such is progress, alas.
Plein air oil painting in the abandoned Dunlop-Slazenger factory by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
Painting "Yellow Eye" oil on canvas 75 x 100cm
in the abandoned
Dunlop-Slazenger factory












 
 
My extremely fashionable painting outfit. Lady Gaga will be copying this soon!
Plein air oil painting in the abandoned Dunlop-Slazenger factory by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
Painting "Yellow Eye" oil on canvas 75 x 100cm
in the abandoned
Dunlop-Slazenger factory












 
 
Painting in PPE (Personal protective equipment)
Plein air oil painting in the abandoned Dunlop-Slazenger factory by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
DS3 'Greeblies' -
Abandoned Dunlop-Slazenger factory'
2015 oil on canvas 122 x 122cm
 






















 
 
Related posts

Illuminated manuscripts and stained glass windows- Painting the Dunlop - Slazenger factory Part 2