The title Un-framing is more of a concept than a theme; it challenges the discourse of European picture making and the picturesque as it moves towards a new realm of identification with the Australian landscape. We see artists of the calibre of Ray Crooke and Robert Preston maintaining a lengthy connection to the Australian tropical region whilst others like Donald Friend, John Coburn, Fred Williams, Sydney Nolan and Arthur Streeton are more fleeting. Ross Searle, in his publication Artists in the Tropics (1991), acknowledges that very few artists have had much impact in the development of a wider arts practice in North Queensland. An exception is Anneke Silver who has made a significant contribution, particularly in revisioning the land as something akin to a spiritual cycle. This perceptive Dutch trained artist, who settled in North Queensland in 1961, has emersed herself in the landscape and produced work which is different to that of many male artists.
Un-framing notices the untidy expanses of the Australian landscape, not the quintessential southern landscapes of Heysen, Streeton and McCubbin but a harsh pasty landscape that shimmers in the moist heat. Canyons and gorges are featured, highlighting the beauty obscured by our preconceived notions of the picturesque. Un-framing unlocks the European gaze; Silver’s eye attaches to an unorthodox beauty—the picturesque remains provisional in her studies of flood plains and estuaries revealing a mass of minor channels and tributaries that resemble serpentine tentacles. Her palette is subdued, with pink, umber, and dirty yellows scuffed up to semi-translucence—the scenes are fragile but enduring.
Many of the works are produced in multi-faceted sections. Silver’s European training and familiarity with late medieval altar panels and icons