My Father’s Country 2006

Sally Gabori, probably working in the early 2000’s, made this painting with synthetic polymer paint on canvas. It’s called ‘My Father’s Country’. You know, sometimes process is everything. Here, the colours are laid down in these confident, separate gestures, each area distinct. Red, white, deep blue, pink, and orange – wow, they’re all singing out loud! Looking at the materiality, the paint is laid on pretty thick, you can see the tracks and the textures, particularly in that big red block at the top. And then there are those little squiggles of orange, like someone flicking paint off a brush. It makes me think of Joan Mitchell, another painter who used gesture and color to evoke places, memories, feelings. But Gabori’s got her own thing going on. This painting is a celebration, a memory, a feeling. A celebration of paint! It just feels so free and joyful. I think Gabori is saying that a painting can be a place too.