Shonah Trescott “A Minute to Midnight” in Ando Gallery

Australian artist Ms. Shonah Trescott’s solo exhibition “A Minute to Midnight” is now being held at Ando Gallery. It is her first exhibition in four years, and it features 24 new paintings in oil on canvas.
When we step into the exhibition venue without any knowledge about her works, we felt something strange but in a positive way- “these are more than just beautiful landscape paintings “. Ms. Shonah Trescott always picks “relationship between humans and nature,” as her subject. When we see the works more carefully we could understand why there are something, that “something” is her words, her social messages about environmental issues, but not imposing certain values. This solo exhibition as a fascinating opportunity to meet with works to visualize wishes of the artist.

Exploring the substance of nature, love, fear, and myth
Ms. Shonah Trescott was born in 1982 in Maitland, about 150 km north of Sydney. She attained her Bachelor of Fine Arts majoring in painting at the National Art School in Sydney. Working primarily in landscape painting, she has attracted significant attention with works that represent the primordial relationships between human and nature. Referencing different registers of visualizations from scientific data, regional research, and imagination, as well as memories tied to her personal narrative as an artist, she utilizes painting as a tool to explore the substance of nature, love, fear, and myth.
At the entrance to Ando Gallery, you can purchase a exhibition catalog of her solo exhibition at the same venue in fall 2010. In all the works in this catalog, protagonists are always drawn in the horizontally constructed landscape, which can be perceived as a concrete explanation of the “relationship between human and nature”. Yet, in this solo exhibition, there are only a few works in which people are drawn. Also, when compared with her solo exhibition 4 years ago, colors tend to be brighter. It is quite interesting if we could think about the cause of these changes.

Created while living with scientists studying climate change.
Ms. Shonah Trescott embarked on this series inspired by the unimaginable beauty and fragility of her native Australia. The theme of those new works is “Land’s End”. In the geophysical context, “Land’s end” means the “extremity” of land bordering on sea or sky, or of sea bordering in the sky.
Residing at the One Tree Island Research Center on a tiny, pristine island on the Great Barrier Reef, the world’s largest coral reef, she undertook production while living with scientists studying climate change. She has opted for engaging with this island as a place with serious both local and international issues, and as an opportunity to explore an unknown geographic region in connection with cutting-edge scientific research. Her strong interest in natural environment and awareness of the issues can be seen in other works depicting the Murray River in the inland Australia, which was devastated by the drought. Although there are no people depicted, the influence of human activities and nature under extreme threats are revealed.
There are several works expressing problem directly, but many of them seem to portray the peaceful image of Ms. Shonah Trescott. The landscape in her mind is not at a specific place or time, but rather like a beautiful landscape that we all feel familiar with, and yet it seems to have something huge and related to the substance of “the relationship between humans and nature”. It suggests the destination that humans are looking for is “Land’s End”, and we can all relate to that.

Art walk to meet rich greenery.
Ando Gallery is located near Kiba Park and Fukutomi River Park, with the splendid stream runs through the tranquil trees. Opposite to the road is Allpress Espresso, a cozy cafe from New Zealand to enjoy a sip of nice coffee. Enjoy strolling from Kiyosumi-Shirakawa Station (Hanzomon and Oedo subway lines) or Kiba Station (Tozai subway line) to see the wonderful artworks.