2004-2008
The Transplanted Bush offers a fresh perspective on the construction and representation of the bush brand, a paradigm that continues to play a significant and romantic role in the construction of an Australian national identity. The bush, as a space that is anti-city, an idea that generally relies on a British genealogy and one that is constructed according to hetero-normative strategies, plays a significant role in the creation of Australian identity because it is often regarded as the real Australia.
My research disrupts the representational terrain that is now understood to be the bush, to the point where the bush becomes an unintelligible space, as one that converges with ideas and signifiers derived from its Australian other, the urban and domestic spheres. My research collapses the boundaries between these spaces and ideas in an effort to erode the prevailing ideology of the bush paradigm as such a formidable cultural force. My aim is not so much about redefining Australian identity but rather to disrupt and playfully ‘refurbish the brand.’
My investigation has primarily been undertaken within the conventional means of paint and canvas and by employing some of the traditional hallmarks of landscape painting such as the horizon line and the iconic Australian gum tree. This approach allows me to focus my questions within a simple pictorial format and in a sense acknowledges that I am conducting my investigation within the brand. Like painting, the bush brand is able to absorb transgressions, but in doing so it hopefully takes a small step in becoming a more inclusive space and ultimately into representational terrain that has no edges.
Selected works from The Transplanted Bush were exhibited in the exhibitions Out on a Limb at Bathurst Regional Gallery (2004), Out on a Limb 2 at FCA Gallery University of Wollongong (2005), In Part at Helen Maxwell Gallery Canberra (2006) and The Transplanted Bush at Ivan Dougherty Gallery (2008).
The Transplanted Bush, Exhibition Views, Ivan Dougherty Gallery, Sydney, 2008
Sally Clarke, My Pink Bush and The Lost Limb, 2004, acrylic paint on plasticised paper, 44 x 31cm. Photo: Mixed Media Photographic Studios
Sally Clarke, My Pink Bush and The Lost Limb, 2004, acrylic paint on plasticised paper, 44 x 31cm. Photo: Mixed Media Photographic Studios
Sally Clarke, Some Time Later At Mrs Muirhead’s Station, 2004, acrylic paint on canvas, 13 x 17.5cm. Photo: Mixed Media Photographic Studios
Sally Clarke, Dismemberments: Remembering Manet, 2004, acrylic paint on canvas, 23 x 28cm. Photo: Mixed Media Photographic Studios
Sally Clarke, Dismemberments: Remembering Ernst, 2004, acrylic paint on canvas, 61 x 50.5cm, private collection. Photo: Mixed Media Photographic Studios
Sally Clarke, Forgetting Mr Boney’s Farm, 2004, acrylic paint on canvas, 51 x 66cm. Photo: Mixed Media Photographic Studios
Sally Clarke, After Knut Bull’s Carnage, 2004, acrylic paint on canvas, 25 x 35cm. Private collection. Photo: Mixed Media Photographic Studios
Sally Clarke, Some Stumps To Remember Our Great Artists By, 2004, acrylic paint on canvas, 84 x 84cm. Private collection. Photo: Mixed Media Photographic Studios
Sally Clarke, Carnage On The Great Western Highway, 2004, acrylic paint on canvas, 45.5 x 61cm. Photo: Mixed Media Photographic Studios
Sally Clarke, The Road To Brewongle, 2004, acrylic paint on canvas, 101 x 137cm. Private collection. Photo: Mixed Media Photographic Studios
Sally Clarke, Stumps Not Far From Bathurst, 2004, acrylic paint on canvas, 45.5 x 61cm. Photo: Mixed Media Photographic Studios
Sally Clarke, Stumps, 2005, acrylic paint on canvas, 53 x 65cm. Private collection. Photo: Mixed Media Photographic Studios
Sally Clarke, Crossing The Wire 1, 2005, acrylic paint on canvas, 91 x 91cm. Photo: Mixed Media Photographic Studios
