Darren Wardle
Past Artist In Residence
2004

The Australian painter, Darren Wardle, joined 18th Street as the Australia Council for the Arts’ Artist-in-Residence for four months in 2004. While here, Wardle developed a mass of research material in the form of digital and analog photography, in which he documented the suburban sprawl and mass of vernacular architecture of greater Los Angeles. After returning to Australia, he then developed these photographs into a series of finished paintings. In general, his paintings explore the extended possibilities of the painting process, resulting in seamless, nearly cinematic urban landscapes.

Continuously exploring new ‘spaces’ such as those produced by the after effects of the industry’s impact on the landscape, Wardle attempts to realize the “unreal” in his quest to capture manmade urban abstractions. Continuously exploring new “spaces” such as those produced by the aftereffects of the industry’s impact on the landscape, Wardle attempts to realize the “unreal” in his quest to capture manmade urban abstractions. Invoking the now iconic architectural phenomenon of the suburban office-scape, the artist, who sites Ridley Scott’s 1980′s classic cult film Blade Runner as a major influence, renders a seemingly post-apocalyptic view of his subjects.