The Golden Light

Everyone is in a rush.

There is something almost countercultural about stopping. To watch a sunset is to stop. To embrace the light — and the silence. Not photographing it. Not posting it. Just standing there, watching, until the light drops below the horizon. Silence turns to night. But first, before darkness, the sky glows.

The sunset is one of the most painted subjects in the history of art, and one of the most photographed. The sheer volume of it has made it almost invisible. Cliché is the default. Breaking through it requires more than technical skill. It requires a distinct way of seeing and a unique way of making a permanent record of a fleeting moment. Not many artists have that rare combination.

Johnny K does. The Blue Mountains-based painter has spent years driving the mountains and back roads of rural New South Wales, setting up his easel where inspiration strikes — in paddocks, fields, mountain tops, cliff edges and along dirt tracks, working fast while the light lasts.

His canvases are physically heavy, with a unique and surprising materiality. House paint, aerosol and thick oil paint combine to create layered marks and a texture you can almost taste from across the room. The subject is atmospheric and fleeting. The surface is dense and permanent. The light slips away. The paint stays. That tension is at the heart of what makes these paintings work.

Johnny K grew up in Albury, riding his bike to the top of a hill to look out at an endless horizon. That early awe never left him. Rigorous training at the National Art School and the Julian Ashton Art School gave him the technical foundation to turn it into remarkable paintings.

He now paints in the tradition of the great Australian landscape painters – Streeton, Roberts, McCubbin, who understood that this light, this country, demanded to be seen on its own terms.

The Golden Light. The Greeks had a word for the kind of moment Johnny K pursues: kairos — time that is qualitatively significant rather than just chronologically measured. Charged time. The kind of moment that stays with you. These paintings make that experience visible and tangible.

In a world that moves very fast and rewards distraction, that is something worth celebrating. We invite you to celebrate it with us.

— Peter Aitken, Gallery Director, Wentworth Galleries