Unfolding Impermanence: Collage, Myth, and the Metaphysical Dimensions of Contemporary Painting
This project, featuring the 6m kinetic painting Public Dreams/Private Myths, begins with drawing and monochromatic analogue collage, where photographs and sketches are fragmented and reassembled into new forms as symbolic constellations. These haptic collages provide the foundation for large-scale paintings, in which figuration and abstraction unfold through layering, cutting, and recombination. Chance and intuition guide the process, allowing forms to emerge from chaos as echoes of archetypal images that straddle associations with both the personal and the universal. This project explores liminal states, where images dissolve into one another, unveiling metaphysical forces and creating dreamscapes that examine impermanence, transformation, and spirituality.
Leigh Woodburgess is a Melbourne/Naarm-based artist whose practice explores mythic imagery, archetypes and dream states within the visual realms of contemporary Art/life. Working primarily in large-scale, collage-informed painting, Woodburgess layers drawing and pigment to create immersive, shifting fields of figuration and abstraction. His work draws on comparative world mythologies, theosophy, and esoteric traditions, translating these influences into vibrant, intuitive and expressive dreamscapes. With a background in design, expanded painting and mixed-media processes, Woodburgess has exhibited in solo and group exhibitions across Australia and continues to develop projects and imagery that probe the unseen forces shaping human consciousness.