Grant Nimmo

Sword

2023
oil on linen
182 x 162cm
Courtesy of the artist

Artist bio

Grant Nimmo paints landscapes from deep within the forest. Engaging with formal qualities and the sublime, his paintings sit within the Australian tradition of landscape painting, depicting the beauty of nature and suggesting darker forces at play.

Artist statement

'Grant Nimmo's Sword depicts a scene from the sequoia forrest in the Otways. Nimmo's landscape paintings to date have focussed on Australian and Scottish forests, informed by Celtic and Australian folklore, with dark environs shown devoid of people but alive with other forces. Works are situated in the dark and mossy, dank undergrowth of the forest floor, where only slithers of light penetrate, with trees and gullies receding into dark unknown depths.
Nimmo's painted moments capture the shadowy fading light as night descends, giving us storybook beauty imbued with a darker presence. Nimmo's works are exquisitely rendered and full of the beauty of wild nature. Formally, they often engage with devices of the sublime, particularly as it has historically been applied in landscape painting of Australian rainforests. The viewer is positioned to be overwhelmed by nature - horizons are obliterated, and the framing cannot contain the trees depicted. In relation to many of his other works, Sword, is a moment of repose, offering a gentle sandy stream and tranquil waters lined by ferny banks.'

@grant_nimmo

This artwork will be on display in the 2023 Arthur Guy Memorial Painting Prize Finalist Exhibition from Saturday 25 November 2023 until Sunday 18 February 2024.

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