The Vitality of Things : A solo exhibition by Amanda Watson

It is unlikely that Watson's works would be identified or described as landscape paintings if they were happened upon without context. Despite this however, they are more landscape painting than anything else. Made with and within environs of significance (to the artist), Watson seeks to capture various locales by literally mapping, tracing and rubbing them onto her canvas, a process which has been likened to plein air, yet contemporary, revitalised, more interesting. This "...balancing act between different experiences of a site, between representation and abstraction, indexical and gestural mark-making..." (as described by E. Hanfling and linked below) is Watson's territory, one which she has been working with for more than a decade now to create what has become a highly unique and powerful way of relating with place.