Kandinsky's Follies
Kandinsky’s Follies emerged from one of those serendipitous moments when an artwork suddenly reveals what it has been trying to say. Photographed at close range from my kayak, the image is a reflection from the surface of the water. The colours originate from a vessel, but movement has...
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Account name: Ralph Murray Kerle
Bank: Macquarie Bank Limited
BSB: 182-182
Account number: 011009503
For transfers from overseas, ask your bank to send Australian dollars (AUD). SWIFT/BIC: MACQAU2S. Bank address: 50 Martin Place, Sydney NSW 2000, Australia. Your bank may charge transfer or currency conversion fees.
Personal payment arrangements
If you would like to discuss payment arrangements before purchasing, please contact Ralph directly at rk@ralphkerlesart.com.
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Artwork in a Space
What Collectors Say
“It fits the space perfectly and I am ecstatic with the outcome.”
Saskia Waters
“Ralph was so helpful and there were no issues.”
Rosie Houghton
SPECIFICATIONS
Artwork Details
- Title
- Kandinsky's Follies
- Dimensions
- 100 × 140 cm
- Print medium & paper
- Giclee Print on Museum Quality Archival Paper
- Edition
- Limited edition of 5
- Collection
- Paintings on Water
- Colour mood
- Cool
- Authenticity
- Signed and supplied with a Certificate of Authenticity
COLLECTOR CONFIDENCE
Acquiring the Artwork
Each artwork is prepared individually for its collector and securely packed for transit. Australian and international delivery is available, with specialist handling and insurance appropriate to the artwork and destination.
Unsure about scale, placement, framing or delivery?
Speak directly with Ralph before acquiring the artwork.
SCARCITY
Limited Edition
Kandinsky's Follies is released as a limited edition artwork. Editions are made available progressively, with the value increasing as the edition advances.
The Story Behind the Artwork
Kandinsky’s Follies emerged from one of those serendipitous moments when an artwork suddenly reveals what it has been trying to say.
Photographed at close range from my kayak, the image is a reflection from the surface of the water. The colours originate from a vessel, but movement has transformed them into something entirely different — elongated figures, ribbons of blue, white and gold, and shapes that appear to dance across the surface.
For some time, I couldn't find the right title.
I saw dancing figures in the reflection and found myself thinking about the great theatrical follies and the choreography of Busby Berkeley, where individual figures become part of a larger, constantly moving pattern.
Then I encountered Wassily Kandinsky's Improvisations.
Kandinsky used the idea of musical improvisation to explore a world in which colour, line, rhythm and form could be liberated from literal representation. Looking at these works, I recognised something familiar: not a similarity I had consciously sought, but the same sense of movement and spontaneity I had discovered independently on the water.
Suddenly, I understood my own image.
Kandinsky’s Follies is also about improvisation in the way I make art. I don't construct or pre-plan these images. I take my kayak onto the water and search — responding to light, wind, movement, colour and whatever appears momentarily on the surface.
A reflection may exist for only a fraction of a second before the water transforms it again.
Here, the vessel supplied the colour.
The water created the choreography.
Making the Artwork
Ralph Kerle creates his abstract artworks from real reflections found on the surface of water. Working from a kayak at water level, he photographs the constantly changing interaction of light, colour, movement and reflected forms.
The compositions are discovered rather than constructed. There is no compositing of separate images: the abstraction exists momentarily on the surface of the water and is captured through timing, position and movement.
This process has developed into a distinctive body of work in which the camera becomes less a documentary instrument and more a way of painting with reflected light.
THE ARTIST
About Ralph Kerle
Ralph Kerle is an award-winning Australian artist whose work explores the abstract visual world created by reflections on water.
His artworks have been exhibited internationally and acquired by collectors in Australia and overseas. His practice has developed through more than a decade of working directly on waterways, photographing fleeting compositions formed by light, architecture, landscape and movement.
Read the Artist BioTHIRD-PARTY AUTHORITY
International Exhibitions
Ralph Kerle’s work has been exhibited in Australia, Europe and the United States, including:
- The Indeterminate Sublime — Rothko Museum, Daugavpils, Latvia
- The Water Spirits of Aveiro — Galeria Edificio Antiga Capitania, Aveiro, Portugal
- The Indeterminate Sublime — Kalve Gallery, Vilnius, Lithuania
- Drawings on Water — Art Palm Beach, West Palm Beach, Florida, USA
- Drawings on Water — Espaço Espelho d'Água Gallery, Lisbon, Portugal
- Drawings on Water Series 2 — Sagra Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
- Group Exhibition — WelcomeToArt Gallery, Embaixada, Príncipe Real, Lisbon, Portugal
- 42 Contemporary Artists — Berlin Art Week, Germany
- The Art of Navy — Australian National Maritime Museum, Sydney
Prizes
- Winner — Willoughby Council 150th Anniversary Celebration Art Prize
- Longlisted — Booooooom Photo Awards, Vancouver, Canada
