‘‘Outlines’’, Melanie Eade
(Eade Gallery, Clyde)
An abandoned car, weathered with age and rust, becomes one with the environment as the surrounding flora creeps over and into it. A row of quirky mailboxes, each invested with individual character, seem somehow as much a part of the land as the tussock and hills and the blue sky above. Piles of brightly painted drums create an intriguing, unexpected grid of colour in an otherwise normal field. Skilfully executed in oil pastel and gouache, Melanie Eade’s bright, bold scenes of rural Central Otago focus on the relationship of manmade objects to their natural surroundings. When items such as the car are no longer in use, their original function stripped away, their form becomes part of the landscape, the manufactured merging seamlessly with the living world.
In the appropriately titled ‘‘Outlines’’, Eade uses a black wash and negative space to clearly delineate shapes and applies layers of pastel to build dimension and texture. A beginning wash brightens the composition and allows glimpses of pinktoned highlight to peek through. Her handling of light and shade is superb, and works such as Out to Pasture and Aged
by Thyme have incredible depth and a cleverly constructed composition. There is authenticity and heart in the collection; the lack of a living human presence could be eerie or poignant, but instead there is a sense of calm and peace, small pockets of happy stillness in a busy, chaotic world.