Margie Sheppard

Margie Sheppard is a South Australian based artist who lives and works in the Adelaide Hills. Her practice spans 30 years, during which time she has spent lengthy periods working almost exclusively as a printmaker.

Margie Sheppard’s new paintings and etchings show a transition to the most simple forms, leaving behind the figuration of her previous work. Simplicity and strength dominate. Some of Margie’s paintings are simply suspended rectangles of colour. They are spacious and transcend the everyday. The colours are luminous and become the subject of the paintings.

Her layered abstractions reveal surfaces hovering over more surfaces, densely coloured yet pulsing radiantly. It is a world into which the viewer can fall, absorbed by its depths. Her many years as a printmaker informs her decisions and powerful sense of colour structure.

The etchings are purely abstract but have more visual elements for the viewer to read. Shape, texture and colour all play their part to give visual meaning.

Margie’s new work has the same sensibility as her previous figurative images. The stillness and dream-like quality remain.