Ken Delzoppo was born in Melbourne and has been painting since 1985, having had numerous exhibitions in Northern NSW and South East Queensland since then. He has lived in the bush between two landmarks...Mt Warning & Byron Bay for 34 years and feels he belongs to this place rather than owns it.

The fecundity of his home, the wild, close, confronting and changeable environment have become inspiration for his artwork and by moving through the landscape, by driving or riding, he surveys the landscape. He thinks about maps which are a 2D representation of a 3D form and reduces the landscape to a series of marks that are symbols for different aspects of the landscape as seen from above (reminiscent of Fred Williams and John Olsen's unique handwriting and the mapping of land by Aboriginal artists).

Using ink and brush he seeks to develop a personal set of calligraphic signs to represent landforms such as trees, rocks, cliffs and creek, and his marks are a spontaneous response to his subject, not unlike the way in which Buddhist Zenga painters of the Edo Period in Japan approached their subjects.

He will arrange overlapping layers of spontaneous brush strokes with more detailed monoprinting and 'plain' washed/textured pieces of paper, carefully gluing and layering the papers, telling us his story. Then he will deconstruct it by ripping it up, then reconstruct it by rearranging the pieces and gluing them together.

Ken encourages us to think about the passage through the landscape, like a fellow traveller on the path of life, and his work gives us a kind of map complete with own yard stick to measure our journey along the way.

NEW! Timbered Hillside (1500 x 900mm)
Ink on Nepalese Paper on Plywood

NEW! Gorge (1200 x 600mm)
Ink on Nepalese Paper on Plywood

Short Walk (600 x 700mm)
Ink & Monotype on Nepalese Paper on Plywood