Others by Darryl Metcalfe
2 October – 17 October at Tactile Arts

Tactile Arts presents Others, an exhibition of painting, jewellery and sculpture by Darwin-based artist Darryl Metcalfe.

The title refers to the presences Metcalfe encounters while he works. "I love to create," he says. "Time spent painting or making has always been a precious place of solace for me." Each piece begins with a spark: an idea, an urge to explore a certain form or craft, an image held in the mind. He draws and sketches until he understands how it could be made. As the artwork unfolds he feels the energy of the idea communicating, moving back and forth as he listens to where the work wants to go, adding colour and form. Then, like a wave subsiding, the energy leaves and the work is finished. "I feel like a friend has gone, and I'm left with a memory, a physical reminder, a doorway to the inspiration. The energy of the other."

Mostly self-taught, Metcalfe has explored many different mediums and crafts in expressing his creativity, with acrylic and watercolour painting now the favoured method in his full-time practice. Two themes drive the work: the intuitive expression of his inner world, and process-driven abstraction. His colourful, imaginative paintings are filled with animism and personal folklore, giving form to unseen energies, beauty and the connection to the natural world. Alongside these, repetitive processes build his abstract works into meditative records of time spent in the joy of painting.

More recently, pearl shell carving has come to complement the painting. Making jewellery and carving designs into shell, Metcalfe is drawn to alternating between the dreamlike space of the canvas and the more grounded, physical practice of the hand. Now working full-time as an artist, he looks forward to seeing where his inspiration guides him.

Others brings these practices together as a collection of paintings, jewellery and sculpture reflecting on the inspired thoughts, daydreams and creative energies Metcalfe experiences.

On display 2 October – 17 October, Tuesday to Saturday, 10am–2pm, at Tactile Arts, 19 Conacher Street, The Gardens.

Opening event Friday, 2 October from 5:30pm.