Hobie Porter's 'Mountain Shadow' and Finding My People
You are standing in a etherial white space – aka heaven. In this borderless space there are floating windows, each window's view looks out at a mountain range from the eyes of a soaring eagle. Welcome to Hobie Porter's Mountain Shadow - 24 paintings focused on and around Mount Warning in Tweed Valley (Northern NSW).
You don't need an artist's statement to comprehend the enormous endeavour he undertook to honour the infinite details of large-scale lush-mountain landscapes.
Just stand in front of one and you feel the magic.
To reiterate, these are not photographs.
The love and effort is in every square centimetre of the canvas. I took a few photos of different sections of 'Nocturne' and every section stands on its own.
Photos from the 'Nocturne' at Arthouse Gallery
At one point in my walk through I was broken from my spell of admiration by a portly older woman in a red and white silk designer pants-suit who grumbled, 'Why not just take a picture'?
Besides being an annoying thing to say and missing the point, this comment triggered my personal fears about what it takes to deal with people in the art world. I would rather be drinking tepid beer with interesting people, than licking lollies with bores.
On the other hand, at the Magritte Show at the NSW Art Gallery, I overheard another pair of ladies joking and appreciating how all the naked women have 'real bushes'. Now, these are my people!
At the end of the day, I'm scared that if I can't find 'my people/person' in the art world I will fall short of creating great things.
If you want to view what great things looks like, hunt down Hobie's work. Mountain Shadow is on at the Arthouse Gallery in Paddington until November 30, 2024. Say hi to the lady in red for me.
Read the full artists statement or listen to him below.