Australasia

Creative rationale

Over the Southern Ocean in the remote waters between Antarctica and Australia, at 60 degrees south latitude, an intense low-pressure system churns with moderate winds and surprisingly warm temperatures for this polar region. The 974.7 hPa pressure creates dense atmospheric congregations while the 9.5 m/s winds from the northwest drive calligraphic marks in diagonal processions across the canvas. The anomalously warm -3.9°C temperature (20.7°C above the zonal mean) and 76% humidity generate a palette of cool blues and stark whites veiled in misty atmospheric layers, evoking Lewis's jazz-inflected gestural abstraction against deep oceanic grounds.