Art / Material Nature, ANU Drill Hall Gallery  until August 20. Reviewed by MEREDITH HINCHLIFFE.

In the catalogue accompanying this exhibition, we are told that the exhibition “explores how the materiality of an artwork enriches our experience, in particular the materiality of painting.” It appears to me that the works in the show are more about the surface.

The curator, Anne-Marie Jean, has written a thoughtful and interesting catalogue for the exhibition.

Annika Romeyn is exhibiting three large works. She used her height and arm reach to determine the size of Endurance 14, a nine-panel watercolour monoprint. It is a land and seascape of rocky outcrops and tidal ocean.

It is a haunting work, that could be thought of as tough, but as viewers are drawn in, they encounter the detail of the scene. She is also exhibiting a work twice as wide in acrylic ink and rust on paper, Wana Karnu. The detail in this work is also powerful and the dominates the gallery.

Ceramic artist Ros Auld, is showing five works in stoneware with crackle glazes. These works are also strong.

I found Landform the most compelling. Two seemingly separate vessels lean in towards each other, creating a large surface which Auld has used to “paint” a distant landscape. The glazes create the folds, hills and dips of the land, with the black and white sky hovering above them. It is exciting to see the work of such an experienced and confident potter.

Savanhdary Vongpoothorn initially might be assumed to be a textile artist, as her works on paper appear to have the characteristics of fabric. They appear to be soft, and tactile. Perforations on canvas or paper have tiny dots of applied paint, creating a soothing, repetitive pattern on the surface.

I was unfamiliar with Ana Pollak’s work. She works in claywash and either inks or oxides. She is exhibiting several pieces of carved timber and paintings on board.

The pieces of timber, such as Hidden and Track, both from 2022, bear linear carved depressions in the surface of the timber. We are told they represent the scared and eroded landscapes she has experienced in her travels around Australia. The clay wash creates a pale colour, and emphasises the natural contours of the land. She also layers, removes, incises and scrapes the surfaces of the paint on the plywood on which she works.

Garawan Wanambi carries the essence of the places and stories of his homeland. His paintings – or Miny’tji – are “considered living vibrations of every aspect of the land”.

The elaborate, delicate patterning in Marranju 2021 (in dark blue) and Marranju 2013 (in red/orange) could almost be textiles, with repetitive motifs on both. The titles reinforce the location they represent, his clan homeland of Raymangirr, where freshwater springs bubble up into saltwater.

I am unable to include each of the artists as this is a large and dense exhibition. The works all represent nature, one way or another, but in markedly different ways. It will call viewers back many times.