Your Custom Text Here
Joshua Yeldham - Child of the Storm
13 November - 7 December 2019
Opening night
13th of November 6-8pm - 909a High St, Armadale VIC
For Yeldham a painting is not a window onto the world but an instrument (sometimes even a musical instrument) that allows us to go beyond the visible. Ideally it’s also a tool for transformation, a vehicle for self-discovery…
Yeldham is a pilgrim, so enthused and stimulated by his quest that he can never visualise a destination. He’ll recognise it when he gets there - John McDonald, for Child of the Storm.
Scott Livesey Galleries - contact here
To view details about all works click here
Purchase Hard Cover Book/ 2019 Catalogue (Child of the storm) here
Acrylic and cane on hand carved clay board
182 x 244cm
Acrylic, rock, wire and cedar, hand carved pigment print on Dibond
182 x 260cm
Acrylic, cane and brass bell on hand carved clay board
200 x 244cm
Acrylic and cane on hand carved clay board
182 x 244 cm.
Ink and pigment print in box
14 x 22 x 4 cm
Acrylic and ink on hand carved paper
20 x 120cm
Acrylic, resin, and cane on hand carved clay board
204 x 152 cm
Acrylic, wood and string on hand carved clay board
152 x 102 cm
Acrylic on hand carved paper
210 x 210 cm
Acrylic, cane, bells and shells on carved clay board
182 x 122 cm
Acrylic on hand carved clay board
97 x 80 cm
Unique hand carved pigment print - series of 28
81 x 61 cm
Hand carved aluminium with cane
75 x 40 x 40 cm
Ink and pigment print in box
22 x 14 x 4 cm
Acrylic on hand carved paper
210 x 210 cm
Acrylic on hand carved paper
201 x 210 cm
Hand carved resin with cane
180 x 40 cm
Acrylic on hand carved paper
210 x 210 cm
Acrylic on hand carved cedar, lotus and bowl
50 x 40 x 20 cm
Acrylic and can on hand carved Huon Pine
250 x 63 x 63 cm
Acrylic on hand carved clay board
100 x 82 cm
Acrylic on hand carved paper
210 x 210 cm
Acrylic on hand carved paper
210 x 210 cm
Acrylic, cedar, pottery, drystone, shells and string
135 x 80 x 55 cm
Acrylic and musical instrument on hand carved clay board
97 x 80 cm
Carved Drystone on pigment print on dibond
159 x 150 cm
Ink and hand carved pigment print - series of 25
156 x 122 cm
Acrylic on hand carved paper
210 x 210 cm
Acrylic, cedar, bowl, lotus and hand carved board
200 x 40 x 34 cm
Acrylic on hand carved paper
210 x 210 cm
Acrylic on hand carved paper
210 x 210 cm
Acrylic and cane on hand carved clay board
182 x 122 cm
Acrylic on hand carved paper
210 x 210 cm
Acrylic, cane, fan and bamboo on hand carved clay board
182 x 122 cm
Acrylic and cane on hand carved clay board
182 x 122 cm
Acrylic on hand carved paper
210 x 210 cm
Musical instrument on pigment print on dibond
178 x 120 cm
Unique hand carved pigment print - series of 28
48 x 40 cm
Indigo ink on carved hand made paper
66 x 52 cm
Acrylic on hand carved porcelain
30 x 20 cm
Indigo ink on carved hand made paper
66 x 52cm
Acrylic and ink on wood
40 x 40cm
Drystone, cedar, acrylic and light
130 x 35 x 35 cm
Acrylic and cane on hand carved clay board
100 x 82 cm
Ink on carved hand made paper
78 x 77 cm
Ink and pigment print in box
22 x 14 x 4 cm
indigo ink on hand made paper
63 x 50cm
Acrylic on hand carved paper
210 x 210cm
Wynne Prize finalist 2019
Title
Lion Island, Pittwater
Medium
acrylic on hand-carved board with cane
Dimensions
191 x 253.5 cm
Further information
I am a painter in the dark swell of Lion Island. My boat rolls past the lumps at Broken Bay’s mouth to the calm waters of Smiths Creek, with her cicadas drilling and her still water. I imagine I will send my paint brush roots down, and settle in.
