[intro music]

MELANIE CASSIN: I am Melanie Cassin, Head Teacher, Visual Arts, from Bossley Park High School.

DANIELLE PALMER: And I'm Danielle Palmer, visual art teacher from Tempe High School, and we're here today to talk about 2 paintings that have been selected for ARTEXPRESS Virtual.

MELANIE CASSIN: Let's start with this one here.

DANIELLE PALMER: Yeah.

MELANIE CASSIN: Look, it's really interesting the student's use of a restricted colour palette here, and I think that use of blue really evokes that emotion of melancholy.

DANIELLE PALMER: Yeah, it really does. It's got that sense of memory or nostalgia. But there's a definite coolness to it that is quite a contrast, I think, with the subject matter.

MELANIE CASSIN: Yeah. Well, the student's investigating the genre of portraiture, which we see quite commonly. But they've really taken a really sort of innovative and unique approach with the restricted colour palette, and also, the people that they've chosen to paint as well, these could be family members.

DANIELLE PALMER: Yeah, I do get a sense of the family unit. But there's also that sense of separation from-- like a generational shift. That's why they're on separate panels, it feels like. But the fact they're really staring at us, the audience, they're really engaging with us. It's quite powerful that they're holding our gaze.

MELANIE CASSIN: Yeah, it is very thought-provoking, and the use of light and tone is quite sophisticated. The student really has developed strong skills in how to manipulate paint, and they've been able to really represent light and dark shade quite well.

DANIELLE PALMER: Yeah, AND on that point, the composition is quite-- once you look at it for long enough, you realise that the light's hitting this side of the mother's face-- well, what I'm assuming is the mother.

MELANIE CASSIN: Yes.

DANIELLE PALMER: On that side of the father's face, the light is coming from this child. So, it's like that's the light in their life, almost. That's what I'm getting from it. It's that sense of this child is the light in their life.

MELANIE CASSIN: The family unit is definitely coming strong. But then when I look at the title, which is 'SCREEN', I get a whole other sense of meaning coming from that, that are we now tapping into spending so much time on screens and the blue light that's reflected from screens? And this is quite sort of reminiscent and representative of lockdown and spending time at home on screens and connecting with one another on screens as opposed to real life.

DANIELLE PALMER: Yeah, beautiful. It's a very subtle nod to technology and what we've been through the last couple of years. But that sense of that, yeah, getting a bit more up close and personal on a screen, and there is that space in between us, and it's not as warm. So, that coolness, not just of the blue light of the screen, but actually that detachment from actually physically being together.

MELANIE CASSIN: Yeah, it's a detachment of the representations and, I suppose, their relationships, that there is separation happening, even though they could live within close proximity to one another. I also find the sophistication of just the clothing. It's really simple, everyday, what would you wear around the house clothing, but it's really frozen a specific moment and a specific thought. I definitely agree with the whole radiation from the centre portrait outwards as almost a sense of hope in the new generation.

DANIELLE PALMER: Yeah, yeah. Technically, the painting-- the level of technical ability this student has just demonstrated, it's stunning. It's consistent across all 3 of these paintings. There's not one weaker element in it. The eyes are just so beautifully done-- that wetness, that beautiful shine. And noses, I mean, we know how hard it is for students to do a good nose. These are beautiful.

MELANIE CASSIN: Yeah. Excellent representation, likeness, the realistic painting technique is coming through the manipulation, which I think I would say is oil, looking at the sheen, the slight sheen of the works.

DANIELLE PALMER: Yeah.

MELANIE CASSIN: Yeah, definitely, the expressions are captured beautifully because of that understanding of modelling and that understanding of tone to create that real 3-dimensional qualities within the face. There is a beautiful sophistication about that.

DANIELLE PALMER: Absolutely. It's a gorgeous work.

[upbeat music playing]