"Townsville". "Isn't that North of Brisbane?". Yes, Townsville is North of Brisbane, but at least 1300 kms. It is also South of Cape York, East of Mt. Isa and the same latitude as Suva. The above reflects the relative position Townsville artists take with regard to artistic stances and theories. Art production may be informed by quite diverse sources, from contemporary "mainstream" practices to historical and cross-cultural elements. Artists rethink these in terms of their own position and generate new points of view.
Because it would be inappropriate, within the - scope of one article, to discuss all art in Townsville, this letter focuses on three artists who are also involved, full-time, with the Diploma of Fine Art course at Townsville TAFE. Because of their position at the inception of students' artistic careers they contribute in a basic and vital way to the expanding art community.
Robert Preston practises what he refers to as an "emotional cargo cult", gathering in his work all the things that give him joy, bring back connotations and experiences of pleasure, which include his love for small paintings, illuminated manuscripts, rockpaintings, ethnic arts and objects of a shamanic nature. Images are appropriated from these areas creating works that recall pleasurable experiences from an early age, memories of discovering exotic objects in a museum or gallery, but also from the recent past, such as trips to Mexico or Cape York. He works both large (drawings). and very small (paintings). In a recent series of drawings, the production of meaning through image-making was explored by appropriating emblematic Cycladic discs, their original meaning lost in the folds of history, re-presenting them as large powerfully drawn objects. In his
Anneke Silver, Proposal for a Landscape Icon, 1987. Photograph: Chris Somers
