David Keeling: Waking on a Sunny Day

David Keeling looks for the dreamlike moments when a strong Tasmanian wind draws the clouds away from the sun, shining a spotlight on the wild terrain below. His focus lies in the interplay between light and shadow, and in these isolated moments that can happen on our island. “I have tried to interrogate that moment when the prosaic becomes the transcendent,” he shares. Waking on a Sunny Day is filled with arresting landscapes, portrayed mostly through oil on linen. They are literal depictions of place, subtly infused with memory.

As Keeling painted the large and smaller-scale works in this exhibition, he also considered existential concepts of mortality and an awareness for the fragility of life. His thoughts strengthen his art with a deeper sense of intensity and optimism in the world he portrays.