REMOVALIST 6 March – 30 March 2024 SIMON BLAU The state of the world is problematic the way a painting is problematic. In both, relationship is all important. In these works, illusory space—that produced by mirrors—forms the main subject. Other works are concerned with areas of confrontation—land and sea, land and sky—where evidence of troubled relationship is often most visible. Contemplating such spatial zones through painting, and the activities that exist (or fail to exist) within them, has been a way of both questioning and appealing for meaning within an otherwise confusing world. -Simon Blau Simon Blau is a Sydney based artist, who’s work uses painted abstraction to explore the nature of existence and the tenuous link between materiality and immateriality. Blau’s work contemplates the true nature of painting, helping to visualise the various roles it plays within his practice, including action, interpretation and as object. As such, Blau’s paintings become a record of his creative intentions, investigations, thoughts and choices, exploring its ability to transcend objects and ideas beyond reality. ‘When you are painting there is a meeting point between the reality of the material world and an internal world. It is the flux between these two points that interests me’ – Simon Blau Simon Blau lives and works in Sydney and has been exhibiting regularly since the early 1980s. His work is held in numerous private and public collections including The National Gallery of Australia, The National Gallery of Victoria, Wollongong City Gallery, Artbank and the Baillieu Myer Collection of Contemporary Art, Melbourne.