Collection: Dusk + Dust Collection by Scott Elk

The Dusk + Dust series by Scott Elk is deeply influenced by the Australian landscape and the ways in which the genre of landscape art appears in everyday life. A key element of this series is the inclusion of hand-painted wallpaper, situating the work within an environment of domesticity. Using acrylic paint, Elk applies pigment with his hands, spreading liquid paint across a mylar-coated resistant paper surface and employing his fingers as mark-making tools to create long, diagonal lines.

This abstracted landscape acts as an energetic backdrop, extending the world created within his paintings and ceramics. The series draws upon colours and forms encountered during road trips from Sydney to Adelaide, across the mid-west of America, and into Canada. These journeys were undertaken as part of Elk’s ongoing practice of sketching and painting the landscape, culminating in the Dusk + Dust series. Initiated following the loss of his father, the series serves as a meditation on grief and its emotional processing. Within this body of work, life is represented as a landscape in motion, with colour symbolising the remnants of experience. The series captures the beauty, harshness, and vitality of uniquely Australian landscapes, juxtaposed with the snow-covered terrains of North America.

A significant motif within the series is the funeral urn form, which Elk explores through his ceramic practice. While now widely recognised as a contemporary vessel, the funeral urn has been used in various iterations for thousands of years, dating back to ancient Egypt and their ceramic canopic jars. In ancient Greece, the kantharos—a vessel used for drinking wine—was associated with celebration, resurrection, and rebirth. While viewers may not immediately recognise these historical references, the kantharos' resemblance to a trophy instinctively evokes ideas of celebration. By combining the funeral urn (symbolising death) with the kantharos (symbolising celebration), Elk presents a thought-provoking juxtaposition, encouraging contemplation on the duality of loss and remembrance.