Visual Arts / Flux, by Euan MacLeod. At ANU Drill Hall Gallery, until  November 3. Reviewed by KERRY-ANNE COUSINS.

In viewing this exhibition I found it difficult to completely erase from my mind the painting Wanderer above a Sea of Fog by Caspar Frederick David (1774-1840) – such is the power of a visual image.  

In his iconic painting Caspar Frederick David depicts a figure lost in contemplation of a misty landscape stretched out before him. This sense of the interplay between us and nature is present in Euan Macleod’s paintings of the Haupapa Tasman Glacier in NZ’s South Island and his related studio works. However Macleod’s atmospheric landscapes also testify to a troubled relationship with our environment that is contemporary.

In the exhibition video, Macleod speaks of an unsettling unease within himself that has followed him throughout his life. In the work Painting in Hut (with Observer), the artist depicts himself painting in an alpine hut. A featureless face peers at him through the frosted window – has his psychological unease assumed this ghostly human form – a doppelganger that appears in many of his other works?

The exhibition title, Flux, signifies change, instability and fluidity. In this context it could be understood to be a state of tension that exists between man and nature. The artist’s physical presence is felt in the strong expressive gestural marks and wide sweeping brush strokes. Each work in oil or acrylic becomes an immersive experience drawing you into both a physical and emotional space. Against the imposing background of mountains and glaciers, figures struggle with a life and death battle against the elements. They climb and descend the mountain peaks and crevices and trek across the unforgiving icy terrains – small and insignificant or looming large like surreal ghostly apparitions.

In the painting, Fool on Hill, the large ghostlike figure is balanced precariously with one foot atop a rocky outcrop while another tiny figure dwarfed by the landscape struggles below.

In another work, Over the Edge, the large figure stands on a blue ice shelf that is cracking beneath him. Below, a yawning abyss is one false step away.

In another large work Highwire (ONZ), figures balance precariously on a tight rope strung across an abyss that drops to the sea below. A very fragile thin red rope provides a recurring motif, more obvious in some works than others, that connects the figures of mountain climbers. It appears to be largely symbolic – too fragile and slack to provide realistic support to the climbers. In the shifting and moving landscapes of the ice flows caused by global warming, does it represent a false belief in a life line of hope that will keep us safe in this changing world?

In his impressive paintings of mountain landscapes Macleod creates images of beauty that evoke their vastness and majesty. These sweeping swathes of snowy landscapes are set against stark cliff faces, deep glaciers and distant mountain ranges all enveloped in atmospheric light and mist.

In the work Triptych – Figure in Dissolving Space, the artist paints light falling on the mountains illuminating their features in a golden light. The evidence of a human presence is as insubstantial as a shadow melting into the atmosphere of mist and snow.

Euan Macleod is originally from NZ where he climbed mountains in his youth. These works are mainly from two periods he spent in the Southern Alps in 2023/24 taking photographs and painting en plein air. Other works were painted in his studio.

Also accompanying this exhibition in Gallery 3 are some 300 small portrait studies of his friend Geoff Dixon painted from daily FaceTime catch up calls during covid. It is a testament to their friendship and the artist’s ability to find infinite variety in the changing landscape of the human face.