Reilly and Ford have been out wandering the hinterland of Byron Bay developing a poetic response to place.
Venturing from the coast up into the surrounding hills, looking out across the coastal hinterland, shadows cast from the camphor trees, misty mornings, snatched glimpses of Mount Warning, the cool of the creek crossings, the changing scents, the precipices of storms, the winding lines of the road, the tangled vines of the rainforest and the calm and wild of the ocean, all contribute to the making process.
The collection of works, whilst being informed by observations of the surrounding landscape, are also about the spirit of collaboration, friendship, moments of silence and conversations had during the process of working side by side.
Some moments were snatched between the reality of domestic repetition, other planned trips with picnics and op shop stopovers. The comfort of revisiting the familiar and the change from the day to day that comes from exploring somewhere new are all important aspects of both artists practice.
Collecting is inherent in the way that the response has been formed: Paper made from cotton rags, paintings on reclaimed blocks of wood, objects made from pattern paper. The history, surface structure and origin of the materials, anchor the past to the present and continue an ongoing enquiry for both artists.
