BEN LINEY

LICHEN

20 APRIL – 16 MAY 2023

Public Opening: 5 – 7pm 20th April

AVAILABLE FOR PRESALE FROM THURSDAY, 13TH APRIL

Ben Liney’s solo exhibition ‘Lichen’ presents a series of twelve oil paintings of the ancient boulders known as “mushroom rocks” in the Baw Baw ranges in Gunaikurnai country. The realistic depictions of moss and lichen covered stones set against a white background bring a deep sense of the forest and a timeless unwounded beauty.

ARTIST STATEMENT

Perched on the side of a forested mountain in the Baw Baw Ranges, Gunaikurnai country, lies a garden of ancient boulders adorned with moss and lichen. At their birthing, these stones formed deep in the earth, exposed through a constant weathering and deep movement.

To arrive in this landscape is to become aware of a great stillness. I first stood in awe under these towering rocks with my child’s hand in mine. In our present passing we receive a sense of knowing from these boulders that have sat through all time.

This collection draws us into the unwounded beauty of the landscape, carrying out the hidden work of life within us. Through painting this series, I invite the conversation of the landscape to find a home within our everyday.

Gunaikurnai country is the land, the forest and boulders, the place and the memory, the past and the future. I acknowledge the traditional owners of this land, the Brayakaulung clan of the Gunaikurnai people.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Ben Liney is a landscape painter from Melbourne. Working in oils, he is focused on interpreting landscapes through the techniques of realism.

His current body of work takes reductional views of the landscape to evoke stillness and presence. The scenes of quiet solitude become familiar landforms, grounding the viewer over time to their own place.

Ben seeks to reveal the hope that a place can hold and bring us closer to our knowing of this.

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