Responding to people, place, time and interaction, the works reflect the experiences and undercurrents that shape how we perceive ourselves and make sense of the world around us. In these paintings, as in life, not every layer is immediately visible. Some lay close to the surface, while others recede, each emerging to contribute to the luminous whole.
Quiet and restrained at first encounter, the paintings hold a deeper history beneath their surfaces. Layers of colour, texture and activity accumulate through a slow process of addition and subtraction, concealment and revelation. Earlier layers are never entirely lost; they remain as subtle undercurrents, creating depth, tension and an oscillation of colour that reveals itself through sustained looking.
Through the process of making, moments of complexity gradually find balance - not through their erasure, but through their integration into the whole. The sense of resolution is intuitive but guided by a deliberate and highly attentive process. For Wales, a painting is complete when its many elements arrive at a sense of equilibrium. It is a moment defined by the energy and resonance that the painting creates, not a fixed prescription within the painting process.
The Pause Between invites viewers to become allured by quietly unassuming paintings. The works reveal their complexities gently, as they are experienced with a slow discerning perception. While the impetus for the work is the artists lived experience, their narrative is ultimately shaped through the viewer's own experience, memory and response.
Within this pause, the layers remain. Complexity remains. Yet amongst it, there is the possibility of finding composure.
Tanya Wales’ studio is based in the Barossa Valley, South Australia. Her radiant colour field paintings are created using techniques centred around pouring translucent layers and soft cumulative brushwork. The resulting artworks are gently textured, delicate celebrations of colour and are deeply affectual.
Wales’ practice grew from her professional background in Design Arts and Graphic Design. She refined her approach through training at the National Art School in 2007 and private tuition between 2008 and 2014. She has exhibited in Sydney and Melbourne through solo and group shows, as well as at major art fairs.