Shortly after receiving 5 years full-time training in London and Liverpool in the 1960s, Lesley arrived in Australia in 1969 as a young artist and art teacher. Her practice has predominately been driven by a deep appreciation and respect for the Australian landscape. This was evident in her solo exhibition ‘Becoming Australian’ at the Holmes a Court Gallery at Vasse Felix in 2020. Exhibition curator Dr Laetitia Wilson writes: “This exhibition offers a window into the exquisite art practice of Western Australian artist Lesley Meaney whose approach to capturing the Australian landscape is dynamic, vibrant, and distinctively original. This exhibition is comprised of paintings, objects and stitched works that taken together make for a sensorial experience of fiery sunburnt colours, deep earthy tones, and slivers of green. The works evoke a sense of being in and belonging to a place, as a sustained, meditative, experimental and unique response to the Australian landscape.” Lesley herself claims “my immersion into the landscape has been a partner in my journey of becoming Australian. I now feel I have taken root, like one of our trees – which I like to think represent the spirit and souls of our sunburnt country”.
Her book ‘Becoming Australian – an artist’s journey’, launched at her 50-year survey exhibition reveals her evolution as an artist. This book also confirms her vast range of skills, her virtuosity and versatility, both in technique and image-making, with a constantly shifting focus between abstract and representational elements, to create both 2D and 3D works.
While much of her recent work continues to focus on aspects of the landscape, in particular tree bark - kaleidoscopic visual feasts transmuted by the forces of drought, a burning sun, a burnishing wind or journeys etched into the trunks by insects, she remains open to exploring new avenues. Her current practice reveals just that! - a year of experimentation - of taking risks whatever the consequences. Her practice is predictably eclectic and forever evolving – which includes a need to sometimes retreat - to revisit older works to remap - to move forward and explore what has been learnt in-between.
For more listen to https://matttinney.com.au/good-chat-podcast/lesley-meaney Represented by Studio Gallery, Marrinup Drive, Yallingup.