White Bay, an often overlooked part of Sydney's industrial and maritime heritage will soon be radically overhauled.
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| 'White Bay Power Station' 2012 ink gouache on paper 30 x 21cm FINALIST : 2012 KEDUMBA DRAWING PRIZE |
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I have painted many of its current and former landmarks, including the Unilever site, the White Bay Power Station and the notorious White Bay Hotel, (which was 'mysteriously' burnt down) ever since they were all operational in the late 70s - early 80s.
I have painted many of its current and former landmarks, including the Unilever site, the White Bay Power Station and the notorious White Bay Hotel, (which was 'mysteriously' burnt down) ever since they were all operational in the late 70s - early 80s.
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'Chimneys of the White Bay Power Station 2' 2012 ink gouache on paper 30 x 21cm FINALIST : 2012 KEDUMBA DRAWING PRIZE |
This is a group of 4 small ink wash and gouache drawings on paper, which I have decided to enter in the 2012 Kedumba Invitational Drawing Prize.
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| 'Coal Loader White Bay Power Station' 2012 ink gouache on paper 30 x 21cm FINALIST : 2012 KEDUMBA DRAWING PRIZE |
It seems a strange distortion of scale to create such small works in response to such a slumbering beast as the gigantic Power Station. Usually I paint an enormous canvas to try to capture its heroic proportions.
However there are so many exquisite details which can get lost in a larger composition that I was glad of the opportunity to focus on them. Every inch of this rusting monster is worthy of a painting, so that it is difficult to choose.
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'Coal Loader and Chimney White Bay Power Station'
2012 ink gouache on paper 30 x 21cm FINALIST : 2012 KEDUMBA DRAWING PRIZE
And I will have to choose quickly.
Now
the White Bay Transit Shed has been partially demolished and the site
re-developed as the controversial new Cruise ship terminal.
Glebe
Island wharf, once used for offloading cars, has been eerily empty
since the departure of ex-HMAS Adelaide to its watery grave off North
Avoca in 2011.
A temporary exhibition venue will soon be built on this
space to replace the Darling Harbour complex while it is being
refurbished.
A road will soon be built on the empty site where the "Great Gatsby" had been filmed last year, to link all these new developments to civilization.
 "White Bay Power Station after rain"
2012 oil on canvas 183 x 112cm
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So I feel that the days of the White Bay Power Station as a hulking urban ghost are numbered.
One day the sleeping giant will wake....
To what sort of future?
Update
Chris Johnson of the much loathed Urban Taskforce has described the White Bay Power Station as a 'lazy asset' in a story in the Inner West Courier Skyscraper one of the plans for Glebe Island from Urban Taskforce
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