View of Lake Ohau 1, by Denis O’Brien

Description

Views of Lake Ohau 1 and 2 record a visit to the site by the artist. O’Brien uses the tactics of representational art to convey both proximity and distance. Views 1 and 2 are separate images, but also make sense as a pairing, as the artist faced first in one direction then turned 180 degrees,  his back to the lake, to paint the other.

In the first image, we look over the grassland to the iconic lake and mountains. In the second, we see only the grassland, which is allowed to convey its own significance as a feature of this high region.

Interestingly, Tibetan monks now living in Aotearoa/New Zealand have spoken of the way this landscape, with its mountains rising from grassed plains, recalls their homeland.