REDOT FINE ART GALLERY presents
Talking to a Stranger Todd Hunter Solo
3 rd August - 28 th August 2016
Gallery 1 & 2
For a high resolution, downloadable, PDF version of this catalogue, with pricing, please send us an email to info@redotgallery.com Thank you.
c o n t e m p o r a r y
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“The figure and the landscape are both elements present in my work, evidenced or acknowledged through colour and form, but most importantly through a dynamic or force.� Todd Hunter
Todd Hunter Working in his Studio Source: © Photo Courtesy of Todd Hunter
Foreword The ReDot Fine Art Gallery is honoured to present, Talking to a Stranger, a joint solo exhibition of recent paintings by Australian artist, Todd Hunter, as we enter the next chapter of the galleries development, the introduction of non-Indigenous Australian contemporary art to the Singaporean art collectors market. Strictly speaking, Todd is neither a figurative nor an abstract painter. As he explains “I take the colours and shapes of the natural world and push them through a blender of imagination and memory.” He prefers the viewer to reach their own conclusion as to the meaning, relying on their personal cognition and memory to evoke a response, a recognition that goes beyond the mere representation. Todd is a solitary man when at work, spending many hours alone in his studio, surrounded by an enormous CD collection and accompanied only by his music which, chosen almost subconsciously, has an enormous influence on his work. As has been noted in the past, there is a synergy between the exuberant, frenetic brushwork of Todd and his predilection for lyrical music especially Bob Dylan, Nick Cave and Tom Waits. All of his works take their title from the music that Todd loves and listens to. The music, the artistic output all embody the emotions and the events that are surrounding his life at the time he is in his studio; be that his atelier in Sydney or his remote studio in the Australian bush in Northern NSW. Each work a window into the soul of the artist life, abstract, engaging and sufficient removed to allow personal interpretation. As art curator, Natalie King noted in 2010, Todd reminds us “of the fleshy curves of Peter Paul Rubens, the vulgar gestures of Willem de Kooning and Francis Bacons tortured figures.” Todd has an intimate knowledge of these great painters having studied art history and trained at the Julian Ashton Art School in Sydney after completing a visual arts degree
at Griffith University in Brisbane. The current body of canvas and boards, Todd’s first ever showing in Singapore, consists of 11 gems that are a significant departure from his recognised colourful oeuvres. Predominately imbued in black and white with a hint at a tinge of colour, the works retain all the classical techniques Todd employs in his work and the frenetic intensity is still clearly evident but the viewer is left to ponder and consider the changing dynamics of Todd’s world, surrounding landscape and how perhaps all this is struggling to positioning itself within his art. Todd is one of Australia’s most exciting and promising contemporary abstract painters and has already been acknowledged with several award classification and collection acquisitions. The exhibition begins on Wednesday 3rd August and runs until Sunday 28th August 2016. It will be attended in person by Todd Hunter for the official opening on Wednesday 17th August 2016 at 6:30pm.
Giorgio Pilla Director ReDot Fine Art Gallery
Left Page: Inside Todd Hunter’s Studio in Wilsons Creek, NSW Top: Todd Hunter’s Studio in Wilsons Creek, NSW Source: © Photo Courtesy of Todd Hunter
Artist’s Insight “When you start working, everybody is in your studio – the past, your friends, enemies, the art world and above all, your own ideas – all are there. But as you continue painting, they start leaving one by one and you are left completely alone. Then, if you’re lucky, even you leave.” John Cage said this in 1965 and for me it is a very accurate description of my studio practice and my process of painting. Specifically, it’s the balancing act between the known and the unknown, the conscious and the subconscious, and most importantly, when to be in control and conversely when to be reckless and abandon the rational you, in the hope of making or seeing something you haven’t before. It’s a thing that can exist on its own, beyond me, born through invention, an image that can only be arrived at by painting towards it, so it has its own past and a feeling that the image has lived. Strictly speaking, I’m neither a figurative nor an abstract painter and I find the space between figurative and non-figurative art an exhilarating place to work. I’m drawn to images that possess a mystery that hides