TAINTED LANDSCAPES

David Le May    

Acland is a town 51 km north east of Toowoomba. It is mostly owned by the coal mining company, ‘New Hope’. There remains in the town only two houses owned by lifelong resident Glen Beutel.  All the other houses were bought and then removed by ‘New Hope’ around seven years ago.  For the last two years I have been painting its ‘tainted landscape’; first from the outskirts and then within the town itself.  While there is little trace of houses left, remnant gardens still define the vacant lots and evoke the memories of its inhabitants. It is a landscape imbued with loss and yet filled with life.  It is a landscape literally in upheaval; a place that is typical of many of the places stretching across the vastness connecting our towns and cities and a place that symbolizes the many ethical problems of our age.   These  ‘tainted landscapes’ of disruption and renewal are a testament not only to the movement of peoples but the movement of places from beneath our feet that makes migrants of us all. 

"These small scenes are postcards from a place forgotten. Their intimate scale and intensely personal gestural brushwork bring tenderness to sites of trauma, soft focus to a place under the harshest of spotlights. Acland, though now forcibly abandoned, is still a place of life and value – seasonal shift, wind and weather, garden growth, insects and birds can all be felt swirling across these momentary glimpses. Memory is always old, while feeling is always new. Le May invites us into a mindfulness where we may experience them together in gentle renewal." (Beth Jackson) 

Remnants

18 Allen St, Acland 2016
Oil on Canvass 40 x 50 cm
18 Allen St, Acland 2016 Oil on Canvass 40 x 50 cm
Corner of King and Acland St, Acland 2016
Oil on Canvass 40 x 50 cm
Corner of King and Acland St, Acland 2016 Oil on Canvass 40 x 50 cm
208 Acland Silverliegh Rd 2015
Oil on Canvass 40 x 50 cm
208 Acland Silverliegh Rd 2015 Oil on Canvass 40 x 50 cm
1177 Oakey Cooyar Rd 2015
Oil on Canvass 40 x 50 cm
1177 Oakey Cooyar Rd 2015 Oil on Canvass 40 x 50 cm
Clark St, Acland 2016
Oil on Canvass 40 x 50 cm
Clark St, Acland 2016 Oil on Canvass 40 x 50 cm
448 Acland/Silverliegh Rd 2016
Oil on Canvass 40 x 50 cm
448 Acland/Silverliegh Rd 2016 Oil on Canvass 40 x 50 cm
9 William St, Acland 2016
Oil on Canvass 40 x 50 cm
9 William St, Acland 2016 Oil on Canvass 40 x 50 cm
22 Church St, Acland 2016
Oil on Canvass 40 x 50 cm
22 Church St, Acland 2016 Oil on Canvass 40 x 50 cm
26 South St, Acland 2016
Oil on Canvass 40 x 50 cm
26 South St, Acland 2016 Oil on Canvass 40 x 50 cm
Allen St, Acland 2016
Oil on Canvass 40 x 50 cm
Allen St, Acland 2016 Oil on Canvass 40 x 50 cm
Radar Hill 2015
Oil on Canvass 40 x 50 cm
Radar Hill 2015 Oil on Canvass 40 x 50 cm
Josephs Presence Oil on Canvass, 60 x 60 cm
Josephs Presence Oil on Canvass, 60 x 60 cm
Solace-Jondaryan Oil on Canvass, 60 x 60 cm
Solace-Jondaryan Oil on Canvass, 60 x 60 cm
Sorghum Fields, Oil on Canvass, 60 x 60 cm
Sorghum Fields, Oil on Canvass, 60 x 60 cm
Old Hope, Oil on Canvass 2017 60 x 60 cm
Old Hope, Oil on Canvass 2017 60 x 60 cm