Offing: Meg Gallagher
"The health of the eye seems to demand a horizon" - Emerson.
"Offing" is a collection of paintings that blend faraway horizons with the dynamic energy of
big, open spaces.
Inspired by the nautical term for the distant sea as viewed from the shore, each artwork
offers a unique interpretation of a vast environment.
Painted to leave the viewer with a sense of expansiveness, the connection to land, sky, and
water is evident. Fluid and undulating, the paintings are reminiscent of grand South Island
landscapes, where immense skies meet rolling hills.
Through abstract forms and textures, Meg draws on her background in fashion to create
canvases that are tactile. Each piece begins with the careful selection of materials, forming
a foundation that evolves with the application of ink and paint and blending textures and
hues to enhance or obscure seams, in a further play on the soothing notion of a horizon.
The artist recalls a story that is retold around the world in different languages.
In New Zealand, this version is of Ranginui and Papatūānuku, whose entwinement blocked
the light from their six children. Eventually their son Tāne Mahuta, god of forests and birds,
used his strength to force Father Sky and Mother Earth apart, separating the two entities.
