Artwork: Underpass, Holder 2013
Artist: Christopher Oates
Medium: watercolour and gouache on paper
Dimensions: 26 x 31cm
Acquisition: An acquisition of the ACT Legislative Assembly Art Advisory Committee, 2013
Asset no: OLA001986
About the Work
Oates uses his skills to record Canberra’s history and the contemporary urban landscape. His works record both Canberra’s history and the contemporary urban landscape. The artist accesses reference material from the ACT Heritage Library for works showing the new suburbs emerging in Canberra in the 1950s. His research into the historical record informs the detailed approach he takes to current views and his appreciation of the undramatic spaces: empty blocks, development areas, culverts and underpasses.
About the Artist
Oates is largely self-taught and came to art at a late stage in life. He has been painting since 1995. Gouache is his preferred medium as it allows an attention to detail that he strives for. His work is informed by history, and he has a liking for the interstitial spaces: empty blocks, development areas, culverts and underpasses. His work is often privately commissioned to record a place of personal significance.