Joshua Yeldham, 2019
Wynne Prize finalist 2018
Bay of sorrow – Hawkesbury River
acrylic on hand-carved linen paper
209 x 208.5 cm
I paint in my tinny. I carve with a belt sander the tides of the Hawkesbury and eat away like a termite into the raw linen, lifting pulp between the eucalypts. Near me is a midden of oysters thousands of years old in this bay that feels so empty.
Joshua Yeldham
Joshua Yeldham’s new collection ‘Endurance’ nurtures a space where boundaries collapse and binaries converge. Through his highly symbolic visual vernacular, the artist takes us on an inward odyssey inspired by recent travels throughout Japan, Arizona and India, as well as his ongoing affiliation with Australia’s Ku-ring-gai and Hawkesbury regions. Working across painting, kinetic and musical sculpture, carved works on paper and photography, Yeldham explores the shared threads that weave cultural ideologies, philosophies and religions across East and West.
For Yeldham, ‘Endurance’ is about ‘going beyond’; about breaching the borders of personal limitation. ‘The parameters placed on our lives are porous’, he says. Embellished with signature tapestries of cartographic carvings, organic pigments and hand-made instruments, the works assimilates Indian Vedic philosophies about the cyclicality of existence with the philosophical and pedagogical tenets of the Japanese archery, or Kyudo. He also reflects on Arizonian Hopi cosmology and the ritualistic tradition of the kachina. Through this, the works in ‘Endurance’ represent a coalescence of local and global; personal and collective; history and contemporaneity. Voyaging through Yeldham’s existential vignettes, we become passengers privy to the artist’s inner world.
Acrylic and cane on hand carved board
160 x 210 cm
Acrylic and cane on hand carved board
160 x 210 cm
Acrylic on hand carved linen paper
201 x 201 cm
Hand carved pigment print (ed. 9/28)
140 x 120 cm
Oil and cane on hand carved board
204 x 152 cm
Hand carved pigment print (ed. 24/45)
147 x 145 cm (framed)
Hand carved pigment print on cotton paper (ed. 5/9)
120 x 180 cm
Acrylic, collage, resin sculpture, mbira assemblage on hand carved board
213 x 244 cm
Acrylic on hand carved linen paper
201 x 201 cm
Hand carved archival print (ed. 30)
115 x 113 cm (framed)
Hand carved aluminium with cane
60 x 30 cm
Acrylic and kinetic sculpture on hand carved board
244 x 213 cm
Hand carved pigment print on cotton paper, ed. 1/9
150 x 204 cm
Acrylic, cane and resin on hand carved cedar
120 x 56 cm
Acrylic on hand carved linen paper
201 x 201 cm
Acrylic, cedar and kinetic sculpture
214 x 140 cm
Acrylic and cane on hand carved pigment print on dibond ed. 3/9
144 x 294 cm
Acrylic and instrument on hand carved board
204 x 152 cm
Acrylic, cane, antique fans and instrument on hand carved board
182 x 122 cm
Acrylic on hand carved linen paper
201 x 201 cm
Archival pigment print on cotton paper (ed. 3/35)
100 x 77 cm
Acrylic and instrument on hand carved board
182 x 122 cm
Acrylic, cane, resin on hand carved board
124 x 93 cm
Acrylic on hand carved linen paper
201 x 201 cm
Hand carved pigment print with copper wire and cane on dibond ed. 5/9
144 x 281 cm
Acrylic on hand carved linen paper
201 x 201 cm
Acrylic, charcoal and ink on hand carved linen paper
201 x 201 cm
Hand carved pigment print on cotton paper (ed. 5/9)
150 x 160 cm
Acrylic and instrument on hand carved board
213 x 244 cm
Acrylic and cane on hand carved board
204 x 152 cm
Acrylic on hand carved linen paper
201 x 201 cm
Acrylic on hand carved linen paper
201 x 201 cm
Acrylic on hand carved linen paper
201 x 201 cm
Hand carved cedar, cane, steel base
282 x 86 x 50 cm
Hand carved pigment print on cotton paper, ed. 9
100 x 100 cm
Hand carved pigment print on cotton paper
150 x 204 cm
Acrylic, cedar and kinetic sculpture
214 x 122 cm
Wynne Prize finalist 2017
Mother tree – Morning Bay
acrylic on hand–carved paper
210 x 210 cm
Over a period of 11 years, I have sat beneath a powerful grey mangrove in a remote lagoon near Pittwater, NSW. On thick hand-made paper, I have carved her trunk with a belt sander, digging through the ink to reveal her – a scarification of carved lines that build a bridge over the vast landscape towards my inner world.
