Courtesy: the artist and Studio Gallery, Sydney.

Miranda Russell’s The Girl Who Kisses Mountains is an amalgamation of vision, gut, heart, and mind through gestural abstraction. An intimate expression of place with deep connection to the Grampians/Gariwerd in Western Victoria, Djab Wurrung Country. “I drink the water that falls in the mountains and runs directly through the property untreated. I walk the uneven ground shaped by nature and people, modern and ancient. The smell of eucalyptus from the centuries old trees and young saplings fills my senses each day and I take shelter beneath their huge and spreading boughs and canopies.”

Although elements of the landscape may reveal themselves in Russell’s works, she intends for her paintings to be interpreted openly on an aesthetic level. “I am not painting the landscape. Rather, I am expressing my place within it and my love for it. I am painting the way it makes me feel. A melding of place, time, and intuition,”

The Girl Who Kisses Mountains expresses a raw and honest dialogue of form, colour, and memory that together creates an imagery within which she escapes from reality. “Exploring and experimenting is a large part of my practice. I am always wondering ‘what if’ and enjoy pushing any conventional boundaries.”

“Art for me is a form of escape from the often chaotic world which surrounds us. Void of any political or social message, I am completely absorbed in the moment and free. I paint intuitively, reading the composition as I create it to help inform procedural steps along the way. Often simplistic I enjoy and find great calm in my works despite their sometimes bold and frenzied aesthetic.”

The Girl Who Kisses Mountains is a heartfelt expression of profound connection to the Australian landscape.

Opening Event: Thursday 18 May, 6 – 8pm.

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