TONY SLATER
Plenty of people have painted the Australian bush before, but nobody puts paint to canvas quite like Tony Slater. His touch is distinctive. So is his sense of color and light. Astonishing how true it feels - how utterly lacking in meretriciousness or false feeling. These paintings are gutsy, keenly observed, cliché-free. They look to me like Slater s best work, which is saying a lot. There is no rhetorical swagger or romantic exaggeration. The choice of subject matter, the unusual perspectives, the close-in cropping it all feels fantastically fresh. It s an unlikely achievement when you consider the history of Australian landscape painting, teeming as it is with contenders. Note, especially, the astonishing interplay between shadows, trees, and rocks (here is an artist who had really got to grips with Australian sun-dazzle). Also, Slater s brilliant ability to capture the textures of rocks and earth, and the look of trees against slopes and skies. At times, it s like Courbet, Corot, Constable, and Fred Williams all rolled into one. No question about it: Tony Slater is the real thing. -Sebastian Smee, 2011, Art Critic for The Boston Globe & Pulitzer Prize for Criticism, Winner 2011
Afternoon Light - Calm water, 2013, oil on canvas, 93 x 154 cm
Creek Bank with Cutting, 2011, oil on canvas, 102 x 150 cm
Crossing (small version), 2012, oil on canvas, 118 x 133 cm
Deep Overhang, 2012, oil on canvas, 105.5 x 141 cm
Granite Belt - Afterglow???? oil on canvas
Group of Trees After a Storm - Wattle in Bloom, 2011,oil on canvas,102 x 127 cm
Midday, Gilgandra, 2014, oil on canvas, 99 x 150.5 cm
Light and Dark - Winter Sun, 2012, oil on canvas, 90.5 x 121.5 cm
Line of Trees, Comboyne, 2011, oil on canvas, 83.5 x 118 cm
New England Stones, 2002, oil on canvas, 45 x 50 cm
Pale Morning, 2011, oil on canvas, 102 x 150 cm
Retreating Waters, 2012, oil on canvas, 84 x 89 cm
Shadows and Stones - Sara River, 2012-13, oil on canvas, 111.5 x 123 cm
The Enigma of Things, 2012-16, oil on canvas, 111 x 184 cm
Wallabadah Brook, 2016, oil on canvas, 86 x 123.5 cm
Crossing, 2011, oil on canvas, 190 x 167 cm
TONY SLATER Born Derbyshire, United Kingdom, 1940 Arrived in Australia 1974 Education 1960-1963 Royal College of Art, London 1957-1960 Derby College of Art 1953-1956 Joseph Wright Junior Art School, Derby Teaching experience 1977 Sydney College of the Arts, Sydney 1966-1967 Liverpool College of Art, England 1964-1964 Wigan College of Art, Lancashire, England Solo exhibitions 2016 Urban Landscapes: Under the Sun Yellow House, Potts Point, Sydney 2011 Australian Landscape, Defiance Gallery, Newtown 2008 Tony Slater: Some Figures, Some Farming and Some Fruit and Veg 1998-2008 2007 Under The Sun Defiance Gallery at the Seymour Theatre Centre, Sydney 2006 New Landscapes Defiance Gallery, Sydney 2004 Maitland Regional Gallery 2003 Manning Regional Gallery, Taree 2001 Defiance Gallery, Sydney 2000 Defiance Gallery, Sydney 1998 Defiance Gallery, Sydney 1994 T.A.P. Gallery, Sydney 1993 Taylor Street Gallery, Sydney 1990 Claude Ullin Gallery, Melbourne 1978 Contemporary Art Society, Paddington Town Hall, Sydney 1974 Drian Gallery, London, England 1972 Drian Gallery, London, England Selected group exhibitions 2017 Kilgour Art Prize, Newcastle Art Gallery 2015 The 20th Anniversary Defiance Gallery Exhibition 2013 Abstract Landscape, Defiance Gallery, Newtown 2012 The Drawing Show, Defiance Gallery, Newtown 2011 Preview 2011, Defiance Gallery, Newtown The Landscape Show, Defiance Gallery, Paddington 2010 The Landscape Show, Defiance Gallery, Newtown The Drawing Show, Defiance Gallery, Paddington Paint, Steel & Bronze, Defiance Gallery, Paddington 2009 The Landscape Show, Defiance Gallery, Newtown The Drawing Show, Defiance Gallery, Newtown 2007 Same Place, Many Views Defiance Gallery, Sydney The Drawing Show, Defiance Gallery, Newtown 2006 Defiance Group Show, Defiance Gallery, Sydney Same Place, Many Views, Defiance Gallery, Sydney The Seymour Theatre, Defiance Gallery, Sydney The Defiance Gallery Drawing Show Defiance Gallery, Sydney 2005 Same Place, Many Views Defiance Gallery, Sydney New Works Painting & Sculpture. Defiance Gallery, Sydney The Defiance Drawing Show 2005, Defiance Gallery, Sydney 2004 Same Place, Many Views Defiance Gallery, Sydney Vacation or Search for National Identity, Seymour Theatre, Sydney Landscape Exhibition, Stephanie Burns Fine Art, Canberra 2003 Defiance Gallery at the Seymour Theatre, Seymour Theatre Centre, Sydney The Defiance Group Show II, Defiance Gallery, Sydney The Defiance Group Show, Defiance Gallery Sydney Defiance @ danks, Dank St Gallery Complex, Sydney 2002 Create Gallery at Circular Quay, Sydney Defiance Artists Group Show, Defiance Gallery Selected Works, Defiance Gallery, Sydney 2001 Artists from Defiance, Defiance Gallery, Sydney 2000 Various Views, Defiance Gallery, Sydney 1996 Sulman Prize, Art Gallery of New South Wales 1990 Sulman Prize, Art Gallery of New South Wales 1988 Sulman Prize, Art Gallery of New South Wales
Collections Artbank Clayton Utz, Sydney Macquarie Bank Westmead Children s Hospital Seymour Theatre, Sydney University Selected bibliography 2001 Harris, Peter., Tony Slater at Defiance Gallery Exhibition reviews, Asian Art News, May/June, p.81 2000 Kidd, Courtney., Seeing the forest and the trees, The Galleries, The Sydney Morning Herald, 29 March Smee, Sebastian., Critic s Pick: Tony Slater, Exhibitions Metro, The Sydney Morning Herald, 17 23 March, p.8
DEFIANCE GALLERY 47 Enmore Rd, Newtown, NSW 2042 Directors: Campbell Robertson-Swann and Lauren Harvey T(02) 9557 8483 www.defiancegallery.com Title: Tony Slater -selected works- Co-ordinator: Lauren Harvey Artwork photography: Stephen Oxenbury Publisher: Defiance Gallery Pty Ltd Copyright 2017 artists, writers, publishers All images have been produced with permission of the artist. Copyright for the text in this publication is held by the authors and may not be reproduced without their permission. No photographs may be reproduced without permission of the copyright owners. Tony Slater is represented by Defiance Gallery