'The Flower Pot Man' by Blair Waterfield
Blair Waterfield came to printmaking through a 2001 scholarship to the National Art School in Sydney. He moved to Tasmania in 2006 to study at the University of Tasmania's School of Art, completing his Bachelor of Fine Art in 2008 and his Masters in Printmaking in 2010 at the Tasmanian School of Creative Arts. He has since built a sustained exhibition practice across solo and group shows and established himself as one of Tasmania's most distinctive contemporary printmakers with a practice rooted in the physical discipline of the medium and a warmth of vision that makes his work genuinely liveable.
Three of his works hang at The Royale — 'Destination', 'Birds of a Feather', and 'The Flower Pot Man' — together forming the most concentrated single-location presentation of his work in any accommodation in Tasmania.
About 'The Flower Pot Man'
Artwork: The Flower Pot Man Artist: Blair Waterfield Medium: Printmaking Displayed at: The Royale, Hobart CBD
'The Flower Pot Man' is the most playful of the three Waterfield works at The Royale and that playfulness is entirely deliberate. Where 'Destination' carries the grounded feeling of arriving somewhere that matters, and 'Birds of a Feather' brings the quiet attentiveness of the natural world, 'The Flower Pot Man' adds a note of warmth and quiet humour that completes the tonal range of the three-work sequence.
The subject is a figure composed of or associated with flower pots and sits in a long tradition of playful figuration in printmaking, where the medium's capacity for line and pattern lends itself naturally to character and wit. Waterfield handles the lightness without losing his craft. The work does not try to be funny. It simply is, in the same unassuming way that the best humour in art tends to operate. It sits in The Royale's curated collection as proof that a serious art program does not have to be a solemn one.
Seen as the third piece in Waterfield's trilogy at The Royale, 'The Flower Pot Man' closes a sequence that covers arrival, the natural world, and human character. Three coordinates that together map something true about what it means to be in a place and feel at home in it.
Experience 'The Flower Pot Man' During Your Stay
'The Flower Pot Man' hangs at The Royale - a 125 sqm dual-level luxury apartment in Hobart CBD, 450 metres from Constitution Dock and Salamanca Place. Staying at The Royale gives you all three Waterfield works alongside 'Breaking Bread' by Pat Brassington and the paired works 'Rule XII' and 'Rule XIII' by Brigita Ozolins. The most significant art collection across all four Island Collective properties.
Want to explore the full collection before booking? The District in Hobart CBD displays original works by Louise De Weger. The Tempo and The Helm in Sandy Bay carry original Tasmanian paintings by Stacey Rees and Mindy Doré. Browse every artwork across the entire collection on The Artists page, or contact the team with any questions before you book.