“Sun and Moon, 2”, 1977

James Brown

“Sun and Moon, 2”, 1977

Acrylic on hardboard (Masonite)

Size: 45.5 x 53.3 cm

In 1977, at the age of 24, I created this painting during a particularly vibrant period of my life. I was teaching part-time at the College of Art in Brisbane in the evenings while balancing a full-time position at Sandgate District High School. My days were hectic, yet I was fully committed to my journey as an artist. I was fortunate to have Alan Warren, the Head of the College of Art at that time, as both a mentor and a sounding board for my ideas. He encouraged me to explore the works of the British artist Wyndham Lewis, a co-founder of the Vorticist movement. This advice was invaluable, yet I found myself even more captivated by Warren’s own paintings, where broad planes of colour were animated with dynamic lines.

Looking back, I recognize that while the influence of Cézanne is evident in my work, my mother's admiration for the Australian artist John Passmore also played a significant role in shaping my artistic exploration; for instance, Passmore's “Miller’s Point” (https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/explore/collection/work/75872). Ultimately, the direction I took aimed to represent the concept of landscape as a field of planes, characterised by bulges and cavities, loosely painted as if I were “feeling” the essence of the landscape rather than merely depicting its visual reality.