The Samstag Alumni
The 1994 Anne & Gordon Samstag
International Visual Arts Scholarships
Lynne Barwick | Michele Beevors | Matthew Calvert | ADS Donaldson | Sarah Lindner | Anne Ooms | Robyn Stacey | Carl Sutherland | Paul Uhlmann | Anne Wallace
In modernism, the black monochrome constitutes a logical and pure reduction of elements to their most essential form - a space of nothingness. This space, often considered one of nihility, is seminal, full of propagative qualities. The luminescence of Paul Uhlmann's paintings has its origin in such a space, where the complete absence of light (Finsternis) must by definition imply its opposite. Early paintings suggest physical representations of evanescent light, stellar emanations in celestial voids.
However the conceptual space of Uhlmann's light is not constituted by its physical atmosphere alone. For example, in Field and Wounds, the concept of metaphysical light is explored through the sublime metaphor of the Wounds of Christ, an affirmation of transcendence and passage.
Ross Wolfe
from his Samstag essay;
Chaos in Heavean
| Paul Uhlmann Born 1962, Sydney, New South Wales |
|
| 1994 | Anne & Gordon Samstag International Visual Arts Scholarship International Student, Academie can Beelende Kunsten, Rotterdam, The Netherlands |
| 1993 | Master of Visual Arts, Australian National University, Canberra |
Black Stars 1992
oil on canvas
250 x 170 cm
© the artist
Finsternis 1992
artist book of nine etchings
each page 14.5 x 26 cm
© the artist
Field 1993
oil on canvas
151 x 120 cm
© the artist