The Arrival 1988

Curator: Brett Whiteley created this striking landscape titled "The Arrival" in 1988, rendered in acrylic paint. It's a scene brimming with symbols and evokes a strong sense of place and perhaps a sense of unease. Editor: The color alone really grabs you, doesn't it? An almost total wash of cool blue, with just a touch of white in the dreamlike forms at the bottom. Makes you feel like you're underwater, or floating in some hazy memory. Curator: The layering of imagery is quite deliberate. Notice the contrast between the detailed ship at sea and the almost childlike rendering of the figures on land: indigenous animals, the strange head...It suggests a merging of historical narrative with personal mythology. He uses very specific techniques for both parts of the composition. Editor: It feels raw, somehow. You've got that very precise depiction of the ship and other things, and then a more impulsive, scribbly application of the paint for the foreground figures and landscape. It feels very interior, almost like something dredged up from a subconscious, and there are multiple perspectives. Curator: Precisely. The division between the representational and the abstract, and the contrast in techniques is critical to understand his larger project here, exploring the impact of European arrival upon the Australian landscape and Aboriginal culture through juxtaposing styles. The ship could stand as a symbol of industrial progress set against what seems almost like a mythic age, represented by the creatures and old faces. Editor: Right, a dream. It feels almost apocalyptic but very intimate; those ghostly figures could be ancestral, or aspects of his own soul watching everything with the same detached wonder as someone dreaming. Also it makes you wonder what kind of canvas was used, as that rough and uneven material makes the art look different. Curator: This work speaks to the complex interweaving of ecological, political, and historical forces through the combination of varied materials. Whiteley's style encouraged critical engagement with both art making, societal narratives, and history as a result. Editor: For me, it's the juxtaposition that sticks – like a history book illustrated by fevered visions. You look at this landscape differently afterward. It doesn't leave you indifferent.