Barangaroo : From the roof of Pyrmont Power Station
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"Pyrmont Goods Yard from the roof of the Pyrmont Power station" 1993
oil painting on canvas 91 x122 cm
Enquiries about this painting
oil painting on canvas 91 x122 cm
Enquiries about this painting
This is a 1993 painting of the "Hungry Mile" or East Darling Harbour Wharves from the viewpoint of the roof of the old Pyrmont Power Station, now replaced by Star City Casino. The pile of rubble in the centre is a former signal box in Pyrmont Goods Yard, often used to add street cred to ads and dramas and immortalized as the “Spanish café” in the classic Australian film “Strictly Ballroom”. The bright red ship is the notorious "Tampa".
See my painting of the Tampa's last voyage to Sydney Harbour at my page "Last of the Hungry Mile" in this blog
See my painting of the Tampa's last voyage to Sydney Harbour at my page "Last of the Hungry Mile" in this blog
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| "Construction of Star City Casino from the top of Pyrmont Power Station" 1996 oil painting on board 40 x 89cm |
The long narrow building on the left, Pier 13, was once connected to Jones Bay Road by a land bridge. Then Pier 13 became the temporary casino, painted a hideous shade of bright yellow and the land bridge was demolished. Jones Bay Road has since been renamed Pirrama Road and now leads to the steps of Star City Casino.The brilliantly coloured ships in the background are painted to scale; they were so immense that they towered over the buildings.
One of the great delights of painting in Pyrmont used to be watching the ebb and flow of ships–sturdy ferries chugging past, enormous cargo ships and majestic tankers. Now Sydney’s working Harbour has essentially disappeared and been replaced by tourism, entertainment and media industries.
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| "Building Star City Casino on the site of the old Pyrmont Power Station"1995 oil painting on canvas 122 x 183 cm Enquiries about this painting |
One of the last of my canvases painted from the roof of the half demolished Pyrmont Power Station. In the distance is the Sydney Harbour Control Tower on the wharf of the "Hungry Mile" at the East Darling Harbour Wharves, which have been demolished and renamed "Barangaroo". This area is now no longer a working cargo port, although DH5 will still have cruise ships at the temporary facilities until the new terminal is built at White Bay.
Barangaroo from the top of the Anzac Bridge
Barangaroo from the top of the Anzac Bridge
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| 'Closing the Gap : Sydney Harbour from the top of the ANZAC Bridge' 1995 oil on canvas 91x122cm Enquiries about this painting |
The Barangaroo wharves are in the distance at top left, just in front of the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
The ultimate bird’s eye view of Sydney – the top of the western pylon of the still unfinished Anzac Bridge provided me with majestic panoramas of Sydney Harbour to the east and the industrial Pyrmont peninsula to the west. I was invited up here as I was the resident artist of the Pyrmont Power Station. If you are wondering how I got up there, you can see a tiny green lift crawling up the leg of the eastern pylon, and there was another on the west. After construction finished, access to the top was a lot more strenuous, although not as terrifying. The legs are hollow! To get to the top still needs a touch of courage as well as the ability to climb a steel rung ladder- the last 30 metres are vertical!
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| 'Night from the top of the ANZAC Bridge' 1996 oil on canvas 91x122cm SOLD |
Sydney Harbour is spread out beneath my feet! I could see the rooftops of many of my former studios: Jones Bay Wharf; Pyrmont Power station; CSR Refinery and Distillery; Pyrmont Point Park; REVY (now Channel 7) to name just a few.
This was painted nearly a year after the Bridge had opened to traffic. If you are wondering why the cables are at a different angle to the earlier painting, it's because while painting that work I was standing on the platform level from where they attached the cables, not at the very summit. In the night painting, these platforms had been covered when the bridge was completed and I am standing 30 metres above looking down on the cables instead of in the midst of them.
I painted over 20 canvases of the ANZAC Bridge , many of which have won major awards and been acquired by various prestigious collections. A large ink drawing won the 1996 Hunter’s Hill Open Art Award, was a finalist in the 1997 Sulman Art Prize at the Art Gallery of N.S.W., and was then acquired by the University of N.S.W. for their Faculty of Engineering. The Mitchell Library, State Library of N.S.W, has acquired a painting in this series, "Closing the Gap" which was in the "ONE Hundred" exhibition of 100 iconic objects to celebrate the centenary of the Mitchell Library.
Barangaroo from Jones Bay Wharf, Pyrmont This was painted nearly a year after the Bridge had opened to traffic. If you are wondering why the cables are at a different angle to the earlier painting, it's because while painting that work I was standing on the platform level from where they attached the cables, not at the very summit. In the night painting, these platforms had been covered when the bridge was completed and I am standing 30 metres above looking down on the cables instead of in the midst of them.
I painted over 20 canvases of the ANZAC Bridge , many of which have won major awards and been acquired by various prestigious collections. A large ink drawing won the 1996 Hunter’s Hill Open Art Award, was a finalist in the 1997 Sulman Art Prize at the Art Gallery of N.S.W., and was then acquired by the University of N.S.W. for their Faculty of Engineering. The Mitchell Library, State Library of N.S.W, has acquired a painting in this series, "Closing the Gap" which was in the "ONE Hundred" exhibition of 100 iconic objects to celebrate the centenary of the Mitchell Library.
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| "Jones Bay Wharf at night" 1999 acrylic on paper 110 x 140 cm Enquiries about this painting |
This Pyrmont Fingerwharf was originally Pier 19/20/21 and was used for wool and wheat. Now it contains upmarket restaurants and function centres such as 'Flying Fish' and 'Doltone House'.
