CAL2014.1 Naomi White

Title
End of Day

Location
In storage

Place of origin
Queensland, Australia

Year
2014

Media
Painting

Medium
oil on canvas

Dimensions
112 x 183 cm

Credit
Winner Calleen Art Award 2014

Accession number
CAL2014.1

Excerpt from The Calleen Collection by Peter Haynes (2019)

Naomi White is a self-taught artist who has been exhibiting regularly since 2002. She has been a finalist in numerous prizes including the Elaine Birmingham National Watercolour Prize 2017), the Tattersall’s Art Prize (2016), the John Leslie Art Prize (2016), the Mosman Art Prize (2015), the Fleurieu Art Prize (2013), the Paddington Art Prize (2010) and the Wynne Prize (2008). She has held solo exhibitions at Flinders Lane Gallery in Melbourne (2016, 2015, 2013), Charles Hewitt Gallery, Sydney (2011), Libby Edwards Gallery, Sydney (2009, 2008, 2007) and Metropolis Gallery, Melbourne (2003). White lives and works in Brisbane.

End of Day is a celebratory work exhorting the attraction of the beach. The foreground is occupied by a low sand dune dotted with meticulously observed grasses that creep over the crown of the dune. The detailed depiction of the grass and indeed of all the components in this painting is almost scientific but there is no objective distancing here. The artist’s connection with her subject is clear. This is a place visited, observed and loved. The low viewpoint adopted by the artist begins the viewers’ journey into and through the composition. The slight diagonal of a row of grasses leads up and over the dune, across it to the trees to the clump of coastal trees and finally to the azure blue of the sky. The latter beautifully captures the special light that is uniquely Australian. White’s beach is empty of people. In an artist’s statement she says: “Empty beaches are my favourite…..you can sit and let your thoughts slowly come to the surface with just the sound of the waves. I hope this painting gives you that sense. Just take a moment to breathe and be calm before you move out into life again”.