Ben Quilty

In 2002, Ben Quilty won the Brett Whiteley Travelling Scholarship and journeyed to Paris where he imbibed the colour and atmosphere so eloquently expressed by Henri Matisse who, along with the British artists Frank Auerbach and Leo Kossoff, greatly influenced the young artist's approach to colour, form and line. The Paris drawings, rapidly sketched in oil bar on linen, came close to the 'drawing with paint' that is the hallmark of Quilty's approach. While his influences have been...
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In 2002, Ben Quilty won the Brett Whiteley Travelling Scholarship and journeyed to Paris where he imbibed the colour and atmosphere so eloquently expressed by Henri Matisse who, along with the British artists Frank Auerbach and Leo Kossoff, greatly influenced the young artist's approach to colour, form and line. The Paris drawings, rapidly sketched in oil bar on linen, came close to the 'drawing with paint' that is the hallmark of Quilty's approach. While his influences have been European, part of Quilty's mission is to find subjects that explore Australia's cultural identity. Thus, partly tongue-in-cheek, he embarked on a series of paintings dedicated to the Holden Torana and its importance to Australia's testosterone-driven youth. Equally confronting are his Budgerigars, harmless and endearing at first glance, but in effect painted as a protest against mutant selective breeding programs undertaken to serve the collectors' market. As a young artist, at times quite irreverent in his approach, he believes fervently in developing the necessary skills of drawing and painting and, as a portrait painter, has more than once been a finalist in the Archibald Prize. Quirky as his approach to painting can sometimes be, he believes it is possible to gather inspiration and enlightenment by osmosis; by observing places once inhabited by persons of genius. Hence his fascination with 'painters' places' in Australia- like Hill End and Heidelberg, or with Paris and the colourful presence of Mattise. This Macmillan Mini-Art book, the third in the series, shows how art can be quite radical without abandoning its foundations.