Grand Mudford is an Australian photographer renown for his imagery with architecture. Grant Mudford was born in Sydney, Australia in the year 1944.
Mudford attended the University of New South Wales for one year before opening his own commercial photography studio. His work appeared in many fashion magazines.
The artist won a photography fellowship from the United States’ National Endowment for the Arts.
Mudford gained a great deal of attention in the United States for series of images he made in the early 1990s. The series featured Mudford’s photographs of the famed architect Louis Kahn.
In this clip we view a montage of works by Grant Mudford:
Price range information: Sorry none available.
Below a clip from a talk given by the artist at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art:
If you enjoy architecture as a main subject be sure and check out my post on the husband and wife photography duo of Bernd and Hilla Becher.
James Reka is a contemporary Australian illustrator and painter. The artist was inspired by the graffiti and street art he saw growing up in Melbourne, Australia. Reka is a self-taught artist.
In this clip we view another interview with the artist discussing a large mural he painted in San Francisco. This clip is from 2013:
Of the many artists profiled here Reka reminds me of Barry McGee. Both artists create characters which are very animated and full of life. Its also great to see the face and figure with such abstract shapes.
Charles Blackman is one of the most famous painters in Australia’s history. Charles Blackman was born in Sydney, Australia in the year 1928. Blackman is best known for his works of children and also the characters of the famous novel Alice in Wonderland.
Blackman left school at the age of 13 and began work as an illustrator with a leading newspaper called the Sydney Sun. The artist would go on to attend college at the East Sydney Technical College.
In this clip a brief documentary on the artist. Works are shown beginning at the one minute mark:
Price range information: Prints start at $5,000. Originals can reach as much as $400,000. The artist has worked in tempera, oils, watercolor, and ink.
In this clip a short interview with Charles Blackman:
I enjoy the childlike quality of Blackman’s art. His style of drawing and painting is just perfect for his chosen genre of children’s stories including Alice and Wonderland.
Janangoo Butcher Cherel was an Australian Aboriginal artist renown for abstract works with many fun shapes.
Janangoo Butcher Cherel was born close to the year 1920, no exact birth date is given.
The artist was self taught and similar to Grandma Moses, began his art career as he began his later years in life.
His works are said to be metaphorical representations of his life and cultural experiences.
Janangoo Butcher Cherel passed away in 2009.
What I enjoy most about this artist is his use and variety of shape. Many Aboriginal works are very repetitive in their use of shape. Often the viewer can get the idea of wind blowing through blades of grass. One shape repeated several hundred, if not a thousand times in the artwork.
Janagoo Butcher Cherel used many different kinds of shapes in his artwork. He is also one of few Aboriginal artists to try to depict realistic subject matter such as birds and water lilies.
Price range information: The artist created most works using watercolors or polymer paints. Original works range from $5,000 to $20,000.
Kaff-eine is a fantastic street artist based out of Melbourne, Australia. Kaffeine is renown for her illustrations and murals featuring figures and/ or animals acting as humans similar to the styles of John Tennial and Ericailcane.
In this clip a time lapse of the artist at work on a current project with garbage pickers from Manila. In her work she likes to use her animal creatures in lieu of people. Kaff-eine uses these creatures to tell stories about issues from poverty to domestic abuse:
The artist enjoys drawing and painting ears and horns. Kaff-eine enjoys adding a human side to to her creatures. For her its one of the great aspects of the creative process.
In this clip we watch as the artist gives a brief demonstration of her creative process:
Price range information: Sorry none available.
Below a link to the website of Kaff-eine. Its not updated very often:
Ralph Balson was an Australian artist renown for his abstract art. Ralph Balson was born in Bothenhampton, Dorset, England in the year 1890. His father was a baker.
Balson began his painting career as a painter of houses. The artist took up art as a hobby and then began taking night courses where he studied under the previous post, Grace Crowley. Later Balson and Crowley would even share a studio.
The artist was among the first to pour paint onto the canvas.
Balson was a teacher at the East Sydney Technical College. The artist was based out of Sydney, Australia for most of his career.
