Old barn on the Hawkesbury

This light-filled drawing evokes the abandoned silence of an old barn near Windsor, a historic farming district on Sydney’s western outskirts, where Greg Hansell has lived for over 30 years. The rusting structure is emblematic of the changes the artist has witnessed to this now semi-rural area, which has been increasingly built up by an ever-expanding metropolis.

Hansell is particularly interested in capturing the weathered surfaces of this agricultural ruin. Close-cropped and monumental, the building dominates the image while appearing vulnerable to the encroaching, overgrown grasses in which it sits. The glimpse of the sunlit river beyond reminds us of a far more timeless landscape that has endured beyond its more recent agricultural use.

Fascinated by deteriorative processes and the morphing of a material’s colour and texture over time, Hansell incorporates his interest in the connections between elemental forces, time and place in his use of materials – his drawings are composed of crushed rocks and clays that he uses to create his own pigments, which he describes as ‘earth pastels’.