PRESSURE
Bunjil Place Gallery, Narre Warren, VIC Australia
25 November 2023 to 17 March 2024

Taking its title from the physical and psychological demands felt by Keating in the making of the work, PRESSURE draws upon these tensions and by extension these underlying forces are captured and conveyed across the surfaces of each canvas. Presented as one work in nine parts, PRESSURE is a sequence of paintings scaled to encompass and draw the viewer into a field of shifting colour and exuberant gesture.  

Drawing on the tradition of action painting, that welcomes spontaneity and improvisation, Keating has refined a distinct methodology of intuitive actions and mark making using varying propulsion and gravity-based techniques. Looking back to the raw energy of his site-specific outdoor paintings of the early 2000s, Keating has approached PRESSURE as a testing ground – a body of work created as a celebration of experimentation that draws upon 20 years of practice and memories deeply held in body and mind. 

Keating works at a distance from the canvas, dispersing paint and water through high pressure industrial equipment, building up the surfaces through the repeated application and removal of paint. For PRESSURE, Keating has also incorporated physically explosive movements, throwing pots and containers of liquid soap to mask areas over the painted layers. When coated with atomised pigment and later wash away the energetic imprints created by the soapy agent become absent traces of the material’s presence.

Created specifically for Bunjil Place Gallery, at the heart of this installation is the desire for a space worthy for contemplation. The paintings are complemented by a cinematic film tracing the mesmerising details of artist and paint in motion during the making process. Together, PRESSURE is an invitation to audiences to slow down and immerse in an environment designed for long looking, respite and reflection.

Curator: Penny Teale
Photography: Matthew Stanton, courtesy of the artist