BIO
ARTIST STATEMENT
My earliest memory relating to art, is drawing huge Disney characters on my bedroom wall, and in retrospect, I'm surprised and grateful that my parents allowed me do it.
I settled in Melbourne in 1974 where I took up my vocation with fervor and began painting full time and improving what skills I had.
By 1980 I was represented in the first of several exhibitions and in the following years I became interested in involving the viewer more directly in my paintings. I realized that there was a direct mathematical correlation between a viewpoint and the objects in a painting which eventually led to my developing formulas for application with perspective, and also computer software to accommodate them.
In 1988 I began working in affiliation with Fresco Site Specific Art, painting trompe l'oeil murals. It was an easy transition because my interest in perspective was directly applicable to trompe l'oeil.
The perspective in most of the paintings is calculated to look right from a particular viewing position. When viewed from this position, the viewer should be able to feel like they are part of the scene, looking around in it as if looking around in real life.
Paintings can condense an idea or emotion into an image that can portray something that can't be described using words. I approached learning to paint with one main aim; to refine my technique enough to be able to create a realistic representation of anything that I may imagine or dream.
Ron Francis 2008
Collections
Commissions
Tilley Corporation
Lady Leah Lynch
Shell Corporation
Reg Withers
The Department of Administrative Services, Melbourne, VIC
The Meatworkers building, Melbourne, VIC
Maxim's Wine Bar, Norwood, SA
Mike Bergin, Advisor Investment Services.
Heathfield Ridge Winery, Naracoorte, SA
Mural for Palm Gardens Retirement Village foyer, Hamstead, SA
North Eastern University, Boston, USA
Bibliography
1982 Photograph included in exhibition commentary, Art and Australia, volume 19, no. 3.
1989 Article written in the Herald by Mathew Pinkey
2002 Illusionsmalerei Heute by Ursula E and Martin Benad. English edition: Trompe L'oeil Today.
Exhibitions
Solo Exhibitions
2006 Solo Exhibition, Scott Livesey Galleries, Armadale, VIC
2005 Solo Exhibition, Scott Livesey Galleries, Armadale, VIC
1974 Settled in Melbourne and sold works privately.
Group Exhibitions
1980 Two Man Exhibition with Emile Barolle, Profile Gallery, Melbourne, VIC
1981 Group Show, Profile Gallery, Melbourne, VIC
1983 Bougainvillaea Festival Art Award, Darwin, NT
1988 Fresco Site Specific Art, painting Trompe L'oeil Murals.
1989 Group Show, Melbourne Contemporary Art Gallery, Fitzroy, VIC
1989 Two Man Exhibition with Colin Stevens, Melbourne Contemporary Art
Gallery, Fitzroy, VIC
1995 Two Man Exhibition with Ian De Sousa, Barry Newton Gallery, Malvern, S.A.
2008 Group Show 08, Scott Livesey Galleries, Armadale, VIC