HOME ABOUT US ARTISTS ABORIGINAL ART CURRENT EXHIBITION PAST EXHIBITIONS STOCKROOM SALES PADDINGTON ART PRIZE

Tom Carment Artist statement I am a plein air painter and so that is how I approached this project. It was, in a way, tailor-made for the way I work, and for my love of the coast. With a backpack of watercolours and gouache I have cycled and caught the bus to Coogee from my home in the inner city and when I’ve taken my oils, driven. I see humanity as integral to this place. It energises and enlivens it. As I’ve explored Coogee these last two months I’ve started to notice the ‘regulars’ (and maybe they’ve started to notice me); the man with a grey goatee who does his karate kata at the northern end of the beach each morning, the leathery old cronies in their saggy Speedos at the southern end who stand, arms folded, and chat for hours. What I’ve discovered at this location is a renewed interest in painting figures at the edge of the sea, the subtle variations of the way the sea and the sand meet, the light reflected on wet sand, the footprint patterns in the late afternoon; the multitudinous and changing poses of sunbakers, watching parents, readers, bathers; the chaotic variety of architectural styles terracing up from the promenades. Tom Carment: CV Tom Carment is a painter of portraits and landscapes and a writer. Tom’s pictures have been exhibited in numerous solo exhibitions since the 70’s and his stories and essays have been published nationally. His work has been hung in the Archibald Prize nine times and he was co-winner the 2005 Mosman Art Prize. In 2006 he completed a two-year commission for the City of Melbourne to document in words and pictures the construction of Council House 2 - the greenest office building in Australia. He was also a finalist for the Paddington Art Prize. In 2007, he was a finalist for the Paddington Art Prize. The Art Gallery of NSW, State Library of NSW, National Gallery of Australia, City of Melbourne Art & Heritage Collection, Kedumba Drawing Collection, Macquarie Group Collection and many others hold his works.   Hawkesbury Regional Gallery at Windsor will be showing a selection of Tom’s landscapes and portraits from the past thirty years during April 2008 in an exhibition entitled ‘People, Paddocks, Coastlines’.

 

Next >