things, being out of focus and relying more on evocation than a simple recognition. The figure and the landscape are both elements present in my work, evidenced or acknowledged through colour and form, but most importantly through a dynamic or force. By this, I mean dealing with movement and magnetism, the pulls between one form on another and what the spaces between and around this pull look like. It’s the abstraction of forces and the residue or traces of these forms that survive the many erasures that become the elements of the painting. The problem I see, for me, is not the object in the painting but the painting as object. I draw a lot with the paint, either with a brush, or direct from the tube. Drawing is an important element in my overall process. Often the forms I begin with are derived from these, which at the moment, working and living in Northern NSW, are concerned with the landscape around me. Having studied life drawing with David Paulson in Brisbane for 12 years, I can also call on my knowledge of the figure and its form and dynamic at any time. I also use my young daughters’ drawings as stimulus and I love their inherent simpleness
and innocence and lack of any convention. They’re a good reminder about avoiding technique. The most important element I have taken from drawing is that of erasure. It is to a large extent the crux of my process. Once I reach a certain point in the painting, it actually becomes more about taking things out – erasing – than putting things in. Remembering though, and I am learning this, to take things out is to actually put things in. It’s an instinctual exercise of exposing and revealing and the accompanying high of discovery of finding the hidden. It’s about finishing and leaving the image unsettled, caught in its moment like it has won its freedom, and pregnant with possibility for the next picture. Often, I feel, to over-finish or explain a painting is to rob it of its power and potential. My studio is never silent, everything is accompanied by music. It intimately influences my work. Almost all my titles are derived from lyrics or song titles that have influenced that particular work and the psychological overtones the music has imbued on the work. It’s never arbitrary. At some stage during the painting process, early or late, a lyric or song will attach itself through its relevance to me and my life, or through the process of making the image it becomes relevant. It sets the rhythm by which the thing is made and it changes with each painting. It’s autobiographical, reflecting in the image, becoming my mix tape, the soundtrack to my life. This is where the contradiction lies, in as much as the image needs to exist independently and reflect its own history or personality for me, but there must still be a recognition of self in the picture made from my sensations. When I leave the studio, I have left there a person or something totemic, an organic thing that can lead its own life, that doesn’t need me anymore, or my thoughts about it. A painting is a painting. Todd Hunter Left Page: Work in Progress Top: Work in Progress (TH_201604009) Source: © Photo Courtesy of Todd Hunter
Todd Hunter in his Studio Source: © Photo Courtesy of Todd Hunter
Todd HUNTER Birth Date Place of Birth
1972 Brisbane, QLD, Australia
Todd Hunter was born in 1972. He has been a practicing artist since 1991, with his first solo exhibition in 1994, having studied art history and trained at the Julian Ashton Art School in Sydney after completing a visual arts degree at Griffith University in Brisbane. Todd Hunter is an alchemist of form. Neither strictly speaking a figurative or abstract artist, he takes the colours and shapes of the natural world and pushes them through the blender of his fecund imagination. In many ways it is a ruse; we see a landscape or a figure even though he actively avoids the literal rendering of tree and sky, or sometimes the human form, but they are clearly, vividly there. His work features in private collections throughout Asia, Europe, Australia, USA and South America, as well as corporate, consular and national collections in Australia and he has had several successful nominations to major Australian art prizes.
Education 1989 – 1992 1990 1986 – 1996
Bachelor Visual Arts, Griffith University, Brisbane, QLD, Australia. Julian Ashton Art School, Sydney, NSW, Australia. Studied with David Paulson, Brisbane, QLD, Australia (with the exception of 1990).
Selected Awards 2011 2009 2008
Finalist – Fleurieu Art Prize - Samsag Museum of Art, Adelaide, SA, Australia. Salon des Refusés – Wynne Prize - SH Ervin Gallery, Sydney, NSW, Australia. Finalist – Paddington Art Prize - Sydney, NSW, Australia. Finalist – Fleurieu Art Prize - Samsag Museum of Art, Adelaide, SA, Australia.
