adrian barber — old ranges, new shores

Two summers camping alone in the wilderness of Lake Pedder, has culminated in an exquisite exhibition of new landscapes by Adrian Barber. Old Ranges, New Shores, captures the joy of life returning after the sadness of loss.

“Like so many people, I mourned the flooding of Lake Pedder. Fifty years ago, it was drowned, and lies dormant under a new body of water, and I have been trying to make sense of that loss” Adrian explains. “But, when I returned, I found a beautiful place that nature is slowly starting to reclaim. Little beaches are forming around the new lake which is alive with wildlife and birdsong.

Adrian would paddle out onto the lake in the pre-dawn silence. Alone in the world. His magnificently sublime paintings – like the large multi-panelled Boundless, The Frankland Range – captures this isolated beauty in all its glory. We view an inlet fringed by golden-brown button grass. Light pierces jagged mountains looming in the background. “It’s my romantic extrapolation of place.”

“I have tried to look at the new lake sympathetically, with tenderness, romanticism, and optimism. One day the lake may be restored to its former glory, but I doubt I will witness that in my lifetime. Perhaps these paintings represent an act of forgiveness and a tacit acceptance of loss.”  Adrian is also showcasing a small series of paintings of moonlit skies he calls Nocturnes.

Adrian Barber’s Old Ranges, New Shores exhibition runs from October 24 until November 17.