Dry Creek Bed, Werribee Gorge I 1977

Editor: So, this is Fred Williams' "Dry Creek Bed, Werribee Gorge I." The way he's used such a muted palette gives me this immediate sense of a really harsh, almost desolate landscape. What strikes you most when you look at this piece? Curator: It feels like memory itself, doesn't it? Ghostly impressions of the Australian outback. Notice how he's not trying to replicate reality. Instead, it is all about the feeling of the place. It's almost meditative. Do you get a sense of that too? Editor: Absolutely. It's interesting how he suggests so much with so little—just a few lines, some splatters. It's like he’s distilling the essence of the gorge. Curator: Exactly! That's the magic, isn't it? It's not just a landscape, it's an experience. Editor: It really makes you think about how much an artist can convey with abstraction. Curator: And how much our own minds fill in the gaps, completing the picture, if you will.