2008 Finalist – Sunshine Coast Art Prize - Caloundra Regional Gallery, Caloundra, QLD, Australia. 2007 Finalist – Paddington Art Prize - Sydney, NSW, Australia. Finalist – Tattersall’s Club Landscape Art Prize - Tattersall’s Club, Brisbane, QLD, Australia. Finalist – Sunshine Coast Art Prize - Caloundra Regional Gallery, Caloundra, QLD, Australia. Finalist – King’s School Art Prize - The King’s School, Sydney, NSW, Australia. 2005 Finalist – ABN AMRO Emerging Artist Award - ABN AMRO Group, Sydney, NSW, Australia. 2000 Finalist – Brett Whiteley Travelling Scholarship - Brett Whiteley Studio, Sydney, NSW, Australia. 1994 Finalist – Logan Art Award - Logan Art Gallery, Logan, QLD, Australia. 1993 Melville Haysom Scholarship - Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA), Brisbane, QLD, Australia. Inaugural Griffith University Artistcare Drawing Prize - Griffith University, Brisbane, QLD, Australia. Best Bachelor of Visual Arts Award - Griffith University, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.
Collections ABN AMRO Corporate Collection, Sydney, NSW, Australia. Artbank Collection, Sydney, NSW, Australia. Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW), Sydney, NSW, Australia. The Adelaide Club Collection, Adelaide, SA, Australia. Griffith University Art Gallery, Brisbane, QLD, Australia. The QCL Collection, QLD, Australia. The Alex Mackay Collection, Brisbane, QLD, Australia. Royal Sydney Golf Club, Sydney, NSW, Australia. Sydney Hotel CBD, Sydney, NSW, Australia. The Sangster Collection, NSW, Australia. The Julian Ashton Art School, Sydney, NSW, Australia. Embassy of Switzerland, Bangkok, Thailand. Embassy of Australia, Bangkok, Thailand. Corporate Collections in NSW, VIC, QLD, Australia. Private Collections in Australia, United Kingdom, United States of America, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Thailand.
Selected Solo Exhibitions 2016 Talking to a Stranger - ReDot Fine Art Gallery, Singapore. 2015 Todd Hunter - Scott Livesey Galleries, Melbourne, VIC, Australia. 2014 Drawings - Scott Livesey Galleries, Melbourne, VIC, Australia. 2013 Doused - Scott Livesey Galleries, Melbourne, VIC, Australia. 2013 Sway - Scott Livesey Galleries (off-site at Mary Place Gallery), Sydney, NSW, Australia. 2012 Country Feedback - Cat Street Gallery, Hong Kong. 2011 Small Work, Scott Livesey Galleries, Melbourne, VIC, Australia. 2010 Melbourne Art Fair, Melbourne, VIC, Australia (Represented by Scott Livesey Galleries). 2010 Love Buzz - Grantpirrie, Sydney, NSW, Australia. 2009 In Bloom, Gallery 2 - Grantpirrie, Sydney, NSW, Australia. Recent Paintings - Scott Livesey Galleries, Melbourne, VIC, Australia. 2008 Strange Weather - BMG Art Gallery, Adelaide, SA, Australia. This Perfect Day - Scott Livesey Galleries, Melbourne, VIC, Australia. 2007 All Times Through Paradise - Grantpirrie, Sydney, NSW, Australia. 2006 Just Like the Night - Scott Livesey Galleries, Melbourne, VIC, Australia. BMG Art Gallery, Adelaide, SA, Australia. 2005 Recent Paintings - Grantpirrie, Sydney, NSW, Australia. 2004 Andrew Baker Art Dealer, Brisbane, QLD, Australia. Scott Livesey Art Dealer, Melbourne, VIC, Australia. 2003 Recent Paintings - Grantpirrie, Sydney, NSW, Australia. 2002 BMG Art Gallery, Adelaide, SA, Australia. Scott Livesey Art Dealer, Melbourne, VIC, Australia. 2001 Arthouse Gallery, Sydney, NSW, Australia. 2000 BMG Art Gallery, Adelaide, SA, Australia. Andrew Baker Art Dealer, Brisbane, QLD, Australia. Arthouse Gallery, Sydney, NSW, Australia. 1999 Arthouse Gallery, Sydney, NSW, Australia. 1998 Smith and Stoneley on Stratton, Brisbane, QLD, Australia. Arthouse Gallery, Sydney, NSW, Australia. 1997 Fortitude Gallery, Brisbane, QLD, Australia. 1996 Fortitude Gallery, Brisbane, QLD, Australia. 1994 The Vine Galleria, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.
