Footnotes

PROVENANCE
Collection of the artist, Melbourne
The Estate of the artist, Melbourne
Private collection, Melbourne, acquired from the above in 2003

Lin Onus' 'reflection' paintings are an invitation to metaphorically look beyond the surface and to consider ones' place in the world and our relationship to the land. In this work, we see his Yorta Yorta father's traditional country – Barmah forest - reflected in the serene waters of the Murray River. Onus would regularly visit this sacred location with his father throughout his life. His uncle, Aaron Briggs, known as 'old man forest' was also a custodian of this land, and another important teacher of his cultural heritage.1 When confronted with Onus' remarkable photorealism, it is evident that these lessons resonated deeply with the artist – every detail is immaculately rendered and could only have been achieved by a lifetime spent observing every aspect of the landscape before him. There is an overwhelmingly feeling of tranquillity that comes from a deep spiritual connection to this country.

Onus' solitary fish floating just below the surface harks back to the serene Japanese gardens from which it is inspired. Following a residency in Yokohama in 1989, Onus 'was fascinated with the paradoxes in Japanese society... these paradoxes were interesting particularly in relation to their environment which was full of smog, chromium and glass and yet people were really into gardens... A garden isn't complete without a pond and much less complete without fish. I did a fish painting whilst I was there and the fish image keeps coming back to me in various ways. The next phase was to paint the fish to make them traditional in some sort of way. Because if I didn't do that I'd be just painting a fish. So that was really the start of the fish paintings'.2

Francesca Cavazzini

1. Margo Neale, Urban Dingo - the Art and Life of Lin Onus 1948-1996, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, 2000, pp. 13-14
2. Liz Thompson, Aboriginal Voices: Contemporary Aboriginal Artists, Writers and Performers, Simon & Schuster, Brookvale 1990, p. 131