Uplift II

acrylic on canvas, framed

800mm x 800mm

2020

New Zealand artist Georgina Hoby Scutt works across a range of media, painting on linen, canvas, plywood and paper. Informed by her print design background, Georgie develops distinctive colour palettes that underpin each body of work. She intuitively puts her colours together, paints with broad expressive brushstrokes and aims to create strong and joyful artworks.

“For me, painting is challenging, therapeutic and hugely joyful all in one. I love to bring together colour palettes that sing and radiate a great energy. My brushwork is intuitive and energetic, and I’m inspired daily by the beautiful colours, landscapes and still life vignettes that surround me. 2020 has been unfamiliar territory for so many.

For us, the landscape changed dramatically when we moved the family to Argentina for six months. We arrived in Mendoza, at the foot of the Andes to dry heat and wide-open landscapes. We had just a few weeks of exploring the city before lockdown was announced. We bunkered down in our new house, thankful for the garden and the friendly neighbours. We baked and crafted and home-schooled and the children flew paper plane messages to the neighbours over the fence. I walked the blocks of our neighbourhood and wondered how I could get a taste of those stunning mountains and what was beyond them.

I painted this piece as an abstracted, expressionist landscape. It tells of dry, sun-faded colours of the earth and buildings, the warmth of the light and the people and the dark foreboding turmoil of the pandemic that was so unknown and ever-present.”