< GROUND SWELL
WONDERLAND
“The consummate skill in the beautiful and gentle rendering of this drawing conveys the artist’s love of the spirit of the landscape.” – Fran Clark and Suzanne Hampel, Directors, ARC ONE Gallery, Melbourne
Ground swell: Wonderland | Scott Bennett| 2012 | Watercolour, charcoal, pastel & graphite, on paper | 95 cm x 115 cm | Private collection
Click here to view a zoomable image of the drawing.
Artist statement
I traveled to the Grampians to witness the wonderous place I’d seen depicted in the drawings of Eugene von Guérard. My heart beat faster when I traced the outline of the mountains with my own pencil. It wasn’t a desire for the place that moved me but the recognition of its suchness. The line on the paper was a connection, a sharing of sentience.
The Wonderland range from Boroka lookout
I wasn’t consciously aware of the name of the range while working on the piece but kept thinking of the word ‘wonder’. I had thought to title it Cloudbreak as a reference to the ocean. It was a very grey day and the light would occasionally break through and highlight parts of the landscape. The whole scene seems to be moving, reminding me of the ‘flowing’ and ‘walking’ of the mountains in Zen Buddhism.
The walking of the mountains
“To doubt the walking of the mountains means that one does not yet know one’s own walking. It is not that one does not walk but that one does not yet know, has not made clear, this walking. Those who would know their own walking must also know the walking of the blue mountains.” Mountains and Waters Sutra by Eihei Dogen