What makes an artist great? There is no doubt there is an indefinable something that separates a nice painting from work that moves us, speaks to us and can even alter the way we view the world.
Garry Duncan is definitely a great artist, a genuis, who paints with such confidence that he can move from abstract to super realism as naturally as a change of clothes and always remain absolutely identifiable as Garry Duncan.
Rarely has an artist had such confidence and therefore allure.
But being outside the commercial art world has its price.
For those given to the worship of "isms" his work confronts the strangely structured rules of what's in and what's not of the avant garde.
There are no traces of pretension when you visit Garry's studio along the Murray River in South Australia - a long way from everywhere.
The space has perfect light, just enough disarray to remind you this is an artists studio and an incredibly organized area where Garry paints while listening to Tom Waits, talking books and an eclectic mix of music which is always in the background.
This makes sense when you see his paintings and immediately sense the underlying music being created in color.
Rhythm and harmony are always there, as essential as the pigment.
I am here to discuss Garry's latest interest - the internet of all things.
"I am the first to admit I knew nothing about the internet until a short time ago.
" said Garry.
"And I have never been the kind of artist that loves the art scene.
I would rather speak to the people who enjoy my work directly and I find that it was worth learning how to use the net so that I can communicate directly through Web 2.
0.
" As I look over Garry's current work, striking canvases of the Tasmanian hinterland, which don't replicate or interpret nature but which depict all that Garry sees and feels.
I wonder at the fact that the artist who has created this intensely personal work is also the guy who is happy to let you watch him paint.
Garry is making videos as part of Garry's Rant on his web site and and is keen to take you along as he paints, hikes thorough his heritage listed mallee property or travels down the river to his favorite haunts.
There is a very serious side to Garry he is artist and conservationist - the two go hand in hand.
And he has done us all two major favors: he has worked for 30 years to preserve and protect the Murray River and the land surrounding it and he has documented the changes in the system through his work.
While I am visiting Garry takes me down to the river in front of his place and shows me the spot that inspired Timeless, a hauntingly beautiful painting of the river and river red gums now almost unrecognizable as the deteriorating water conditions stress the trees, once lush and now mere skeletons.
But Garry is not a pessimist and his work can be lyrical such as the black swans flying in Fright Path, or can be serious as his depiction of raging bush fires which also symbolize renewal as in the painting Elemental.
It is no wonder he has had the success he has had over the past 30 years.
Confronting yet visually pleasing, the paintings make you think and feel.
He is a prolific painter but he can not keep up with the demand for his originals and so he is using his web site to offer limited edition artist prints so that more people can have access to his work.
As I sit with his wife of 31 years, Lou, on the studio balcony looking towards the Murray River below, Garry, who rarely sits still, is pointing out the light on the cliffs in the distance - the color so transfixing we all stop to stare.
As I leave the light in the studio is a beacon in the outback dark and I realize I'll never look at the world the same way now that I have seen it through Garry Duncans eyes.