Maadi’s life on canvas

By Reuben Brand

Maadi Einfeld, aged 84, has just exhibited her latest show in a career that spans half a century.

Her exhibition Survey Exhibition 1963 ‘ 2008, held in conjunction with fellow artist and lifetime friend Eva Maria Barry, will be on show until June 1 at the TAP Gallery.

This exhibition is evidence that travel has been an important part of Maadi’s life and has obviously influenced her work. Distant memories of far off places leave an imprint on her canvases; from the magnificence of the Franz Joseph glacier, to the smell of blood and incense at a cockfight in Bali, the beauty of a Thai dancer or the cool touch of the Amazon.

Each work is ambitious in construction and expertly handled, and every brush stroke is bursting with life. 

Her career began in the early 1960s under the great Australian experimental artist Desiderius Orban who was unorthodox in his methods ‘ no time for mixing paints or colour blending. That would be learned along the way. ‘The stuff we painted was radical and brutal at times,’ Maadi said.

For this veteran artist, art is a fundamental living force and with every exploration she loses herself in her work: ‘Never just look at a painting, look into it.’

Maadi has held 14 solo exhibitions in more than nine countries and many more here in Australia.

Survey Exhibition 1963 ‘ 2008 is on show at the Tap Gallery, 278 Palmer Street, Darlinghurst, until June 1.

Upcoming exhibitions at the TAP gallery include Sheena Mackie’s Retrospective on display from June 2-8.