Selected Group Exhibitions 2015 Sydney Contemporary Art Fair, Carriageworks, Sydney, NSW, Australia (Represented by Scott Livesey Galleries). 2014 Twenty Fourteen - Scott Livesey Galleries, Melbourne, VIC, Australia. 2013 Action/Abstraction - Wangaratta Art Gallery, Wangaratta, VIC, Australia. 2012 Melbourne Art Fair, Melbourne, VIC, Australia (Represented by Scott Livesey Galleries). 2011 Art HK, Hong Kong International Art Fair, Hong Kong (Represented by Grantpirrie). Art for Science (Murdoch Children’s Research Institute (MCRI) Charity Exhibition) Nellie Castan Gallery, South Yarra, VIC, Australia. Wattle: Australian Contemporary Art - Cat Street Gallery, Hong Kong. 2010 Todd Hunter & Stelarc - Melbourne Art Fair, Melbourne, VIC, Australia (Represented by Scott Livesey Galleries). Art HK, Hong Kong International Art Fair, Hong Kong (Represented by Cat Street Gallery). Art of Music - Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW), Sydney, NSW, Australia. 2009 Salon des Refusés – Wynne Prize - SH Ervin Gallery, Sydney, NSW, Australia. 2008 Fleurieu Art Prize - Samsag Museum of Art, Adelaide, SA, Australia. Tattersall’s Club Landscape Art Prize - Tattersall’s Club, Brisbane, QLD, Australia. Sunshine Coast Art Prize - Caloundra Regional Gallery, Caloundra, QLD, Australia. 2007 Paddington Art Prize - Sydney, NSW, Australia. Tattersall’s Club Landscape Art Prize - Tattersall’s Club, Brisbane, QLD, Australia. Sunshine Coast Art Prize - Caloundra Regional Gallery, Caloundra, QLD, Australia. King’s School Art Prize - The King’s School, Sydney, NSW, Australia. 2006 Ironic Expressionism - Virginia Wilson Gallery, Sydney, NSW, Australi (Curated by Andrew Frost). 2005 ABN Amro Emerging Artist Award - Sydney, NSW, Australia. 2004 Tattersall’s Club Landscape Art Prize - Tattersall’s Club, Brisbane, QLD, Australia. 2003 The Year In Art - SH Ervin Gallery, Sydney, NSW, Australia. Tattersall’s Club Landscape Art Prize - Tattersall’s Club, Brisbane, QLD, Australia. 2002 Twenty Fine Paintings - Scott Livesey Art Dealer, Melbourne, VIC, Australia. 2001 Twenty Fine Paintings - Scott Livesey Art Dealer, Melbourne, VIC, Australia. 2000 Melbourne Contemporary Art Fair, Melbourne, VIC, Australia. Brett Whiteley Travelling Scholarship, Brett Whiteley Studio, Surry Hills, Sydney, NSW, Australia. 1999 Inaugural Exhibition - Andrew Baker Art Dealer, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.
1999 Inaugural Schools and Universities Prize Exhibition, Schools and Universities Club, Sydney, NSW, Australia. 1998 Flesh: Collections of Sensual & Erotic Art - Noosa Regional Gallery, Noosa, QLD, Australia. 1997 Global Art: Australia Beyond - Carpediem Galleries, Bangkok, Thailand. The First Brisbane International Art Fair, Brisbane, QLD, Australia. Downlands College Art Awards - Toowoomba, QLD, Australia. 1996 Preview - Fortitude Gallery, Brisbane, QLD, Australia. Asia Pacific Hotel Art Fair, Brisbane, QLD, Australia. Stanthorpe Arts Festival, Stanthorpe Regional Art Gallery, Stanthorpe, QLD, Australia. 1995 Gilchrist Galleries, Brisbane, QLD, Australia. The Churchie National Emerging Art Prize, Brisbane, QLD, Australia. 1994 Ten Figurative Artists - Holdsworth Gallery, Sydney, NSW, Australia. Logan Art Award - Logan Art Gallery, Logan, QLD, Australia. 1993 Rebels Without a Course - FireWorks Gallery, Brisbane, QLD, Australia. Believers’ Institute, Brisbane, QLD, Australia. Inaugural Griffith University Artistcare Drawing Prize - Griffith University, Brisbane, QLD, Australia. 1992 Final Configuration - Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA), Brisbane, QLD, Australia. Art = Aura - Space Plenitude, Brisbane, QLD, Australia. 1991 Three Positions - Space Plenitude, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.
