This series of paintings continues the wider theme of an exploration of the ways in which human activity interacts with the natural landscape of northern Australia. See also the mining series [not yet completed] and the army paintings. It follows on from the four linked series of the Extreme Landforms Project. These small paintings of plants all originate from one small area, yet they evoke the history of the region, from Aboriginal use to that of the Macassan trepang fishermen who once visited these shores, to the pastoral industry of today.

Text from the exhibition catalogue

The exhibition ‘Upon this site –Darwin' highlights skills in observation and oil painting, through an artistic study of a small number of species of native plants in Darwin during a twelve month cycle.

Every cultivated or settled area on Earth displaces the natural vegetation cover.

Darwin, in tropical northern Australia, could be argued to be fortunate because a number of small areas of remnant vegetation can still be found within the built-up urban region. This can be compared with a large number of cities, where original species may be almost non-existent.

Christian Clare Robertson considered this issue when producing a series of 23 small to medium-sized oil paintings which depict an intimate view of a selection of plants that continue to grow in the wild in the city of Darwin. The choice of plants has been based on the artistic possibilities of each image rather than on botanical constraints. This is the flora that might have once grown on the sites of our houses, including the gallery where the show is displayed.

A related show on this topic was held in Adelaide, South Australia, in October 2009. Here the land was cleared within a short time period after settlement, with the result that very little of the original vegetation is left today.

It is hoped that the exhibition will introduce our flora to a wider audience, will familiarise locals with plants of their region, and will prompt us to consider the protection of local plants or the use of them in our gardens, because they are uniquely adapted to the prevailing conditions.

The small area of remnant bushland that forms the basis of this study is situated within the urban area of the northern suburbs of Darwin. Like most of these areas it is regarded as 'vacant land', and is no doubt destined to be built upon at some time in the future. Meanwhile, the bush has recovered well from being scraped for landfill during World War II, not to mention the damage sustained through various cyclones and the ongoing neglect which has probably saved it.

Several of the plants featured in this exhibition have been introduced for pasture improvement, including two vines and the notorious Gamba grass that is currently a subject of concern. But the majority evolved here, including the Taccas, a dramatic species of wet-season plants that are related to the Malaysian Batflowers. Many Wet Season plants are common but little known because they tend to die down or shed their leaves during the Dry Season.

The exhibition is a conjunction of forty years of professional art practice, thirty years of living and learning in the Top End, and with a blend of European and Aboriginal views of the bush. The paintings in this exhibition were a topic of passionate interest to several traditional elders, as they had never before seen the plants that mattered so much to them being treated with such artistic skill, reality, understanding and respect.

Together these works are intended to be a 'portrait 'of the bush land, and to give the viewer some insight into the character of the area as a whole. As the exhibition relates to the seasons the work is presented in a cyclic, continuous display.

All the paintings of the plants are based on digital photographs using a 'macro' enlarged image in order to give an intimate viewpoint. Many changes occur with the use of this enlarged scale, as it highlights the artistic possibilities and challenges of pictorial composition and emphasises the sculptural three dimensional aspects of tension, balance and weight.

Clare has used this opportunity to entirely reinvent her studio work practice in order to largely eliminate the use of oil painting solvents and additives due to their toxicity. For this reason the earlier works in the exhibition have been painted with water-mixable oils, and the later ones with traditional oils. This has necessitated a deeper understanding of many aspects of the painter's craft, such as the drying times and tinting power of individual pigments, that had seemed largely irrelevant until now. It has been a rewarding journey.

C. C. Robertson, Darwin, June 2010

Exhibited at Framed - the Darwin Gallery - June 11th to July 4th 2010