BIO
Todd Hunter is an alchemist of form. Neither strictly speaking figuration or abstraction, he has taken the colours and shapes of the natural world and put them through the blender of his fecund imagination. In many ways it is a ruse we see a landscape even though he denies us the literal rendering of tree and sky, rock and shrub. But they are clearly, vividly there. He evokes the essence of a landscape without resorting to the banalities of the literal.
This is not because Todd Hunter can't paint. Indeed, he is a truly masterful draughtsman. But he has evolved beyond the need to take us by the hand. He's happy to throw us into the maelstrom of the essence of nature, which he has done before with the human figure. When he paints a female nude he eschews the form and goes to the heart of his subject.
There is simultaneously a gentle lyricism and a violent cacophony occurring in these paintings, as though he is capturing the shifting seasons, the movement of light, the pulse of the breeze through some system of time-lapse capture. The paint is applied with an energy that reflects the winds, the tides and the power of light, swirling us into his almost hallucinogenic world.
Hunters love for music is abundantly clear in these epic canvases. He has cited the band The Dirty Three as amongst his inspirations. Anyone who has seen or heard that strange triumvirate of musicians will immediately recognise the same pulsations and gradations that they achieve. Essentially headed by the violinist Warren Ellis, the bands music is a barely controlled blend of classical, folk and rock elements that borders on the cacophonous. The music leaps and shifts like a Dervish on acid and one can almost imagine Hunter, with palette-knife or brush, swirling around the studio. Like the music he adores, there are moments of quite, almost timeless, contemplation in these paintings. We can feel the long moments of quietly looking at the hills and gullies, the rocks and clouds, before the wind picks up and the colours are scattered into roaring new life and he captures This Perfect Day.
- Ashley Crawford 2008
Collections
ABN Amro Corporate Collection, Sydney
Art Bank
The Adelaide Club Collection, Adelaide
Griffith University Art Gallery Brisbane
The QCL Collection, Queensland
The Alex Mackay Collection, Brisbane
Hotel CBD, Sydney
The Sangster Collection, NSW
The Julian Ashton Art School, Sydney
Embassy of Switzerland, Bangkok
Embassy of Australia, Bangkok
Corporate Collections; NSW, Victoria, Queensland
Private Collections; Australia, UK, USA, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Thailand
Art Awards
2008 Finalist, Sunshine Coast Art Prize
2007 Finalist, Paddington Art Prize
Finalist, Tattersalls Art Prize
Finalist, Sunshine Coast Art Prize
Finalist, Kings School Art Prize
2005 Finalist, ABN Amro Emerging Artist Award
2000 Finalist, Brett Whiteley Travelling Scholarship, Brett Whiteley
Studio, Sydney
1994 Finalist, Logan National Art Award, Logan
1993 Melville Haysom Scholarship, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane
Inaugural Griffith University Artistcare Drawing Prize, Griffith University, Brisbane
Best Bachelor of Visual Arts Award, Griffith University, Brisbane
Education
1989 1992 Bachelor Visual Arts, Griffith University, Brisbane
1990 Julian Ashton Art School Sydney
1986 1996 Studied with David Paulson, Brisbane (with the exception of 1990)
Selected Bibliography
2008 Megan Backhouse, Art Around the Galleries, The Age, May 3, 2008
Ashley Crawford, This Perfect Day Catalogue Essay, February 08
2007 Le Flaneur, The Beauty of Incomprehension, August 05,
2006 Ashley Crawford, Preview, Art Collector Magazine, October, Issue 38
Ashley Crawford, (exh. Cat.)Just Like the Night, July
2005 Clare Lewis, Recent Paintings ( exh. cat.), GRANTPIRRIE, Sydney
Andrew Frost, Todd, On Bass The Art Life, May 11
2004 Annie Leo, Todd Hunter - The Art of Abstraction, Attitude Magazine, Winter
