intertwine

Intertwine

Geoffrey Carran & Rowena Martinich
Acrylic on canvas
Part of Spectra at Rydges Melbourne for Melbourne Design Week 2025

In Intertwine, Geoffrey Carran and Rowena Martinich bring their individual practices together in a deeply collaborative work that speaks to both the shared language of their art and the layered dynamic of their relationship. The painting features a pair of Great Egrets in breeding plumage, their elegant, sinuous forms catching golden light as they move through a vividly abstracted landscape — a visual fusion of place, emotion, and partnership.

Carran’s depiction of the egrets was inspired by the tranquil beauty of Spring Creek, which winds through the bushland of Jan Juc toward the surf at Torquay Point. Set against a backdrop painted by Martinich, the work echoes the greens, browns, and coastal tones of the region. Her gestural marks and bold colour palette — drawn from the interior design elements of Rydges Melbourne — evoke a layered bushland terrain, full of movement, texture, and light. The egrets' graceful curves mirror the sweeping energy of the brushstrokes, creating a conversation between subject and environment, artist and artist.

More than a study in form or palette, Intertwine is a meditation on collaboration, connection, and creative duality. It reflects the energy that arises from dichotomy — stillness and motion, structure and spontaneity, wildness and intention. The paired birds become a symbol not only of nature’s quiet poetry but also of the partnership between Carran and Martinich — both romantic and professional — and the spark that lives in their ongoing creative exchange.

As part of the Spectra exhibition at Rydges Melbourne for Melbourne Design Week, this work is emblematic of the show’s ethos: that art can live within and enhance our everyday spaces, and that collaboration — in all its forms — can create something greater than the sum of its parts.