Rohin Kickett – Exhibition Walk Through
Gallery Director Ian Plunkett walks us through the 2022 Rohin Kickett solo exhibition at Japingka Gallery.
The two exhibitions opening at Japingka both feature landscape works.
They both use different technologies and aspects of landscape painting, and both are aerial views. In the first show, called Sandhill Country – Paintings of Inland Australia, you'll see paintings done traditionally, taking an aerial perspective. These are virtually maps of country but also the metaphysical and spiritual maps. In this Rohin Kickett exhibition, these landscapes are literal.
Rohin has used a drone to get images of the country, then he's translated those images onto canvas and used artistic licence to add to them. Rohin has an innate knowledge of this particular country around Lake Grace, the wheat belt region, and the Southwest of Western Australia. These paintings are exciting. They all have strong elements.
If you've ever flown over the country on an interstate flight to Melbourne, you would've passed over these salt lakes. I have marvelled at them from the air. Rohin has achieved a closer aerial view by using drones, which introduces richer colour. He's painted these lakes at different times of the year, so some of them have water in them. They also have different microbes in them, which changes the minerals. The natural process changes the colour of the water. In the Southwest, the pink lakes are famous for the microbes and the beautiful pink tones of the water.
The lakes in Rohin's work have orange, blue, grey, brown and even green tones. It's like flying over the country or walking into them. Rohin has also brought in the streetscapes from around those lakes. He is highlighting the farming that goes on around this region. It's a unique insight into this stunning country. If you were driving through at ground level, you would miss this perspective of how brilliant this country is. The country is flat, so all you would see are acres and acres of wheat and salt lakes. You wouldn't get any idea of the colour, the diversity and the spectacular vista visible from the air. That's what Rohin has given us in these works.
We are excited about this exhibition because it is Rohin's first major solo exhibition in Perth. We feel like we are introducing him to the world. We think he's a significant talent on the way up in the art world. I've never seen anything quite like his work before. It's exciting and beautiful. Already it has struck a chord around the world. A major Swiss museum has already snapped up one of these paintings. They're adding his work to their collection, confirming that we've come across a brilliant artist here. This exhibition runs from 3 June – 20 July 2022 and I urge you to drop by and see these stunning works.