|
|
Geoff
Williams
PROFESSIONAL
DEVELOPMENT
I
was born and raised in Brisbane in an unremarkable, working class situation, except
for discovering a talent for drawing when I was in kindergarten. In the mid 1960’s
I embarked on a career as a ‘commercial artist’ working in advertising agencies in
Australia and Europe. In the mid 1970’s while employed in Germany as a senior Art
Director with J. Walter Thompson, I took up easel painting. I later moved to
Switzerland for some serious painting, supporting myself with freelance
illustration. After returning to Australia in 1978 I eventually settled in
Mullumbimby where I have tackled a variety of disciplines including easel painting,
illustration, graphic design, film set design, dioramas, murals and building.
The1980’s began very well, exhibiting at Verlie Just galleries in Brisbane and
winning several awards. Since 1990 I have been involved in murals, dioramas and
trompe-l'œil with projects in Australia, Singapore, China and recently 8 months
working on a palace in Ukraine. Never previously having any formal training in
graphic or fine arts, in 1997 I completed a Bachelor of Arts (painting) at Southern
Cross University during the halcyon days of post-modernism.
AWARDS
1992
North Coast Art Awards
Prize.
1981
Tweed Festival Prize.
1981
Nerang Art Prize.
1980
Southern Cross Art
Prize.
1980
Tweed Festival Prize.
(now Border Art Prize)
1980
Fairymont Festival Art
Prize.
1980
Gold Coast Gallery
Purchase Prize.
1979
Cross Art Prize.
1979
Mullumbimby Spring
Festival Art Prize.
EXHIBITIONS
1997
Graduates Show - Southern Cross University.1975 Zurich (solo),
1983 Byron
Bay (solo)
1982 Wynne
Prize selected Art Gallery of NSW
1982
‘Northern Rivers Artists’ - Queensland Art Gallery
1981
Brisbane, (solo)
1980
Mullumbimby (solo)
1978
Melbourne (solo)
1976 New Art:
Kunsthaus – Zurich
1976 ‘Frau im
Build’ – Zurich
1976
Frankfurt (solo)
Life's
drama is played out in the landscape. The human species sees itself as
possessing a spiritual separateness from that landscape, a state of mind which
may eventually lead to its demise. In my short lifetime I have witnessed
shocking environmental degradation which I cannot ignore in my work.
As artists
we are driven to observe what is pathetically termed 'the human condition'. In
my practise I cling to optimism as I try to empathise with other species
and, as I have always loved drawing, the most obvious expression of this is a
sort of political realism. Once a work is commenced, however, I become deeply
immersed in the problem-solving act of painting – composition, colour, space,
depth and also important to me is the manipulation of minor abstractions within
the work.
|
|
