Joe Furlonger
Born 1952, Gimuy/Cairns. Lives and works in Samford, Queensland.
"3 Fishermen" 1986
acrylic on canvas
Collection of The University of Queensland. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program, 2019.
Reproduced courtesy of the artist and Defiance Gallery, Sydney.
The title of this artwork is ‘3 Fishermen’ by Joe Furlonger. It is a painting framed in a plain narrow wooden frame, created in 1986, and the unframed dimensions are 60.6 centimetres high by 91 centimetres wide. It is made of acrylic on canvas. He has signed this artwork in the bottom right in black print with his initials, ‘J F.’ and the year, ‘86’.
This artwork features a vibrant and loosely painted scene of 3 fishermen who fill the entire painting. They are positioned on a jagged white surface along the bottom edge. Behind them, the bottom two-thirds of the painting depicts dark blue water and the top third shows a pale blue and cloudless sky. The central figure is crouched on his knees, with his toes tucked under and his body leaning forwards. His arm on the left is curved by his side and his arm on the right is slightly bent in front of him. On his knee on the right are 3 vertical and 3 horizontal lines in dark blue, suggestive of a net. The other 2 figures are positioned either side, roughly symmetrical. They stand facing the centre, with their arms outstretched upward, almost meeting in the middle to form an arch that frames the central figure. The figure on the left has his head tilted back, facing the sky, while the figure on the right has his head turned to face us.
The fishermen are painted in light pink and orange with white, yellow and red highlights and shadows. Their proportions are exaggerated, with long, large arms, hands, legs and feet. They are bald with no facial hair. Thick black lines outline key features, including their faces. Curved black lines around their waists suggest small shorts on their otherwise bare bodies. Above the central figure’s head is a vertical dark blue line with 3 horizontal lines through it and a jagged black line extending to the left, evocative of a ship and mast.
The paint has been applied roughly with large, multi-directional brushstrokes creating fluidity and undefined edges. In some areas the paint has dripped and overlapped, with blue paint from the sky and water appearing on the figures.