Hobart Art Gallery is excited to be showing the watercolours of artist, Rodney Gardner. Gardner is a Tasmanian Aboriginal artist who is best known for his stunning Launceston and street scenes and surrounding kanamaluka/Tamar River landscapes. (HAG is also fortunate to have secured a few rarer works that Rodney has done whilst visiting Hobart and surrounds)

Most often, Gardner paints plein-air, capturing the moment, and seemingly with ease. He has adopted a tonalist approach to his works which are characterised by their muted colour palettes and subtle gradations of tone, creating a sense of depth and atmosphere. The way Gardner balances these neutrals/greys, with at times, intense pops of chroma is clever, appropriate and ideal for capturing the mood of the Tasmanian landscape, its climate, buildings and people.

Gardner’s paintings are underpinned with obvious drawing dexterity and an intuitive sense of composition. Moreover, if you’ve ever lived in Tassie, you get his paintings. There are no grand themes here, just an urban or suburban street corner where people mill or go about their work. Showers are coming or going. The light is precious. Gardner, through his paintings exposes a deep connection with land and place – a place we can all recognise.

During NAIDOC week, he was nominated by people from his community as NAIDOC artist of the year. In response to this Gardner said:

“To see the pride in the faces of my two boys Charlie and Ollie, when they see me paint and the places they see it takes me, is what makes me happy. This journey has also allowed me to express my feelings and the meaning of our culture past, present and future, not only to my community and my family butto all who see and experience my work. This is my way of giving back.