SKY DREAMING: Visions from Above by Paul Hoelen and Tom Polacheck

SKY DREAMING: Visions from Above is a new exhibition featuring the work of Paul Hoelen and Tom Polacheck –  an expose of powerful and evocative abstract aerial imagery from around the world.

Artist statements

Paul Hoelen

There's something about taking to wing and leaving the normal plane you travel on that allows you to create a whole new perspective and relationship with the world around you. As you rise into the sky, physical structures and hidden intricacies begin to reveal themselves in greater complexity and depth. The true immensity of a landscape, level of interconnectivity, and impact of man can be unveiled in a way that’s simply not possible from the same linear plane. 

By taking the horizon away and any sense of scale and isolating the subject contextually, the viewer is invited to move away from their more literal mind into more fluid and figurative paths of interpretation – and potentially into a broader realm of emotion, symbolism, and metaphor. Such is the magic, power, and invitation of abstraction. Perhaps even an echo of the dreamtime stories of the land’s creation can whisper through if you listen closely enough…

Tom Polacheck

Flying is like dreaming. The world feels both familiar and alien when experienced from above. One recognizes the concrete objects of everyday reality but these merge into abstract shapes and colours. One is immersed into a reality that seems as if it could have only been created by the imagination. Yet, at the same time, one is conscious that it is only our earth from a different perspective. Patterns, connections, and relationships reveal themselves that are only discernible at scales and angles beyond those observable when one’s eyes are anchored to the ground. I become overwhelmed with wonder and awe at the beauty of the natural world below.

There is liberation and euphoria when flying combined with an understanding of our own individual insignificance. Humans are mere specks of dust upon the broader landscape. I am confronted by the ability and scale at which man can and has refashioned the physical landscape. The scales of these alternations are immense - so little of it remains untouched. Nevertheless, these created landscapes are often beautiful, fascinating and inspiring. This engenders ambiguous feelings and provokes questions about human’s role, needs and responsibilities toward the earth we live in.

Viewing times

Mon - Thurs: 9am - 4pm
Fri: 9am - 3pm