Spirits of the green woods is Grant Nimmo’s fifth solo exhibition with Daine Singer, and presents a new body of work in which Nimmo continues to explore the legacy of European landscape painting through an Antipodean lens. Each painting depicts a forest scene from landscapes Nimmo has encountered, mostly in Victoria's Dandenong Ranges, including views of Sassafras, Healesville, Marysville and Sherbrooke Forest. Nimmo describes the process of walking into nature as “the point when the painting begins”. He walks deep into national forests to locate these scenes, recalling through painting the experience of apprehending their natural beauty, as well as the uncanny feeling that we risk disturbing something when we do so.
As trees, paths and mountains recede into unknown depths, Nimmo’s new paintings delve into the ambiguous relationship between nature and its observer. The work evokes the sublime tradition of landscape painting, mingling feelings of awe and dread. Nimmo’s forest scenes appear devoid of human presence, yet alive with unseen energies and historical hauntings.
Nimmo’s work to date has focused on the forests of Australia, Aotearoa and Scotland, informed by both Australian and Celtic folklore and myth respectively. Recent works have shifted towards a more purely representational landscape, as Nimmo hones his focus on studying the landscape techniques of his forebears and patiently perfecting his craft. Myth and spiritual folklore linger throughout the works’ titles - Tarry no longer, The magician god, Witch wood, The sun, the moon and the four seasons — with these reinforcing the sense of mysticism and reverence in his paintings.
In this latest body of work, Nimmo frames our understanding of nature through a series of close-ups, creating an intimacy between us and the natural environment. Works are situated in the dark and mossy undergrowth of the forest floor, illuminated by slithers of ethereal light. Mushrooms spawn from tree trunks, drawing our eye to an often overlooked microcosm of nature. Water too becomes a central theme – sometimes still, sometimes rushing, flowing – Nimmo invites calm and tranquility to enter the gallery space.
Nimmo has previously incorporated painted framing devices of borders and Celtic braids into his work. Here, a dark forest green borders his paintings – the colour, a direct link to the natural environment. Yet, the border is also a reminder that this is ultimately a constructed image, Nimmo’s interpretation of the forest rather than direct mimesis. It is both an elegant formal device and a reminder that our view is often shaped by a Eurocentric legacy of art and culture, and by the eye of the artist.
