Bio
Di Cubitt is a visual artist originally from the U.K., living in Perth, Western Australia since the nineties. She worked as a glass artist for 14 years in Fremantle before studying fine arts at Curtin University (painting major), graduating with honours in 2007. Since then she has been exhibiting regularly with five solo shows, and participation in over 50 group shows, invitation and selected art awards (for full details see CV page). She has been selected as a finalist in the Albany Art Prize, Royal Perth Art prize for Landscape, 2017, 2018 and 2019 and is represented in Perth by Stala Contemporary. She currently works in the School of Art at Curtin University as a drawing lecturer. In 2019 Di was awarded highly commended for her painting, Frankland Riverscape, in the Perth Royal art prize .
Artist Statement
The key concepts behind my work explore ideas about the transience of life using elements taken from the natural world. My work explores ideas about nature and the environment, our interaction and relationship with it and our response and to it.
The constant changes in our environment and elements of nature may move slowly or rapidly, violently or calmly, the method chosen to explore these ideas reflected in the final works that emerge. My paintings sit somewhere between process and representation, aiming to capture the continual flow of change within my subject matter. Whether liquid paint flowing across a canvas or the slow building of a surface through glazing and brushwork, I aim to evoke in my paintings a sense of the passage of time, memories of things seen or sensed, a continuous cycle of events in an ever changing world.
2021 The paths less trodden
The paintings in this exhibition bring together a body of work that is a response to a long engagement with aspects of the natural environments of two very different locations in the west Australian landscape. Through a focused attention to the imaginings and psychological responses that occur while exploring these environments I have responded with a variety of approaches that reflect on humankind’s relationship with landscape.
2019 Perth Royal Art Prize for Landscape - Winner Highly commended
Frankland riverscape, 2019, oil and gesso on board, 22.5 x 122.5 cm framed
Judges’ Comments
“The judges were impressed with the technical confidence and skilful realism of this romantic landscape, presented like a poem through a visual journey. Cubitt’s personal association with a particular place imparts a profound connection with the landscape and underpins how Western Australians engage with their environment in individual ways. The image of the river is presented in a challenging panoramic format where the integration of panels forms a coherent, structured whole.
There is confidence in the formal aspects of constructing a landscape achieved at a high level of competence.
Cubitt’s absorbing work is process driven; the loose wet paint is as integral a part of the work as the imagery.”
Exhibition Artist Statement - Inside outside - 2018
Inside outside was an exhibition of large scale oil drawings that explored themes around how our perception and experience of being in the landscape is affected by imagination, myth and memory. These immersive drawings evoke a sense of being in the space, of the atmosphere, light, mood, and isolation, the pared back monochromatic palette creating a feeling of otherness and unfamiliarity.
Exhibition Artist Statement – Transience - 2011
The works for this exhibition continue my interest in the natural world. Observing the ever-changing nature and the many life cycles that are a part of a garden has highlighted the fragility and transient nature of not only the plants that surround me, but of all living things. Subject to the vagaries of the elements and human intervention, the balance between life and death is easily tipped.
Aspects of time are woven into these paintings, whether a momentary glint of sunlight captured on a leaf, a pause as something is suspended mid fall, the brief life and fragile nature of a cut flower, all have the power to remind us of life’s transience.
Drawing inspiration from the artists of the Baroque, these paintings are also concerned with the play of light and the effect it can have on the otherwise overlooked, revealing hitherto unseen details and colours.
Exhibition Artist Statement - Liquid Thought – 2007
My inspiration for the work in this exhibition stems from my interest in how we perceive the elemental forces of our world, such as the movement of wind, thermals, air pressure and so on. These phenomena are more often felt than seen, but the marks left on the materials they come in contact with are a visible reminder of their existence.
Water, in particular has a special fascination providing the perfect surface for reflection, in both a meditative and material sense. The constant movement, gentle or otherwise, presents to us a procession of ever-changing images; its passage always leaves unique patterns in its wake.
The methods and techniques used in the making of these paintings - particularly that of poured paint - reflect the exploration of these ideas and the thought processes that inform them. Each step taken is a response to the previous steps - making connections, building layers and drawing together threads. Working within this process - allowing the paintings to develop in this way - the outcome can be as unpredictable as the elements that inspire them.