The Newcastle Chest 2010

Philip Wolfhagen
Tasmanian painter Philip Wolfhagen has made three oil paintings on red cedar panels in response to convict painter Joseph Lycett’s panels on the Macquarie chest. Sustained looking at Lycett’s work has endeared Wolfhagen to the convict artist’s many idiosyncrasies, including his dramatic cloudscapes and his detailed treatment of the landscape. The coastal landscapes depicted by Wolfhagen, including the distinctive sedimentary rock configurations, are at once a tribute to Lycett and the artist’s direct response to the Newcastle coastline.

^{Philip Wolfhagen Colonial endemic 2010
oil on Australian red cedar (Toona ciliata),
42.5 x 32.0 x 1.2 cm}

<sup>Philip Wolfhagen Waiting for trade winds 2010
oil and beeswax on Australian red cedar (Toona ciliata),
41.3 x 66.4 x 1.2 cm

Philip Wolfhagen Homage to JL 2010
oil on Australian red cedar (Toona ciliata),
42.5 x 32.0 x 1.2 cm

all works of art by Philip Wolfhagen courtesy the artist and Dominik Mersch Gallery, Sydney

The Newcastle Chest 2010
Commissioned by Newcastle Art Gallery
with the assistance of James and Judy Hart,
Robert and Lindy Henderson, Valerie Ryan,
Newcastle Art Gallery Society and
Newcastle Art Gallery Foundation
Newcastle Art Gallery collection

Cabinetmaker Scott Mitchell
Australian red cedar (Toona ciliata),
NSW rosewood (Dysoxylum fraserianum),
River red gum (Eucalyptus camaldulensis), tartan, glass
and brass fittings, closed: 53.0 x 71.0 x 46.0 cm</sup>

CURIOUS COLONY A twenty first century Wunderkammer is on display in the Gallery 10 July - 29 August 2010.