Pyrmont : Shadows of the past

I'm exhibiting 2 very large tonal drawings of early Pyrmont in a
Group Exhibition
June 13 - July 17 2011 at the Frances Keevil Gallery :
 

 P116A "Looking West from the top of the ANZAC bridge"

1995 - 6 mixed media on paper 141 x 134cm

Available for sale

Exhibition History:

FINALIST : 1996 GRAFTON JACARANDA DRAWING PRIZE

WINNER : 1996 PEOPLE'S CHOICE GRAFTON JACARANDA DRAWING PRIZE
Exhibited 2010 exhibition "Closing the Gap"  Frances Keevil Gallery COLLECTION : MITCHELL LIBRARYThe ultimate bird’s eye view of Sydney – the top of the western pylon of the still unfinished New Glebe Island Bridge provided me with majestic panoramas of Harbour, Bridge & City on the east.

However in 2 large drawings I decided to concentrate on the stark industrial landscapes on the north-west. It was as yet un-named – only after it was operational for at least a year did Bob Carr christen it the ANZAC Bridge.

I was invited up here as a consequence of being the resident artist of the Pyrmont Power Station, when Sydney Electricity were having discussions with the RTA and Baulderstone Hornibrook about lighting the Bridge.

While the bridge was being built, access to the top was by a tiny green lift that lurched unsteadily up one of the legs on the eastern and western side.The lifts seemed to be made mostly of chickenwire and it felt like every time they managed to groan upwards a couple of metres, they would suddenly lurch downwards at least half as much again.

After construction finished, access to the top was a lot more strenuous, although not as gut-wrenching. The legs of the ANZAC Bridge are hollow! To get to the top still needs a touch of courage as well as the ability to climb a steel rung ladder- the last 30 metres are completely vertical.

Now the old White Bay Hotel has been burnt down in mysterious circumstances, and subsequently demolished. The entire Bays precinct stretches from Blackwattle Bay, Glebe in the West, through White Bay and Glebe Island wharf, all the way to Balmain in the east. This huge expanse of former maritime industries faces unprecedented change in the near future, which I am poised to record.

 

 

P117 'Industrial Cathedral' 1998
charcoal on paper 131 x 131 cm
Available for sale
WINNER : 1998 HUNTER'S HILL OPEN ART PRIZE
FINALIST: 1998 BLAKE PRIZE FOR RELIGIOUS ART
FINALIST : 1998 DOBELL PRIZE FOR DRAWING, ART GALLERY OF NSW
EXHIBITED : 1998 - 2000 Blake Prize Touring Exhibition Touring the Regional Galleries of Australia
Drawn at the Cooperage, C.S.R. Refinery, where they made the barrels for the rum at the Distillery.
The Cooperage was a trio of connected saw-tooth warehouses behind the cranes where the ships used to dock.
I remember a giant mound of sugar inside the eastern shed. Some of the workers said (I hope as a joke !?) that they used to go for toboggan rides down it during smoko! Whether or not this was a joke, for many years afterwards I avoided eating sugar if possible - especially brown sugar!
By this time LendLease had demolished all the cranes on the dock and many of the other structures surrounding. The tin roof had gone and the skeletal framework reminded vaguely me of boatbuilding.
This drawing focuses on the mysterious patterns of shadow made by the fall of light. The cavernous space & rows of columns reminded me of the interiors of cathedrals & ruined abbeys. The wall at the back was the famous butter-yellow Pyrmont sandstone, which has been quarried to decorate the best loved historic Sydney buildings such as the Australian Museum, the Sydney Post Office, the University of Sydney. At sunset the sandstone rock face caught the last rays of light & the derelict warehouse was transformed.
In this series I painted many oils on canvas and board, and a few ink wash drawings on paper. The image of this area haunted me for several years, and I decided that I needed to create a drawing on a monumental scale while it was still there.
Now this building is the site of the "Cooperage cafe", servicing the new residents of LendLease's upmarket Jackson's Landing development.
I chose this image as the banner for my blog "Industrial Revelation"

I felt that it was an iconic image, summing up my mission to reveal the sadly neglected beauty of industrial heritage.

For more information see My Pyrmont page in this blog

Related posts
Looking over the overlooked-Urban decay in Pyrmont
To the Point
Wrong side of the tracks - Darling Island Bond and Free

Pretty vacant

A Tale of two hotels - the Terminus and the Point

Pyrmont Paintings past and present
Paintings of Pink pubs - Painting the Jolly Frog Part 2 
Not the Writers Festival- Exhibition of Pyrmont Paintings by Jane Bennett at 2013 Pyrmont Festival
We like sheep - Waite and Bull Building 137 Pyrmont Street
Marine art exhibition at Australian National Maritime Museum
Pyrmont Sandstone - The Lizards of Oz

Eveleigh Windows - (Very) Stained Glass Windows Part 3

Hidden Beauty

E85 Eveleigh Windows 2011 oil on canvas 51x 41cm

Sold : $2,400

Enquiries

The most apparently unpromising place can reveal unexpected moments of beauty. 

I feel sometimes that my paintbrush can act as a magic wand.

 A fleeting shaft of light can magically transform a pile of rubble or a dilapidated roof in a fraction of a second.

