'In Australia, to be inspired by nature is really to be inspired by Country'

With bold brush strokes and beautiful colours, a retired journalist is using abstract art to speak a thousand words of love for the land.

"I love being in landscape,” Lyndon Keene said last night at the opening of his exhibition at Clifton School of Arts. “I find it often so peaceful, it's like a sanctuary.”

His new solo show, After Nature: A Homage to Country, includes 40 artworks fusing ideas and feelings in layers of paint and ink.

“My whole exhibition is devoted to the idea of Country, to not just acknowledge the First Nations peoples, but to show respect and gratitude,” Lyndon said. 

“Because the nature that I see, that I like to be in and appreciate – it's just so awesome around here – and a large part of that is because of the custodians who looked after it for tens of thousands of years. We owe them, so that's my approach to landscape.”

Lyndon was born in Kent in England, lived for 40 years in Aotearoa, New Zealand, where he became a huge admirer of Maori culture, and now calls Austinmer home. He studied art in the 1970s but dropped out to travel; for many years, he worked as a journalist. Lyndon started making art again about 25 years ago and has since exhibited widely in NZ and Australia, and been a finalist in several landscape art prizes. 

Shining through the layers of paint in his latest body of work are myriad memories of many places. Influences range from the visual culture of First Nations peoples to expressionism and colour field painters such Helen Frankenthaler and Mark Rothko.  

“When I'm in the landscape, I'm really observing it and sketching it and absorbing everything that's there – the smells, the sounds, the experience,” Lyndon said. 

“I like to get into a state where you're totally there, you're nowhere else, and it's timeless, and you just get a sense that you're part of that landscape, it's enveloping you. That’s what I really love about being in landscape, and that's just the kind of headspace that I like to be in when I'm painting in the studio later on, remembering that experience.

“Of course, that experience to me is very much like the holistic view of Country, it's really about being part of nature, it's being connected to nature, being grounded in it. 

“It's not just about the land, of course. It’s about the history, the stories, the myths, all of nature, everything that grows on it, with the idea that we belong to it, not it belongs to us. 

“I just love that idea, that philosophy. In Australia, to be inspired by nature is really to be inspired by Country.

“Possibly a lot of people don't realise what Country is. It's rich in wisdom. I think if people realised what it was and understood the idea, the philosophy behind it, people would appreciate that more, and appreciate nature and the environment more as well.”

After Nature: A Homage to Country is at the CSA, accessible via parking behind the gallery, open 10am-5pm until Sunday, June 14. Visit Lyndon’s website or follow on Instagram.