Brett Whiteley was one of the greatest Australian artists of the 20th century, an intense and prolific practitioner who worked across an impressive spectrum of media. He was a draftsman, printmaker, sculptor and writer, but ultimately flourished best at that which in his deepest conscience most cared about: being a painter. Through his various and evolving influences he developed his own distinctive style and discovered that painting was an adventure, a risk, an opportunity to explore his inner world as he saw and felt it. A bit of a surrealist, his portraits stretch and elongate the figure while transforming the head and face into nightmarish smears that would make Francis Bacon jealous. The landscapes of Whiteley are also vast, empty, and mystical, with large washes of color akin to Matisse’s Red Room. When he wasn’t painting his muse, his wife, himself, or the environment, he took to painting animals, birds, eggs, and reveling in their inherent symbolism, recognizing that we, too, are animals that roam this earth, but cursed with the journey for our own meaning and purpose, which Whiteley captured in his visual works of art.
More ArtWork
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Coney Island Series
Melbourne artist Mark Ogge lives and works in an old church in Clunes, in country Victoria. He was the first artist commissioned by Spiegelworld, creating an entrance archway mural in 2006. Mark has long been fascinated by the iconography of the circus and fairground, exploring the dichotomy between enchantment and disillusionment.
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Absinthe Under The Brooklyn Bridge
The unpredictability of Steve Horlock’s paintings may come from his pervasive curiosity about life; or perhapshis ten-years experience body painting; possibly his fascination with mythology and the complexities of the world. Whichever it may be, this self-taught Las Vegas artist knows no bounds when it comes to painting ideas:whether inspired by Vegas’ historic Miss Atomic […]