Todd Hunter in his Studio Source: © Photo Courtesy of Todd Hunter
Artist Statement Talking to a Stranger “Strictly speaking, I’m neither a figurative nor an abstract painter, I take the colours and shapes of the natural world and push them through a blender of imagination and memory. These recent works are the result of working and living in the bush in Northern NSW, recently. Observing and experiencing the landscape on a daily basis, these works are my interpretation of that sensation. The absence of colour in many of these works, helped me to focus on the forms and dynamics of the land, this became my primary interest. Glimpses of landscape also mix with those of the human form, a constant in my work, these influences also informed by memories of personal interactions, both physical and emotional, coalesce in the hope of creating evocative and intimate works. Like music (a major influence and where these titles are derived from) the paintings evolve from the successful pulling together of disparate elements – speed, chance, memory and sensibility – that need to be harnessed to create a cohesive whole. In that sense, a successful painting, in my opinion, should be totemic. Once created, it relies on the viewer’s personal cognition and memory to evoke a response. It becomes entirely dependent on a shared subconscious recognition that goes beyond mere representation.”
Left Page: Example of Todd Hunter’s Studies for ‘Talking to a Stranger’ Source: © Photo Courtesy of ReDot Fine Art Gallery
Todd HUNTER Outside World Oil on Canvas 183 x 173cm TH_201511004
Todd HUNTER Getting Gone Oil on Canvas 145 x 135cm TH_201607013
Todd HUNTER I’ll be Forgetting You Everyday Oil on Canvas 145 x 135cm TH_201607014
Todd HUNTER Let’s Drink till the Loser Drowns Oil on Canvas 145 x 135cm TH_201606010
Todd HUNTER Sleep Oil on Board 153 x 122cm TH_201604009
Todd HUNTER Ghost of Once Friends Wander Round Inside the Night Oil on Board 136 x 122cm TH_201606011
Todd HUNTER It’s Cold as Shadows Disappear Toward the Light Oil on Board 136 x 122cm TH_201604005
Todd HUNTER Run by Night Oil on Board 136 x 122cm TH_201604006
Todd HUNTER I Didnt Want to be the One to Forget Oil on Board 136 x 122cm TH_201606012
Todd HUNTER Shadows of the Evening Sun Oil on Board 122 x 107cm TH_201604007
Todd HUNTER Shadows of the Morning Light Oil on Board 122 x 107cm TH_201604008
STUDIES
Todd HUNTER Untitled #1 (Studies for ’Talking to a Stranger’ 2016) Oil on Board 70 x 60cm TH_201607017
Todd HUNTER Untitled #2 (Studies for ’Talking to a Stranger’ 2016) Oil on Board 50 x 50cm TH_201607015
Todd HUNTER Untitled #3 (Studies for ’Talking to a Stranger’ 2016) Oil on Board 50 x 50cm TH_201607015
Todd HUNTER Untitled #1 (Studies for ’Talking to a Stranger’ 2016) Oil, Crayon and Pencil on Paper 29 x 20cm TH_201607018P
Todd HUNTER Untitled #2 (Studies for ’Talking to a Stranger’ 2016) Oil, Crayon and Pencil on Paper 29 x 20cm TH_201607019P
Todd HUNTER Untitled #3 (Studies for ’Talking to a Stranger’ 2016) Oil, Crayon and Pencil on Paper 29 x 20cm TH_201607020P
Todd HUNTER Untitled #4 (Studies for ’Talking to a Stranger’ 2016) Oil, Crayon and Pencil on Paper 29 x 20cm TH_201607021P
Todd HUNTER Untitled #5 (Studies for ’Talking to a Stranger’ 2016) Oil, Crayon and Pencil on Paper 29 x 20cm TH_201607022P
Example of Todd Hunter’s Studies for ‘Talking to a Stranger’ Source: © Photo Courtesy of ReDot Fine Art Gallery
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