Belinda Rogers is an Australian Abstract Expressionist Painter and Poet.  As her solo show draws near, we interviewed her about her processes:

Will you guide me through your creative process?

Experience to me is the essence of painting.  It is a union between myself and the medium.  I sit and I watch it happen.  I paint with cloths, applying the paint directly onto the surface and then I wipe the image away.  The first thing I encounter during this experience is a line which tries to dominate the process.  I glimpse this line and it becomes horizon.  Instinct is to follow this horizon, because it is natural for the mind to relate to what is already recognised;  patterns which we understand and make reference to.  I have never been satisfied with this translation.  My interest is drawn to the subconscious, where philosophy and metaphor can find a truer version of our vast inner existences.

The only way for me to enter a painting is to find the courage to repel my instinct towards the line.  From the line, I distinguish a tree, a river, a boat.  But I must resist and go the other way.  I have to dissolve that part of my mind to encounter the inner landscape.  Painting large canvasses really helps me with this process because my periphery is consumed only by colour.  There is nothing in my view that I can attach to which will effect the outcome.  Reducing the impact of the outside images, my conflict rests in the internal view.  

It is true that for some artists their process can feel like expulsion, a spring cast outward alongside the vast projection of the world. My own personal experience of life since a very young child, is to journey inwards, diving ever deeper, piercing the surface and entering an oasis of poetry and philosophy.

What was your thought process behind including poetry as a companion to your paintings within this exhibition?

Poetry and paintings are interwoven, they provoke meaning from the reflection of the other.  I feel that poetry is often limited by the very medium used to create it.  Sometimes paintings are closer to poetry.  I also do not feel comfortable attaching titles to either poem or painting.  It never feels like an honest evaluation because I believe a poem and a painting does not need a title.  It is only itself.  Each painting in the exhibition is paired with a small poem which rests at the foot of each image.  Through the gesture of moving from image to poem, then from poem to image, I abstain from limiting the conjunction with a linear perspective, paying homage to their infinite value.  

Why was it important to you, to have this exhibition at Montsalvat?

Space is the ultimate gift for an artist like myself. In contrast to the vast space which is available in theBarn gallery, I usually work in a very small space.  At the moment I’m working on a piece which is currently 14 metres long and 2 metres high.  It is being created in a small space not much bigger than a few metres.  I have to paint up close with the entirety of the piece in my mind.  I love this process.  Working on a scale this big saturates the entirety of yourself.  It’s much like having spent the day driving.  When you go to sleep you see the white lines of the long road as you fall asleep.  The same is for painting, when I have spent days on end working on a piece, I fall asleep watching the colours lap over my mind.  I awake at 3am to begin. I enjoy the subtle, dream like states where the internal and external dream are both intrinsically connected. 

My own personal experience then becomes a matter of invitation.  

The curation of art depends on how best to put an observer into the seat of the artist.  Once an image leaves an artists hands, it is left for a viewer to experience the journey for themselves. I believe with sincerity that art is not a commodity, it is a pilgrimage.  

The beauty of abstract work is that the artefact does not belong to an artist.  It is a timeless and limitless translation, which comes alive once again through the heart of the observer.

Where did you study?

(points down towards her feet) On the floor.

 As you have also exhibited internationally, what would you say the most striking difference is between the Australian art scene and the art scene of other countries you have exhibited in?

There is no difference.  

The human soul, from which art is birthed, is identical despite our outward appearance. I believe all humans are simply pollen dust from a single flower.  All our joy and all our injury is shared intuitively.  

We are not separate.

What advice would you give to other artists entering the art scene?

For as far as the exogenous world bursts forth, so too, does it journey within. You must at all cost to your physical structures, live to understand that light, for you will find there is another universe within and with great care you can learn to navigate it. 

Enjoy the adventure! 

You are a mother of a little boy called Ochre.  How do you balance motherhood with painting?

I can see Ochres world plateau 

His own field

Opening

And birds call

A mother is the dusk

Bowing

To the great light

As she fades

________

https://www.montsalvat.com.au/whats-on-1/2019/2/25/exhibition-belinda-rogers

Barn Gallery, 4th April – 28th April

Exhibition Opening: Saturday 6 April, 2pm – 4pm
Light refreshments provided.
All welcome.
RSVP to this free event on:
T: +61 3 9439 7712
or via email [email protected]

7 Hillcrest Avenue, Eltham 3095