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LYRICAL ABSTRACTION WORKS

Throughout much of the 1970s I had been developing painting ideas in an abstract mode, where I used colour in an emotional and expressive manner. These works used mainly large more fluid colour expanses that were punctuated with various colour notes and chords around the idea of the landscape and the sea; but only as a very loose reference.
Exuberance and excitement of each aspect was like improvisation in jazz music. In an exhibition at the Warehouse Gallery (now closed) in Melbourne in 1977 my whole show had jazz titles: Be Bop, Riff, Jam session, Homage to Birdie, Ellington, and Basie, to name some. The opening of the exhibition featured a jazz trio and I 'sat in' and played my saxophone.
A major aspect of many of these paintings during this period was a compositional idea of 'the empty centre', where various painterly marks hugged the edges of the paintings, holding other colours and forms 'in check' to create some form of tension across the paintings' surfaces.

PAINTED TRAM

This commission, by the Melbourne Metro Tramways Board and the Victorian Ministry of the Arts, was perhaps one of the last lyrical abstractionist works that I did, before abandoning that idea in favour of a new challenge.

	For Jevan 1975 Oil on Linen 244 x 183 cms Private Collection
	Shadow 1978 Oil on Linen 244 x 183 cms Private Collection
	Grey Space 1978 Oil on Linen 244 x 206 cms
	Sandringham 1978 Oil on Linen 244 x 206 cms Southern Health coll.
	Jam Session 1977 Oil on Linen 152 x 122 cms
	Expanding Blue (Diptych) 1973 Oil on Canvas 244 x 366 cms Monash University coll.
	Expanding Blue No.2 1973 Oil on Linen 137 x 213 cms Private Collection
	Sandringham 1978 Oil on Linen 168 x 122 cms

Homage to Birdie 1977 Oil on Linen 91 x 152 cms Private Collection		Summer's Over 1978 Oil on Linen 152 x 122 cms		Heyendah 1975 Oil on Linen 168 x 312.5 cms
Basie 1978 Oil on Linen 206 x 305 cms		Be Bop 1976 Oil on Canvas 137 x 122 cms		Ellington 1977 Oil on Linen 206 x 366 cms
Orange with Black Mark 1975 Oil on Canvas 183 x 152 cms		Composition 1976 Oil on Canvas 152 x 122 cms		Morgana 1977 Oil on Canvas 106.5 x 91 cms
		Painted Tram 1979 Commission - Melb. Metro Tramways Board and Vic. Ministry for Arts