Arvilla tells a story and paints a memory through each of the works in Point of Departure.

Layer upon layer of mark-making echo the journeys experienced through his travels, with each work recalling a remembered moment or place. Expressionist mark-making evokes the sensations felt – of bright light reflected off water, joy at a hot pink heliconia flower, or a rose sunset. Arvilla is investigating the process of seeing and experiencing; what is glimpsed and felt, and what is retained. Each locale is the ‘point of departure’ from which he traces his impressions experienced while travelling the world as a tour director.

Arvilla builds up each work by making mark upon mark, scraping some away to add more. Oils, acrylics, wax medium, oil sticks, oil pastels, charcoal and soluble graphite are used in a process where drawing meets painting.

For Arvilla, creating each work involves inhabiting the experiences of his memories. As viewers we are invited to share in these sensations and meet him at the point of departure.