The Painter's Gallery - Pyrmont - Sydney - 1997
The Four Seasons consisted of five large paintings.
They were presented in the main exhibition space at 'The Painter's Gallery', concurrently I presented a parallel exhibition of some 30 small b/w drawings, in the side gallery.
One of a number of photographic studies taken in preparation for 'Spring'. (Photo: John Webber)
'You can't judge this book by its cover. Compare the man; reticent, charming, almost countrified - with the work, dreamlike, surreal, haunting. For Willis each exhibition brings a change in format and a shift in the language of paint. His critics often claim they can't get a handle on him - but is this such a bad thing?
Stephanie Munn - Vogue - 1987
Spring - Sprung
Summer - Sum - oil on canvas - 250 cms X 200 cms
Autumn - Fall - oil on canvas - 250 cms X 200 cms
Winter - L'hiver - oil on canvas - 250 cms X 200 cms
Winter, figures against an icy landscape, black silhouettes, reminiscent of a sixties catechism, appear spellbound by a dark orbin which droplets of light drip into extinction or explode into life. Gary Willis' Winter has elements of a huanted cartoon and speaks of an artist keen on his ontology but yet still sly with a pop sensibility.
Larry Buttrose - Express Magazine - Sydney 1987
Gary Willis - Oxford St. studio, Darlinghurst Sydney - 1986 (Photo: John Webber)