Introduction
Jay Pearse’s work fits naturally into the tradition of Australian landscape art. Like some of our earliest landscape artists, she originally studied art overseas (in her case in South Africa). She first saw the Australian landscape as a young adult and in relation to the landscape she had grown up with. Her adaptation of the Australian landscape to her own painting style echoes the approach of more recent painters such as John Olsen and Fred Williams. Pearse’s work is not, however, simply a depiction of a visual landscape but a meditation on the visual, mediated by her own personal life experiences and thoughts.
Although relationships between Pearse’s work and her life are apparent, her work is dominated by several major themes.
Presence, Absence and Transience