At Home With Your Collection

Two large works by artists both represented by Charles Nodrum Gallery dominate the living space. On the left is Cyclasm by Donald Laycock from 1956.

“I bought this work at auction, from Mirka Mora’s estate sale. Don Laycock was one of the first artists that struck me when I first started in the art business back in 1971. The work is from a different period and fits into my historical interest in post war abstraction.”

On the right is James Gleeson’s Near the Beginning.

“Few artists engender the same passion and animosity as James Gleeson; it’s repeatedly a case of love or loathe. My family were cautious about this painting when it first came home; it’s now a firm favourite. All proceeds of sales of works from his Estate go towards new acquisitions for the Art Gallery of New South Wales.”

Clockwise from top:

An untitled work by Trevor Vickers (represented by Charles Nodrum Gallery).

“Quiet, balanced, symmetrical. If I’m feeling frazzled, this painting settles me. One of Australia’s most committed minimal geometric painters, Trevor lives and works in Perth, WA.”

George Johnson’s 1983 Study is the perfect companion piece to the Vickers work. Johnson is also represented by Charles Nodrum Gallery.

“Loud and chaotic – so just the opposite to the Vickers. All the shapes are almost hyperactively animated. Reminiscent of a house of cards, they could all collapse in a second, yet the artist (now in his 94^th year) somehow manages to engender a sense of precarious stability.”

A work by Rosalind Dixon Napangardi was purchased at auction.

“My interest in Western Optical Art leads me inexorably to this shared practice in Aboriginal Art.”

Finally, two 1970s steel works, by Clive Murray-White and Ron Robertson-Swann respectively, both represented by Charles Nodrum Gallery.

“A thick solid heavy lump of raw brown steel. Quite the opposite to its neighbour (Swann, Vault): a ‘see through’ work given a lightness via its upbeat yellow colour.”