Sally Clarke, Crossing The Wire 2, 2005, acrylic paint on canvas, 91 x 91cm. Photo: Mixed Media Photographic Studios
Sally Clarke, Crossing The Wire 3, 2005, acrylic paint on canvas, 91 x 91cm. Photo: Mixed Media Photographic Studios
Sally Clarke, Pine-O-Cleen Dream, 2006, acrylic paint on canvas, 91 x 91cm. Private collection. Photo: Mixed Media Photographic Studios
Sally Clarke, Phantom Rider, 2006, acrylic paint on canvas, 71 x 91cm. Photo: Mixed Media Photographic Studios
Sally Clarke, Phantom Rider 2, 2006, acrylic paint on canvas, 51 x 61cm. Photo: Mixed Media Photographic Studios
Sally Clarke, The Girl’s Lost Bucket, 2006, acrylic paint on canvas, 51 x 61cm. Private collection. Photo: Mixed Media Photographic Studios
Sally Clarke, Phantom Robbery, 2006, acrylic paint on canvas, 51 x 61cm. Photo: Mixed Media Photographic Studios
Sally Clarke, Out There From In Here, 2006, acrylic paint on canvas, 91 x 119cm. Private collection. Photo: Mixed Media Photographic Studios
Sally Clarke, Winnebago Dreaming (At Home By The Pink Lakes), 2006, acrylic paint on canvas, 91 x 122cm. Private collection. Photo: Mixed Media Photographic Studios
Sally Clarke, Baygon Days, 2007, acrylic paint on canvas, 91 x 122cm. Photo: Mixed Media Photographic Studios
Sally Clarke, The Freedom To Be Dirty, 2007, acrylic paint on canvas, 91 x 122cm. Photo: Mixed Media Photographic Studios
Sally Clarke, A Bush Burial, 2007, acrylic paint on canvas, 91 x 122cm. Photo: Mixed Media Photographic Studios
Sally Clarke, Loose Trousers, 2008, acrylic paint on canvas (triptych), 122 x 277cm. Photo: Mixed Media Photographic Studios
Sally Clarke, Funky Sponge 4WD, 2007, acrylic paint on canvas, 30 x 30cm. Photo: Mixed Media Photographic Studios
Sally Clarke, From Snowy River, 2007, acrylic paint on canvas, 30 x 30cm. Private collection. Photo: Mixed Media Photographic Studios
Sally Clarke, Off The Block, 2007, acrylic paint on canvas, 30 x 30cm. Private collection. Photo: Mixed Media Photographic Studios
Sally Clarke, Dingoes Are Wild, 2007, acrylic paint on canvas, 30 x 30cm. Private collection. Photo: Mixed Media Photographic Studios
Sally Clarke, Kangaroos Do, 2008, acrylic paint on canvas, 30 x 30cm. Photo: Mixed Media Photographic Studios
Sally Clarke, Out West, 2007, acrylic paint and mixed media on MDF, 25 x 35cm. Private collection. Photo: Mixed Media Photographic Studios
Sally Clarke, Don’t Mess With Bill, 2007, acrylic paint and mixed media on MDF, 25 x 35cm. Photo: Mixed Media Photographic Studios
Sally Clarke, The Bush Basher, 2007, acrylic paint and mixed media on MDF, 25 x 35cm. Private collection. Photo: Mixed Media Photographic Studios
Sally Clarke, The Bush Rocks, 2008, acrylic paint and mixed media on MDF, 25 x 35cm. Private collection. Photo: Mixed Media Photographic Studios
Sally Clarke, Down At The Oasis, 2008, acrylic paint and mixed media on MDF, 25 x 35cm. Photo: Mixed Media Photographic Studios
Sally Clarke, Solid As A Brick, 2008, acrylic paint and mixed media on MDF, 25 x 35cm. Private collection. Photo: Mixed Media Photographic Studios
Sally Clarke, Desert Queens, 2008, acrylic paint and mixed media on MDF, 25 x 35cm. Private collection. Photo: Mixed Media Photographic Studios
Sally Clarke, Phantom Forest 1, 2004, vinyl, acrylic paint on MDF, 70 x 125cm. Photo: Sally Clarke
Sally Clarke, Phantom Forest 2, 2004, vinyl, acrylic paint on MDF, 70 x 125cm. Photo: Sally Clarke
Sally Clarke, Phantom Forest 3, 2004, vinyl on ply, each piece 25 x 25cm. Photo: Sally Clarke
Sally Clarke, Spongescape, 2005, acrylic paint on canvas. Photo: Mixed Media Photographic Studios
Sally Clarke and Brenda Factor, Our Pink Tent, installed at Bathurst Regional Gallery, 2004. Photo: Sally Clarke