Joshua Yeldham
The Rishi is regarded as a sage, one who sees with an expansion of vision. The wider spectrum of human life. I believe that we have higher conversations with ourselves in nature, directing us to our own wilderness and the ability to embrace change and mobilise us towards higher ground.
- JY
Acrylic on carved board
214.00 x 244.00 cm
Shellac ink and acrylic on hand carved linen paper
200.00 x 200.00 cm
Oil and cane on hand carved board
102.00 x 76.00 cm
Acrylic on carved board
152.00 x 204.00 cm
Shellac ink on hand carved linen paper
196.00 x 196.00 cm
Acrylic, drum, cat gut on carved board
204.00 x 152.00 cm
Hand carved resin with cane
80.00 x 23.00 x 23.00 cm
Shellac ink on hand carved cotton paper
117.00 x 100.00 cm
Shellac ink and acrylic on hand carved board tray
42.00 x 41.00 cm
Studio cast aluminium with cane
60.00 x 24.00 x 24.00 cm
Shellac ink on hand carved linen paper
196.00 x 196.00 cm
Drawing from a reverential love of nature and deep spiritual affiliation with the land, Joshua Yeldham creates intricately rendered works that oscillate between narrative and myth, imagination and real experience.
‘Owls of Kyoto’ marks an aesthetic departure from Yeldham’s renowned representations of the Australian wilderness, manifesting his inner imaginings along a recent journey to Japan. Fulfilling his long-time dream of creating art in Kyoto with his family, the artist’s unique hand carved prints are inspired by his travels, temple climbs and experiences harvesting Japanese indigo leaves. Allegorical representations of owls – significant animals in the symbolic currency of Japan, said to bring luck and offer protection from suffering – embody Yeldham’s profound and personal connection with nature. ‘These owls represent my need to merge with the natural environment’ he says; ‘they are loving owls, still and creative’. An ongoing source of inspiration, the owl allows the artist to submerge himself in the foreign environment of Kyoto on the wings of this familiar motif. Embellished with his signature patterning and free-formed carvings atop earthy pigments, the works signify his quiet communion with the natural world and willing surrender to forces that elude our control. The owls, believed by many indigenous cultures to be messengers and carriers of wisdom, deliver these deeply personal affiliations to the viewer.
Unique carved and stained archival pigment print on cotton paper (ed/25)
120 x 100 cm
Unique hand carved archival pigment print on cotton paper (ed/28)
116 x 90 cm
Unique hand carved archival pigment print on cotton paper, cold mounted on cotton board (ed/28)
170 x 145 cm
Archival pigment print on cotton paper, cold mounted on cotton board (ed/50)
100 x 80 cm
Archival pigment print on cotton paper, cold mounted on cotton board (ed/50)
150 x 120 cm
Archival pigment print on cotton paper, cold mounted on cotton board (ed/50)
100 x 122 cm
Unique hand carved and stained archival pigment print on cotton paper (ed/25)
185 x 150 cm
Unique hand carved and stained archival pigment print on cotton paper (ed/28)
100 x 100 cm
Archival pigment print on cotton paper (ed/50)
100 x 94 cm
Archibald Prize finalist 2013
Self-portrait: Morning Bay
instrument, cane, shells and oil on carved board
200 x 244 cm
‘All the elements in my Self-portrait: Morning Bay could be seen as representations of who I am: the owl, the mangrove tree, the instrument and the figures resting on the tree branch,’ says Joshua Yeldham.
Yeldham’s work explores a spiritual connection to landscape. He now works on the Hawkesbury River.
In this self-portrait, Yeldham says that: ‘the instrument describes a connection between science and nature, the melody that science played, surprisingly, in my own life when my wife and I were trying to have children through IVF. The owl, the tree and the instrument have been incredibly potent energies in my work over time, but they also change and shift in their meaning, just as the mangrove tree seeks stability in the mud.
‘In the figures there is a sense of myself as a developed creative force, but also a version of my young self, holding a brass bell, which is my link to the melodic, the creative: a very vulnerable form. On either side are two mysterious forms, which are probably my children. I didn’t consciously set out to include them in a self-portrait. But maybe they are so powerful that they decided for me!’
