Shedding light on the big picture

“I’m an artist’s artist. I’m not a household name who appeals to people who buy for investment – people who buy my work literally fall in love with it, and then get loans and pay them off over ten years.”

That, in a nutshell, summarises Anne Judell’s philosophy. As she puts it, the connection isn’t immediately obvious, and for some people, it might never happen. “But it’s very gratifying, when you’ve been working alone in your studio for aeons, when you finally connect with someone who sees the world as you do.”

Although Judell has been working as an artist for some 40 years, she began by studying graphic design in Melbourne. It was a two-year stint in New York with her then-husband which opened her eyes to the possibilities of art, with exposure to the city’s numerous world-class exhibitions shifting her focus and interest from design to art, revealing to her what she describes as “a much deeper way of working”.

Judell says her work revolves essentially around one theme. “I’m exploring light, really. I showed an exhibition in Melbourne in August, and this exhibition builds from that.”

The exploration of light is a complex process, with the works conveying a sense of stillness and mystery through dense and tactile layering, revealing the history of their making. The drawing in and out, of light and shadow, gives the works a sense of gravitas, away from the ephemeral, “easily-digested” aesthetic Judell freely professes to be no fan of.

On her interest in her chosen subject: “Somebody said, ‘everything melts into light’. I’m very interested in Buddhist philosophy, in science, in the nature of matter, and if you take it far enough, this idea that the world is a bit of an illusion.”

Asked to nominate a favourite in this particular exhibition, however, she puts forward the ‘Frost’ series, with little hesitation. “I think maybe they surprised me more than the others,” she said. “I’ve done work that’s similar to some of the other pictures before, and I think they get closer to what I was trying to say.”

Anne Judell’s exhibition, ‘New Works’, is on display at Wilson Street Gallery, 30-34 Wilson Street, Newtown, until Sunday, August 1.