Danilo Pravica comes to Australia with a firm grounding in European traditions and practices. He has been here for only a couple of years, and so we are in a position to see his European background being used to inform and to transform the Australian landscape and experience as he interacts with his new environment.

Pravica’s current exhibition consists of paintings of seascapes and figure studies, together with several prints. The seascapes consist of horizontal bands of blue and green in various tonal relationships. The horizontal structures convey a sense of the openness and flatness of Australian space, while the colour gives it depth. Warm and cool blues and greens merge and alternate creating endless possibilities. Pravica’s skill in handling paint is seen in his ability to intensify this overwhelming sense of space by further combining tonal variations and increasing intensities of light with splashes of complementary colour. A splash of red lifting off the water and into the light pushes the space back to infinity. In this way the horizontal bands interact with the light, and the strong colour contrasts evoke depth and breadth on both physical and metaphysical levels, although it is the physical which dominates.

In his figure studies it is the metaphysical which dominates. These studies show groups of heavily draped, shadowy figures ‘floating’ in mysterious, undifferentiated spaces. They give the impression of moving from one mysterious dimension to another in some strange, ritualistic procession or pilgrimage. Some seem to be in dialogue with others in the group, while others ‘drift’ in isolation. They are faceless or hooded, so that the direction of their movement is ambiguous. They could be coming or going. This intensifies the mystery, since the viewer is also placed in an ambiguous position. Are we meant to follow or to watch them depart?

As in the landscapes, Pravica plays with warm and cool colours. Some of the works show the figures moving in cool blues, while others wander about in warm reds and purples. Colour and shape are also used to create a mysterious tension between movement and stillness. At first glance the figures seem to be frozen in time and space, but on closer examination the vibrations of complementary colours create a sense of movement.

The prints, mainly aquatints, provide a pleasant contrast with the colourful paintings. These are made up of delicately drawn, mainly abstracted, figures in subtle tonal variations. Some viewers find these to be the highlight of the exhibition, but the entire show gives a sense of professionalism and is to be highly commended.