I went to Richmond last weekend to look at what I thought was an exhibition of paintings by Ludwig Hirschfeld Mack – sometime of the Bauhaus and subsequently art master at Geelong Grammar with transport to Australia being supplied by HMT Dunera in 1940. The exhibition turned out to have a single largish painting by LHM and it had sold for $75,000. So that was that.
Anyway I wandered into the Pollock Gallery in Church Street where there was a good exhibition by Stephen Armstrong. Wandering round in their store I saw a very arresting picture that looked quite like an Hieronymus Bosch. My wife thought it was creepy but I was taken by how well this guy painted. And it wasn’t as cruel and macabre as a Bosch.
I took an instant interest in the guy who had painted it. I came upon the arresting image you see above after rootling around some more. Look at the portrait in the painting reproduced above. He can really paint and draw which is not always apparent with lots of artists.
He’s just had an exhibition with a bunch of very impressive paintings – even if I accept they’re not everyone’s cup of tea. Yet his work does not seem to have sold well despite cheap prices – at least by the strange standards of the art market.
There are plenty of pictures from the recent exhibition reproduced here – and you can click through to good images from the thumbnails.
And because I like them so much I’ve reproduced the larger versions of the two other paintings I liked the most below the fold. An amazing elephant in camouflage and the ‘Bosch’ one that caught my eye initially, though you really need to see that painting to appreciate it – as it’s endlessly fascinating to check out its details.
I reckon you should go check him out if you’re in Melbourne. 270 Church Street, Richmond, Victoria 3121 Australia
Is that why some can’t recognize the elephant in the room?
See what you mean about Bosch. Very interesting, and, as you say, great draftspersonship. Thanks for sharing that.
Let me guess…….Tony Abbott impersonating an Andorian?