Lynn Savery, Duets

Artist’s Statement

A duet refers to the third element that emerges from its constituent parts, like the Tartini tone that emerges between two musical notes, or the rainbow that emerges between sun and rain. It is a creation, both more real and less real than the elements that made it possible.

A rainbow, for example, is made up of droplets of water and light, and nothing more. But a rainbow is not just water and light. It is also a rainbow. There is an action produced by the two elements that resides in neither one nor the other. It is never either, always both. Yet, there is space between the two entities. This between space could be a palpable unfolding, a slippage in time, a poetic vibration or murmur. This vibration or murmur reverberates through the work and points toward something we might not be able to pin down or fix. It invites us to sit with instability and uncertainty. This uncertainty is full of potential; it tells us that things are not fixed, they can change. Sometimes there may be a sense of the two entities becoming entangled or enmeshed. There is an intimacy between them that draws us in and asks questions. There is a feeling that if you keep looking you will find something unexpected.

Artist award information: 2025 Winner Inaugural Pymble Values Art Prize | 2025 Finalist Portia Geach Memorial Award | 2024 Finalist Portia Geach Memorial Award | 2023 Finalist Portia Geach Memorial Award | 2022 Winner Portia Geach Memorial Award | 2021 Finalist Portia Geach Memorial Award, Finalist Doug Moran National Portrait Prize | 2020 Finalist Portia Geach Memorial Award, Finalist Kilgour Prize for Figurative and Portrait Painting | Finalist Percival Portrait Painting Prize, Finalist Lester Prize, Finalist Hurford Hardwood Portrait Prize | 2019 Finalist Lester Prize, Finalist Portia Geach Memorial Award | 2018 Winner Doug Moran National Portrait Prize.

View all works available by Lynn Savery.