Megan Morton, Art and Soul, The Sun Herald Magazine, April 11
2003 Jonathan Turner, In The Flesh, Blue Magazine, No 45 July
2002 Emma Zakarevicius, Todd Hunter at BMG, dB Magazine, September 11
2001 Lenny Ann Low. How on Earth, the Sydney Morning Herald, November 3
John Neylon, Pulsating, The Adelaide Review, January
2000 Peter Anderson, Regarding the Familiar, Courier Mail, September
Courtney Kidd, Throwing in the Trowel, The Sydney Morning Herald, April 11
1997 Thomas Brecelic, Bangkok Post, September 25
Sue Smith, Todds new world is looking good, Courier Mail, June 25
Snapshots, ABC TV, June 24
1996 Chris Worfold, Recent Paintings exhibition Catalogue, Fortitude Gallery, Brisbane
1995 Gravity, Issue3, April
1993 Scholarship Artist Takes up Residency at Gallery, The Weekend Independent, Ian Howard Artistcare Drawing Prize, catalogue
Pat Hoffe, Final Configuration Exhibition Catalogue, Queensland College of Art, Griffith University
Exhibitions
Solo Exhibitions
2008 'Strange Weather', BMGArt Gallery, Adelaide, SA
'This Perfect Day', Scott Livesey Galleries, Melbourne, VIC
2007 All Times Through Paradise, GRANTPIRRIE, Sydney, NSW
2006 Just Like the Night,` Scott Livesey Galleries, Melbourne, VIC
BMG Art Gallery, Adelaide, SA
2005 Recent Paintings, GRANTPIRRIE, Sydney, NSW
2004 Andrew Baker Art Dealer, Brisbane, QLD
Scott Livesey Art Dealer, Melbourne, VIC
2003 Recent Paintings, GRANTPIRRIE, Sydney, NSW
2002 BMGArt Gallery, Adelaide, SA
Scott Livesey Art Dealer, Melbourne, VIC
2001 Art House Gallery, Sydney, NSW
2000 BMGArt Gallery, Adelaide, SA
Andrew Baker Art Dealer, Brisbane, QLD
Art House Gallery, Sydney, NSW
1999 Art House Gallery, Sydney, NSW
1998 Smith and Stoneley on Stratton, Brisbane, QLD
Art House Gallery, Sydney, NSW
1997 Fortitude Gallery, Brisbane, QLD
1996 Fortitude Gallery, Brisbane, QLD
1994 The Vine Galleria, Brisbane, QLD
Selected Group Exhibitions
2008 Fleurieu Art Prize, Fleurieu Biennale, Adelaide, SA
Tattersalls Club Art Prize , Brisbane, QLD
Sunshine Coast Art Prize, Caloundra Regional Gallery, QLD
2007 Paddington Landscape Art Prize, Sydney, NSW
Tattersalls Club Art Prize, Brisbane, QLD
Sunshine Coast Art Prize, Caloundra Regional Gallery, QLD
Kings School Art Prize, Parramatta, Sydney, NSW
2006 Ironic Expressionism, Curator, Andrew Frost, Virginia Wilson Gallery, Sydney, NSW
2005 ABN Amro Emerging Artist Award, Sydney, NSW
2004 Tattersalls Club Invitation Art Prize, Brisbane, QLD
2003 The Year In Art, SH Ervin Gallery, Sydney, NSW
Tattersalls Club Invitation Art Prize, Brisbane, QLD
2002 Twenty Fine Paintings, Scott Livesey Art Dealer, Melbourne, VIC
2001 Twenty Fine Paintings, Scott Livesey Art Dealer, Melbourne, VIC
2000 Melbourne Contemporary Art Fair, Melbourne, VIC
Brett Whiteley Travelling Scholarship, Brett Whiteley Studio, Surry Hills, Sydney, NSW
1999 Inaugural Exhibition, Andrew Baker Art Dealer, Brisbane, QLD
Inaugural Schools and Universities Prize Exhibition, Schools and Universities Club, Sydney, NSW
1998 Flesh: Collections of Sensual & Erotic Art, Noosa Regional Gallery, Noosa, QLD
1997 Global Art: Australia Beyond, Carpediem Gallery, Thailand
The First Brisbane International Art Fair, Brisbane, QLD
Downlands College Art Awards, Toowoomba, QLD
1996 Preview, Fortitude Gallery, Brisbane, QLD
Asia Pacific Hotel Art Fair, Brisbane, QLD
Stanthorpe Arts Festival, Stanthorpe, QLD
1995 Gilchrist Galleries, Brisbane, QLD
Churchie Exhibition of Emerging Art, Brisbane, QLD
1994 Ten Figurative Artists, Holdsworth Gallery, Sydney, NSW
Logan National Art Award, Logan, QLD
1993 Rebels Without a Course, Fireworks Gallery, Brisbane, QLD
Believers, Isnt, Brisbane, QLD
Griffith University Drawing Exhibition, Brisbane, QLD
1992 Final Configuration, Museum of Contemporary Art, Brisbane, QLD
Free Trade, Isnt, Brisbane, QLD
Art = Aura, Space Plenitude, Brisbane, QLD
1991 Three Positions, Space Plenitude, Brisbane, QLD