'Bendigo Skies / Sky
            Channels' 1997- 2001

            
A move to Bendigo resulted
            in a shift in approach to painting. The big skies of the high
            plateau in Central Victoria gave new impetus. The working process
            became more direct, emotive and less conceptual and codified.
            The large doorway size paintings were proceeded by hundreds of
            photos.,large pastel drawings and observations of changing seasons,
            moods,comet trails and falling space junk. The final work was
            a large panorama of star trails across the night sky at dusk
            The first series of these works were exhibited at the Bendigo
            Art Gallery. Later works were shown in Adelaide and Melbourne.

            
'Barrie Goddard's
            series of works, titled the Bendigo Skies challenges the idea
            of difference and refers to the fact that the skies are the same
            no matter where they are viewed from.'

            
Bendigo Art
            Gallery
            newsletter, June 1999

            
Goddard knows 'the
            knowledge' not to miss the natural phenomena of his paintings,
            as he lives with them, observing their shifting, day in day out,second
            by second, in tune with the weather they picture; his painting
            is a jamming with the light of the world.'

            
Chris Coventry,
            exhibition
            essay, 1999

            
 

            
The later works borrowed
            titles from popular music of the forties, fifties and sixties;
            East of the Sun,'Deep Purple, Come Rain or Come Shine,
            Blood Moon ... etc. Using the words of John
            Lennon to introduce the artists statement,



            'Imagine there's
            no heaven,

            It's easy if you try,

            No hell below us 

            Above us only sky.' 

            

            
It continued, 'Of constant
            drama the clouds of Central Victoria's high plateau build up
            and manoeuvre to cross the Great Divide. Where day skies define
            deepest blue, night skies devoid of interference display outback
            operatic clarity. Nature and culture circle each other in a gladiatorial
            theatre. The process of painting continuously re-enacts this
            drama - the idea of art as nature, of mimicry, of reality and
            abstraction challenges the artist to 'make magic'! 



            'At the mercy of Christ Child, 'El Ninio' and issues of
            global warming, boundaries dissipate, new conditions form and
            we look to the heavens.'
          
        
      

      

        
Bendigo Skies / Sky Channels
        : 1997 - 2001

        
 

      

        

          

            


            
Bendigo Skies, oil on canvas,184 x 92 cm, 1998
          
          
 
 
          

            


            
Bendigo Skies, oil on canvas, 184 x 92 cm, 1998
          
        
      

      
 

      
 

      
Remove and Shake Exhibition

      


      
Bendigo Gallery Installation, oil on canvas, 1999









      


      
Sky Channel,
      3 panels, each 184 x 92 cm, 2000

      
 

      
 

      
 

      
 

      
 

      
 

      
 

      
 

      
Sky Channel,
      4 panels, each 92 x 24 cm, 2001

      
 

      
 

      
 

      
 

      
 

      
 

      


      
Under Southern Skies, 4 panels 184 x 92 cm, oil on canvas, 2001

      
 

      


      
 

      
 

      


      
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