Visual Arts / Regeneration Glyphs, GW Bot. At Grainger Gallery, until March 1. Reviewed by KERRY-ANNE COUSINS.

Grainger Gallery (formerly in Dairy Flat Road) has moved to new premises in Fyshwick. Its impressive new interior spaces are perfect for this first exhibition by eminent Canberra artist GW Bot.

In July, there was a small retrospective exhibition by the artist at Belco Arts. I saw displayed in these works – arranged in themes rather than chronologically – the artist’s long and deeply felt connection to the natural world – its growth, its demise and its regeneration (the title indeed of this present exhibition).

In Regeneration Glyphs, the artist brings together not only a selection of past works that provide a continuum of ideas and images, but also exciting recent work that promises new beginnings.

Part of the artist’s narrative is questioning our connection to the natural world. But in the drawing Prayer Rug, its subtle message also questions the very nature of our collective humanity. Is it a force for good and, if so, will it be enough to save us?

The glyphs are marks that have become the artist’s signature language of communication that fuses together both image and meaning.

The placing of three large works at the beginning of the exhibition provides a dramatic and exciting introduction for what is to come…. Made from steel encrusted with a warm patina of rust they feature cut out shapes that interplay against the gallery’s white brick walls. Glyph I and Glyph 11 are images of tree trunks – their bare truncated branches reaching out in supplication.

In the work A Density of Glyphs the shapes of the glyphs are not only cut out shapes but are also applied and layered on the surface plane providing complex levels of texture, shadow and light.

To Walk Across a Field, a linocut on Tapa cloth is another large work (about 325 x 263 cm). It commands the space. Its brightly coloured and patterned marks or glyphs dancing across its surface make an eloquent bid for hope symbolised by the regeneration life force.

Several works translate the artist’s imagery into three dimensional sculptures. Among them is a bronze work, Paddock and Glyphs. Its play of two simple forms brings with it a feeling of deep harmony and peace.

These present works have grown from a deep spiritual connection with creation in all its manifestations. If we lived in much earlier times, the artist would be hallowed as the wise woman of the tribe. In the present era, in addition to being an artist of great distinction, GW Bot’s works have become a clarion cry for recognition of landscape and an awareness of our common humanity.