Image by Jane Bennett Artist via Flickr

Related posts in this blog

• Eveleigh - (Very) Stained Glass Windows Part 2
• Eveleigh - (Very) Stained Glass Windows Part 1

Eveleigh - (Very) Stained Glass Windows Part 2

Flaws in the Glass

E84 Eveleigh Windows 2011 mixed media on paper 76x 56cm

Available for sale : $4,500

Enquiries

I have painted in the Large Erecting Shop for many years now, and usually I have concentrated on the trains rather than the building itself, as the trains were there for only a short time. 
However the fabric of the building itself is to alter soon, so my focus has shifted.
I completed a lovely little oil on canvas of a nondescript corner of the building, but then I decided to concentrate on the play of light, as so little colour was visible. Then I thought, why not paint a series of works in black and white.
I was reminded of some of my favourite Lloyd Rees paintings, his series of the medieval stained glass windows of Chartres Cathedral.

Painting E78 'Window, Large Erecting Shop' 2011ink pastel acrylic on paper 115 x 75cm

Tools of the trade. Large bottle of black acrylic paint and a small bottle of water spray.
I paint with black and white acrylic paint, alternating with black Indian ink to produce areas of thin wash or impasto.

Painting E78 'Window, Large Erecting Shop' 2011ink pastel acrylic on paper 115 x 75cm

Then alternately tilting the enormous work from side to side to get the effect of the cracks in the glass by spraying the ink with water until it freely drips, then quickly laying it on the floor when I have the effect I want. 

High risk technique - really working without a safety net.

Painting E78 'Window, Large Erecting Shop' 2011ink pastel acrylic on paper 115 x 75cm

Then I take soft white Schminke pastel - so soft that it crumbles into powder- and broadly sweep it down the ares of the most intense light. With the palm of my hand I briskly smear it across highlights on the brickwork, then partially rub it off ink lines where I want cracks in the shattered panes to appear. 
Also a high risk technique, and very messy.

Painting E78 'Window, Large Erecting Shop' 2011ink pastel acrylic on paper 115 x 75cm

This is next to the old signal box where I sometimes keep my easel. 
I have heard a rumour that they will paint the floors white!
I can't believe this!  They will still be using this area for trains - possibly even steam trains! There will be oil, diesel, soot all over the floor by the end of the first day! A white coloured floor will aid visibility only as long as it stays white, which probably won't be for long, whereas fixing the electricity and replacing some of the broken lights will go much further to reducing OH and S problems.
Well I had better make the most of working "wet in wet" with ink and pastel while I'm still able to put my painting on the floor before it all becomes too gentrified.

Painting E78 'Window, Large Erecting Shop' 2011 ink, pastel, acrylic on paper 115 x 75cm

Most people looking at these works thought at first glance that they were actual stained glass windows from  St Mary's cathedral. 
But they are just windows with a lot of stains on them. Stains made by decades of hard work, accident, even a little vandalism.
The light transforms them into visions worthy of Chartres or Sainte Chapelle.
My dealer, Frances Keevil, only half-jokingly suggested that I enter one of these works in the Blake Prize for Religious Art. 

E78 'Window, Large Erecting Shop' 2011 ink pastel acrylic on paper 115 x 75cm

Available for sale : $7,700

Enquiries

' Eveleigh Window 1' 2011 mixed media on paper 131x 115cm.
Available for sale : $11,000

Enquiries: janecooperbennett@gmail.com

The completed drawing.

Related posts in this blog

• Eveleigh - (Very) Stained Glass Windows Part 1 

Eveleigh - (Very) Stained Glass Windows Part 1

One door closes...

Early in 2012 renovations started on some parts of the interior and exterior of the Large Erecting Shop at Eveleigh. New wooden doors made to the original pattern and drawings replaced the corrugated iron doors on all 6 roads.

Wrought Artworks, the blacksmith's forge, in Bay 1/2 south of the ATP  had their massive wooden doors replaced.

Painting E77 'The corner windows, Large Erecting Shop'

2011 ink/acrylic on paper 131 x 115cm.

Available

I painted a series of paintings of the doors and windows of the Large Erecting Shop before their makeover.

Painting E77 'The corner windows, Large Erecting Shop'

2011 ink/acrylic on paper 131 x 115cm

Available

I have mixed feelings - I loved the brooding atmosphere and quirky imperfections caused by decades of soot, industry and vandalism, yet I'm glad that at least a token gesture has been made to respecting and conserving the building's heritage.

Painting E77 'The corner windows, Large Erecting Shop'

2011 ink/acrylic on paper 131 x 115cm.

Available
However, apart from fixing holes in the roof, the improvements seemed to be restricted to the purely cosmetic rather than structural - the power, lighting and water supply, which could well stand some serious improvements, didn't seem to be on the list.

Painting E77 'The corner windows, Large Erecting Shop'

2011 ink/acrylic on paper 131 x 115cm

Available 

The strange skeletal silhouettes against the windows are the relics of old train seats stacked madly against the grill!
Shapes would emerge and sink back into the gloom as railway workers opened and closed the doors.

Painting E77 'The corner windows, Large Erecting Shop'

2011 ink/acrylic on paper 131 x 115cm.

Available 
In the darkness I could barely make out the forms of motley bits of decades of collected junk; a shelf of old batteries sitting on rotting pallets,a couple of seats, a carriage window with panes of smeared and broken glass. This is flanked by a nest of ladders -I thought at first there were snakes behind them, but instead there is a cluster of bits of pipe. Around the base of the ladder to the right lie a stack of old brakes, which at first sight resembled blocks of wood.

Painting E77 'The corner windows, Large Erecting Shop'

2011 ink/acrylic on paper 131 x 115cm.

Available
But most of it is wonderfully incomprehensible and fabulously useless.

E77 'The corner windows, Large Erecting Shop' 2011

ink/acrylic on paper 131 x 115cm.

Available
The finished painting in glorious monochrome.

Related posts

The fire within

The slow return from the fire

ATP Open Day

Eveleigh painting page in my blog

Wrong side of the tracks

Macdonaldtown - A Station without a suburb