The undisturbed darkness of the Australian bush beckons, in paradoxical fascination, at once inducing fear, and a longing to be enveloped and immersed. The muted colour of the eucalypt forest crackles underfoot, echoing of gunshots and a distant yelp of an unknown animal, the glare of spotlights from a ute that leaves a trail of carnage in it’s path. Traces of the known seem to reassure in such darkness but also cast a disquieting presence.
We stumble into this darkness without invitation, a world where familiar objects beckon and yet prey upon us with a sense of foreboding and dread.
“The night comes to life in Tadich’s hallucinatory evocations….Tadich’s creations speak of an underlying disquiet within the Australian psyche:an inherent European distrust of the bush, and it’s capacity to unsettle, and to devour” Simon Gregg, New Romantics, 2011
“Camilla Tadich’s realist paintings of abandoned structures and detritus in the liminal zone where the forest meets the suburbs are a Baroque vision of the Australian bush. Tadich’s nocturnal excursions bring to light neglected corners of the world where entropy goes unchecked. Her refined oil paintings of broken down bush scenes have richness in their depths, they can be humorous, melancholy and menacing, often all at the same time” Tony Lloyd, 2017