Artist Profile — Vania Lawson
Celebrated Perth / Boorloo-based artist Vania Lawson has been exhibiting within Australia for over three decades. Her work is represented both nationally and internationally in numerous institutional, corporate and private collections.
“Shadows, depth & light are all essential to my artworks. They drive my composition and inspire the creation of the finished piece. I like to paint what has been forgotten. I work with absences and silences, and create from the light and shadows that surround me. My process is one of creating, then destroying the painted landscape, but always leaving a footprint of what was there by rubbing back into the work. This is how the layers within my work build up — currently, in some of my works, I prefer to paint with a smaller range of hues and use tonalism within the landscape to create the work.
Illuminated by light and shadowed by darkness, the landscapes I paint are transformed by the changing of the light of day. Dawn til dusk. Sometimes my landscapes dance, but in other works the mood is quiet and withdrawn, showing a humbling, and honouring of the beauty in front of me.
I want my artwork to convey a journey through hints and layers. Whispers and echoes of memories past — creating a timelessness which is visually engaging; one that provokes elusive, fleeting glimpses into our own psyche.”
