By Callum Ludwig
A well-travelled artist with an eye for the natural environment is exhibiting in the Warburton Waterwheel’s gallery this December.
Gwendal Guery, who held an exhibition called ‘Misty Mountains’ at the Waterwheel in November last year, has returned with new works in ‘Foggy Mountain Breakdown’.
Mr Guery has a holiday home in Warburton he loves to head up to and said he does spend more time in Warburton than he even was when he exhibited last year.
“I do spend more time in Warburton, most of the weekends and school holidays and it’s never enough, I ride my gravel bike or go for a hike, I ‘m always in awe of the beauty of the mountainI, I immerse myself in the landscape, breathing it in and connecting to it,” he said.
“I really loved exhibiting at the Waterwheel gallery last year, I enjoyed the process and excitement leading to the exhibition so I’m very happy to do it again now, it’s a beautiful space,”
“I hope it will gain more recognition and that more people will come to see the different artists on show during the year.”
Mr Guery arrived in Australia around a decade ago and is Breton, meaning he hails from the Lower Brittany region of northwest France. He travelled a lot before moving to Melbourne, including in North America, part of South America, Siberia, North Africa and Europe and exploring by bike.
Mr Guery said the exhibition is named after a song of the same name, a classic of ‘Bluegrass Music’, which he likes very much.
“(It is) associated for me with the Appalachian mountains where I spent a lot of time a number of years ago, although the fauna and flora are different, the mountains of the region strongly remind me of the Appalachians by their shapes, dense vegetation and the mist which often lingers there,” he said.
“My inspiration this year is similar to last year, still about the mountains and valleys in the region. I worked on a different approach to light, less diffuse as it can be on misty days but more grazing at the beginning or end of the day,”
“I’m also worried about about global warming and the loss of biodiversity, my recent works reflect my response to these concerns and how they intersect with my love of the natural world.”
Mr Guery does landscape paintings, using both acrylic and oil, on canvas or wood. He lives in towards the city in Melbourne and comes to Warburton to ride his bike in and around the forest.
Mr Guery said his idea behind the exhibition is that ‘we as humans are obviously not doing a good job at looking after the earth.’
“Our planet and our only home can’t afford to provide as much as we take, can’t bring back lost species and lost habitat, our greed and our ‘needs’, the belief that we are the most important being on this planet, has disconnected us from our natural environment,” he said.
“Animals don’t do that, is it ultimately what defines us as humans, that we are the only species that will destroy its own environment but are we not animals too? Should we not care and act a bit more like our fellow animals?”
“My anthropomorphic representation of kangaroos in some of my paintings, as humoristic as it can look, also raises that question, Kangaroos are a particularly interesting species as they resemble humans in many ways so they fit pretty well with this concept, they would do better than us, can’t we find comfort and security in our environment without destroying our ecosystem? It is time for us to look to our counterpart living creatures to find a way forward.”
