The exhibition The Fourth Veil is dedicated to key works on paper by Brett Whiteley. The title comes from his 1976 catalogue notes where he describes the discipline of observation as being the ability to "concentrate on one vision till it discloses its third and fourth veil".
Whiteley's use of the spontaneous and tactile properties of paper is celebrated in this broad ranging exhibition drawn from the collections of the Brett Whiteley Studio Museum and the Art Gallery of New South Wales. Major phases of the artist's career are represented with over 65 works on paper including his Oberon landscapes, palm and willow trees, Lavender Bay collages and screen-printed birds and animals. Although these images evoke quite different emotions, they are consistently compelling and engaging.
Known as one of Australia's most talented draftsman, Whiteley was passionate about curved lines and despised a hard geometric style. Many of the drawings and prints in the exhibition move and transform before our eyes and reveal new "skins of reality". One of his most famous drawings Shankar depicts the musician Ravi Shankar in a state of psychic and spiritual transport entranced by his own sitar playing. The rhythmic sounds of the sitar appear to hover in an ecstatic ambience.
Whiteley's passionate and tender depictions also rendered more playful and down-to-earth series of works such as his animals from the Regents Park Zoo in London, 1966. His drawing, Swinging monkey, captures the impudence, athleticism and carnality of a caged chimpanzee.
These works on paper are all drawn together by their physical flowing contours, oblique ambiguities and their 'skins of reality' peeled back revealing Whiteley's unique and striking visions.
- Sheona White, Curator of the Brett Whiteley Studio
EXHIBITION EVENTS
STUDIO OPEN DAY - Free Admission
Saturday, 26 July 2003, 10am - 4pm
DRAWING CLASSES � Free with admission
Saturday, 2 August 2003, 2pm
Loosen the Line Demonstration Drawing Class
Sunday, 3 August 2003, 2pm
Demonstration Life Drawing Class | 
