Dibirdibi Country 2009

Sally Gabori painted Dibirdibi Country with what looks like acrylic on canvas. The canvas is awash with blocky forms and colour. Like looking at a landscape through a kaleidoscope, the land, sea and sky shift and settle. I'm drawn to the big dollops of orange that are offset by the cobalt blue – it's like a sunset exploding before your eyes! The heavy black lines that run throughout the piece are really interesting, they remind me of the cloisonné technique used in enamel work, where metal wire creates partitions filled with coloured glass. There's something really refreshing about Gabori's approach to mark-making, it’s all about the process and the simple joy of putting paint to canvas. When I look at this piece, I’m put in mind of Joan Mitchell, both artists have a similar way of bringing an abstract landscape to life using bold, gestural brushstrokes. Ultimately, it’s the open-endedness of abstraction that makes it so exciting – it can be whatever you want it to be!