Born in Sydney in 1970, Yeldham has a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Rhode Island School of Design in the US. He is represented in the Wynne Prize for the fourth time this year and has also been in the Sulman Prize twice.
Yeldham’s work is a mapping of multiple realities. It charts the artist’s travels among the mangroves, the disused oyster leases and along the salty foreshores near Pittwater. Yeldham’s cartography moves within this world and without. He is not limited by the materiality of reaching tree limbs or the muddy matter of swamps. His paintings and photographic works move beyond the human-perceived environment. Instead, he deliberates on the fragile spaces in between, the liminal places in his heart and mind where imagination soars and intellect sings. He says, ‘the space between two lines is what connects us.’
Oil and cane on carved board
152 x 204 cm
Carved paper with shellac
120 x 110 cm
Oil and cane on carved board
200 x 244 cm
Shellac on unique carved pigment print on cotton paper
150 x 160 cm
Oil, cane, shells and musical instrument on carved board
153 x 204 cm
Oil and cane on carved board
152 x 204 cm
Unique carved pigment print on cotton paper
126 x 180 cm
Shellac on unique carved pigment print on cotton paper
160 x 150 cm
Shellac on unique carved pigment print on cotton paper
160 x 150 cm
Carved paper with shellac
100 x 120 cm
Oil and cane on carved board
204 x 152 cm
Shellac on unique carved pigment print on cotton paper
150 x 160 cm
Carved resin with cane and wire
55 x 30 x 30
Unique carved pigment print on cotton paper
160 x 150 cm
Oil on carved board
204 x 152 cm
Shellac on unique carved pigment print on cotton paper
160 x 150 cm
Oil, shells and wood on carved board with bronze bell
204.00 x 152.00 cm
Oil and cane on carved board
200.00 x 244.00 cm
Oil, cane and clay on carved board
200.00 x 123.00 cm
Shellac on carved French paper
100.00 x 120.00 cm
Oil and cane on carved board
153.00 x 203.00 cm
Oil, cane and instrument on carved board
203.00 x 153.00 cm
Oil, cane and clay on carved board
200.00 x 244.00 cm
Shellac, ink, oil and cane on carved board
76.00 x 76.00 cm
Shellac on carved French paper
120.00 x 100.00 cm
Oil and cane on carved board
204.00 x 152.00 cm
Gouache and oil on carved Nepalese wood
43.00 x 43.00 cm
Oil, cane and clay on carved board
152.00 x 102.00 cm
Shellac on carved board
49.00 x 49.00 cm
Shellac on carved French paper
120.00 x 100.00 cm
Shellac on carved board
30.00 x 40.00 cm
Oil and cane on carved board
India ink, oil and cane on carved board
122.00 x 92.00 cm
Carved pigment print - unique
121.00 x 121.00 cm
India ink and oil on carved board
122.00 x 92.00 cm
Carved pigment print - unique
126.00 x 180.00 cm
India ink, oil and cane on carved board
122.00 x 92.00 cm
Carved pigment print - unique
120.00 x 180.00 cm
There is a graphic intensity to Josh Yeldham’s latest works that is rarely – if ever – seen in contemporary art. This is the work of both an obsessive artisan and a potent visionary. This is the stuff of dreams made solid, carved impeccably, stroke by miniscule stroke, tethering the smoky regions of memory and mind onto a solid surface.
Each of us will see our own dreams here. We will try and grapple with why these images seem so immediately recognisable and then realise we have never seen them before outside of somnambulistic flights of fantasy. We will think of the iconography of Eastern mysticism only to realise that this is a ruse – it may be an influence but these images are very much Yeldham’s own.
Of course they are not paintings per se. But nor are they sculptures as we have come to know that term. Technically these works are truly unique, beautiful hybrids of craft and vision.
Technically they are works by a youthful master.
Carved board with oil, shellac, resin and cane
152 x 120 cm
Carved paper with shellac
200 x 200 cm
Carved board with oil, cane and musical instrument
182 x 244 cm
Carved board with oil and cane
152 x 240 cm
Carved board with oil, fibreglass and drum
152 x 240 cm
Carved board with oil , cane and shells
182 x 122 cm
Carved paper with shellac
200 x 100 cm
Carved paper with pigment
98 x 148 cm
Carved board with oil and cane
240 x 152 cm
Carved paper with pigment and shellac (series 1/20)
145 x 96 cm
Carved board with oil, fibreglass and wood
120 x 92 cm
