

Philip Wolfhagen, Night Watch I, 2020. Oil & beeswax on linen, 120 x 96cm. Courtesy: the artist and Brett Gallery, Hobart.
Bett Gallery presents an exhibition of new works by Philip Wolfhagen.
The artist says: “I find the approaching gloom of night a visually exciting time; the mutability of light, and inevitable loss that brings on an urgency and serves to heighten all of the senses. The fleeting moment when our perception of colour is almost lost, but the darker forms in the landscape take on a precise tonal weight, is an ongoing area of interest.
The Bass Strait coast always surprises me with its comparatively big tidal range and I always take delight in the ebbing tide as it exposes the inter-tidal zone. The reflection of the sky in the wet sand, interrupted here and there by the underlying rock strata and deposits of water worn cobbles, create an abstract field of warm and cool colours.
Whilst founded on observation of the natural world, my paintings are personal meditations on the significance of my relationship with nature and represent an ongoing investigation about what meaning still resides in our relationship with nature.”
The gallery is open and practicing COVID-19 social distancing measures.