Robert CLINCH

Australian 1957–

Robert Clinch is entirely self-taught. He has been exhibiting his characteristically detailed and meticulously painted images of urban Australian landscapes since 1985 and in both 1989 and 1993 his skill in the medium was recognised when he was awarded the Wynne Trustees Watercolour Prize at the Art Gallery of New South Wales.

Clinch has written about his work, explaining that ‘what you are seeing is not representative of any actual place. It is a capriccio; a fictional landscape. It’s typical of my work that the imagery is inspired by my imagination and materializes as a result of observation, rather than vice-versa. Compositions are constructed using elements from drawings done at, often, numerous locations’.1

Although small in scale, The source, 1996, adopts a large-scale view of the imagined point at which the city meets the country. It is an abrupt meeting, where the country, symbolised by a windmill and ubiquitous corrugated-iron water tank amidst the vast dusty red foreground, races up to the edge of the distant metropolis, reminding us of the ever-increasing urban sprawl that is occurring around Australian cities. The city view is comprised of elements that are familiar to residents of Melbourne, including the Rialto tower on the right and to the left, the depiction of industry, reminiscent of suburbs in Melbourne’s inner-west. The heightened reality of Clinch’s drawings is created through a combination of elements, including their rich saturated colour and emphasis on precise draughtsmanship and rendering. Although images such as The source are typically unpeopled, quiet and still, they also conjure up narrative possibilities in which the likelihood of impending action is disquieting and real.

1 Artist’s statement, National Gallery of Victoria Library artist’s file.

Kirsty M. Grant