The colour brown

Wolff’s Carbon pencil, charcoal, watercolour, ink and gauche pigment

 

Dobel Drawing Prize 2023 Finalist

 

The bicycle rider introduces the viewer to the Browns – a stereotypical Australian middle class family, their assiduously accumulated material wealth and their treasured lifestyle. The introduction of the ‘Colour Brown’ gives the viewer an understanding, at a viewpoint not commonly documented, of the stained, destructive depth of flood, affecting documented memories, cherished objects and lives.

The drawing is intentionally contrived and studiously rendered. Once completed, it was placed into a specifically made glass water tank measuring 1000mm wide, 800mm deep and 15mm thick. The tank was then filled with 15 litres of contaminated water consisting of watercolour pigment, gauche and ink, then drained.

The work’s narrative parallels with its drawing’s process, exploring intentional and unforeseen outcomes.