I started this painting in the middle of the pandemic lockdown, when we were only allowed within a 5 km radius of our homes. I passed this building often on my daily walks, which I’ve since learned is named the Institute building, after it’s original use as the Institute for the Deaf and Blind. It has also been used temporary as a hospital during an influenza outbreak and later by the Royal Australian Air Force during the Second World War.
Gothic architecture hasn’t been a focus of many of my paintings but I was drawn to this building nonetheless. It is also probably one of the most detailed paintings I’ve done so far, completed in small increments over the duration of our COVID lockdown here in Sydney.