We’ve had our eye on Australian artist Skye Jefferys for quite some time. Way back in 2013, we were lucky to snaffle two of her beautiful paintings for our ‘TDF Open House’ event in Hawthorn… they were snapped up very quickly! We’ve since kept a close eye on Skye’s practice.
Its been a very busy couple of years for Skye since we last touched base. In 2013 she had her second child, and soon after that, moved to Singapore with her young family. ‘It’s very de-stabilising moving overseas, but thrilling at the same time’ she says of this time. ‘I had only a small box of watercolours, oils sticks and paper, so I experimented during this transitional phase. But once my studio was set up I quickly fell into a routine of painting full-time’.
Skye and her husband moved to Singapore with a sense of adventure in mind. ‘We both wanted to try living overseas at some point with our kids, to expose to them another culture and way of life. When the opportunity arose, we couldn’t say no’ explains Skye. ‘To me, Singapore is like a fragrant hotpot. All these different cultures come together, and the alchemy of it creates something vibrant and exotic’.
We’re so excited to bring Skye’s work back to Melbourne later this month for her first solo show on home soil! Entitled ‘Silk Skin Moon Cakes’, the exhibition brings together 17 new works on canvas, distinctive for their loose, gestural style and Skye’s use of vivid, buzzing colour inspired by her tropical surroundings.
‘Colour intrigues and perplexes me in equal parts’ explains Skye. ’I have pushed my colour palette with these works – referencing the emerald green of the tropics, orchid mauve and dragon fruit pink. It’s impossible not to be influenced by the nature surrounding me.’
Exploring the concept of having no boundaries, no start or finish to the paintings, Skye works on un-defined, un-stretched canvases, moving around the works so there is no sense of top or bottom. ‘Once a painting starts to feel resolved, I approach from a new orientation and begin again, this time using a new perspective’ explains Skye. ‘I try to push the composition to an unexpected resolution and, in so doing, find its edges’.
Each surface of Skye’s paintings is completely covered with vibrant colour. Skye’s dynamic brushwork is layered, intertwining and endlessly overlapping. At times the bold colours are discordant, and at other times they are harmonious, but Skye is always trying to create a conversation or a relationship between the colour and the form.
Skye is looking forward to seeing friends and family again when she joins us in Melbourne next week for the opening of this show!
All the works in the exhibition are now pictured on the TDF Collect website and we are accepting pre-sales for the show via email. All enquiries please email lisa@thedesignfiles.net – thankyou!
Silk Skin Moon Cakes by Skye Jefferys
24th Sept – 30th Sept 2015
TDF Collect
14 Little Oxford st
Collingwood, VIC
Opening drinks – Thursday 24th Sept, from 6.00pm to 8.00pm.
TDF Collect is sponsored by Dulux, Cervezas Alhambra and Capi. All are welcome to our opening night event to view Skye’s paintings in person and share a drink with us!
