South Burnett residents will get a chance to become art critics this weekend when Lee Porter’s latest exhibition “Can You See What I See?” goes on show for two days at the Wondai Regional Art Gallery.
The public are welcome to view the paintings that will be representing the region when Lee takes her exhibition to Florence, Italy in July.
The unique artworks, which focus on the eyes and thoughts of animals. will be officialy opened on Saturday night at 6:00pm.
Lee says that this is a thought-provoking exhibition, with each viewer interpreting a different meaning to each animal’s look.
Many of the works feature animals found in the South Burnett.
Lee herself is an avid animal watcher, and says this has helped her capture some unique features and “looks” of the animals in the paintings.
Lee said the idea for the series of work came about from simply watching animals around her farm.
“When I stalk animals I often ask myself “Can I see what they see?”
“Everyone seems to have a different interpretation of what a certain dog’s look could mean, like “feed me” or “let me out”. So I decided to create a series of artworks based on the eyes of animals and human expressions that could be interpreted.”
This weekend’s exhibition is designed to allow South Burnett resifdents to see the series before anyone else does.
“I’d love the public to come and see what’s being shown in Italy, and judge if they think the work is value to an international audience.
“Animals are a part of our cultural identity and I think I’ve chosen some characters to represent our native fauna.”
Lee has often been asked “do we have wombats in the South Burnett?” when people have viewed her Wombat painting.
So Crow FM 90.7 have taken up the challenge to find out if we do by running a competition over the coming weeks, asking the public if they’ve seen a wombat?
And local winery Moffatdale Ridge will be holding a special Tuscan Feast fund-raiser on Sunday June 16 to assist with the cost of freighting Lee’s artworks to Italy.
The Ridge’s Tuscan Feasts are usually booked out six months in advance, but owners Jason and Sue Kinsella are holding an extra one in June to help the Italian art show project.
Tuscan Feasts feature four courses and live entertainment for 60 guests, and this one will run from 10:30am (when wine tastings begin) through to 3:00pm in the afternoon.
Tickets are $35 per head.and can be booked by phoning Moffatdale Ridge on (07) 4168-4797.
- Related article: Local Artist Invited To Italy
