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When has the natural landscape not been rendered, idealised, romanticised? From the ancient rock art of Arnhem Land to Cezanne's beloved Mont Saint-Victoire, nature's backdrop has been the prime subject of art's search for sublimity, symbolism and subjectivity. Its beauty has never been in doubt, but as the developing world lurches into a new century, as oceans rise or become coated in sludge, its existence has never seemed more precarious. And so we begin this Spring 2010 issue of Art &Australia with a note of some urgency. In a timely collaboration with Sydney's Museum of Contemporary Art on the occasion of their survey exhibition 'In the Balance: Art for a Changing World', we give over our Forum section and cover story to artists who sound the environmental alarm. Elsewhere in this issue the reader is reminded (in the words of Ian Burn) that 'landscape is not something you look at but something you look through'. Thus, looking through this issue we see Gulumbu Yunupingu's night-time landscapes dematerialise into a shimmering tableau of Yolngu cosmology. With the gossamer cloudscapes of Niuean-New Zealand artist John Pule, we witness Pacific poetry in vaporous motion, while Taiwanese artist Charwei Tsai literally inks the universe with the Chinese characters of the Heart Sutra. Perhaps more than any other Australian artist, Imants Tillers has followed Burn's mantra to the letter, rewriting our ideas of landscape through the 'pages' of his ongoing canvas-board project. Art &Australia pays tribute to this great shapeshifter of Australian landscape and its language.
Vol 48 No 1 Spring 2010