Ralph Balson passed away in 1964.
Price range information: Balson worked in oils, pastels, and enamel. Works range from $10,000 to $150,000.
The artist explained that he began to paint in an abstract style as he thought man’s interest in humanity had waned. Balson compared his thoughts to the great Albert Einstein. Both scientist and artist thought we had entered a time of change.
Below a fine example of the Constructivist art produced by Ralph Balson from the 1940s to the mid 1950s:
My favorite works of Balson are his matter series. Great examples of these works are the first two pieces in the picture gallery. The fluidity of the work is amazing.
Grace Crowley was an Australian artist renown for her abstract style of paintings. Grace Crowley was born in Barbarra, New South Wales, Australia in the year 1890. Her family raised livestock such as cattle and sheep.
Crowley attended Methodist Ladies College located in Burwood, New South Wales, Australia . Later the artist studied with the famous Andre Lhoté in Paris, France. Lhoté was a key mentor and this helped to shape Crowley’s use of colour in her paintings.
The artist was part of the first abstract art exhibition in Australia.
In this clip we view a works by Grace Crowley:
Grace Crowley passed away in 1979.
Price range information: Sorry none available.
I enjoy the abstract qualities of Grace Crowley’s work found in her more realist paintings. They remind of the abstract qualities found in the work of the famed painter Nicolai Fechin. Both artists use a great deal of abstraction even in their more realist and impressionist paintings. Crowley was gifted at painting in both impressionist and abstract styles.
Russell Drysdale was one of the most prominent painters in the history of Australia renown for his work with the Australian outback. Drysdale was born in Bognor, Sussex, England in the year 1912. He grew up in Melbourne, Australia and attended college in London, England at the Grosvenor School of Art and also in the Grand Chaumiere in Paris, France.
From the National Gallery of Australia we view a signature work of Drysdale showcasing his thoughts on the Australian landscape:
Drysdale was an outstanding painter despite having very poor eyesight. He was nearly blind in his left eye due to a detached retina when he was only 17 years of age.
The artist had a very successful solo show in 1938 which established him on the international art scene.
In his landscapes, Drysdale was particularly admired for his depictions of the drought ravaged region in New South Wales.
The artist received his knighthood in 1969. Drysdale passed away in the year 1981.
From ABC of Australia we view a show that took place in 2012 in Sydney featuring the work of Drysdale:
Price range information: The artist worked as a printmaker and also used watercolor, oils, and inks. Prices range from $5,000 to $750,000.
On a personal note, Drysdale lost two important people in his life. His son Tim took his own life at the age of 21. In the year that followed his wife also took his own life.
Drysdale was great at capturing the emotions and different physical traits of people.
Adnate is a wonderful street artist from Australia renown for his work with portraits. His main medium is spray paint. Adnate is based out of Melbourne, Australia.
When he began as an artist Adnate produced graffiti. He became great at using letters in his art, but after ten years decided to try something new and different and started to paint portraits.
Adnate is also part of the street artist collective AWOL.
In this clip we view Adnate at work on a piece of art:
The artist also creates works on canvas. These works are made with spray paint and acrylic paint.
Frank Hurley was a master of photography born in Sydney, Australia in the year 1885. Hurley loved adventure and traveled all over the globe including to Antarctica. Hurley was both a photographer and film producer.
Hurley also served as an official photographer for Australia in World War One and World War Two.
The artist bought his first camera at 17 years of age and quickly inserted his sense of adventure in taking photographs. Some very unique ideas he had at the time was to stand in front an on coming train to photograph it. He enjoyed taking these pictures that also used his sense of adventure.
He first sold his images as postcards.
Hurley is also famous for his images taken during explorer Ernest Shackleton’s journey to the Antarctic. Some of these images are even in color.
price range information: Works range from $2,000 to $100,000.
In this clip a great montage of images and short documentary on his life:
Frank Hurley passed away in 1962.
What a fascinating life! You may of seen Frank Hurley’s work before as he was featured in the Imax movie made about Shackleton’s journey to the Antarctic. Hurley reminds of the adventurous out door man Bear Grylls.
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