Rodney Forbes, Arctic terns over Point Gellibrand
Rodney Forbes
1951-
Date
2015
Medium Specific
Linocut
Edition / State
18/20
Printer
Editioned by Susan Hall at Inverloch Australia
Classification
Print
Dimensions
8 x 30 in. (20.3 x 76.2 cm)
Accession Number
2016.20.20.04
Credit
Gift of the Artist
Memo / Artist Statement
This image is an aerial view of the seaside suburb of Williamstown in Melbourne, Australia where I grew up and had by first job at a naval dockyard. It interests me how vividly we can keep a map in our heads of our own neighbourhood. I composed this image without reference to maps to keep it as memory-based as possible.
It also references the remarkable arctic tern, which flies from the Arctic to the Antarctic and back every year, passing through Southern Australia on its journey. I guess the arctic tern has an even bigger map in its head.
It also references the remarkable arctic tern, which flies from the Arctic to the Antarctic and back every year, passing through Southern Australia on its journey. I guess the arctic tern has an even bigger map in its head.
Biography
Rodney Forbes grew up near the sea in Melbourne, Australia. He began his working life as a missile systems technician at Williamstown Naval Dockyard. He then travelled widely and retrained as an artist. He is a painter, educator, curator and writer and now lives in Gippsland, Australia. He was the Head of Gippsland Centre for Art and Design at Monash University and then Federation University for 8 years and also the Curator of Switchback Gallery. He is currently a Senior Research Fellow at Federation University Australia.
Forbes exhibits at Australian Galleries, Melbourne's oldest commercial gallery. He is fascinated by how people tell stories. Through figurative narrative painting he uses autobiographical and incident-as-metaphor methods to explore wider issues of knowing and belonging in oral traditions such as working class, children's' and artisan subcultures. His work draws on pop, cartooning and joke narrative structures within contemporary culture. He is interested in the story telling of cultural crossroads such as Chicago, Liverpool and Melbourne, which engender rich cultures of story-painting, cartooning, humor and music. Comparative studies of travellers' and locals' tales are a theme and his work also honours the healing dimension of story telling and painting.
His work is held in the collection of the Australian National Gallery, Canberra, The Art Gallery of New South Wales, Artbank, Regional Galleries and numerous collections in Australia and internationally. His work has been the subject of two major curated survey exhibitions and he has been the recipient of an Australia Council Arts and Crafts Board New Work Grant.
Forbes is also active in curation of indigenous exhibitions and cross-cultural art projects. He enjoys playing the harmonica, reading poetry, kayaking and bushwalking.
Forbes exhibits at Australian Galleries, Melbourne's oldest commercial gallery. He is fascinated by how people tell stories. Through figurative narrative painting he uses autobiographical and incident-as-metaphor methods to explore wider issues of knowing and belonging in oral traditions such as working class, children's' and artisan subcultures. His work draws on pop, cartooning and joke narrative structures within contemporary culture. He is interested in the story telling of cultural crossroads such as Chicago, Liverpool and Melbourne, which engender rich cultures of story-painting, cartooning, humor and music. Comparative studies of travellers' and locals' tales are a theme and his work also honours the healing dimension of story telling and painting.
His work is held in the collection of the Australian National Gallery, Canberra, The Art Gallery of New South Wales, Artbank, Regional Galleries and numerous collections in Australia and internationally. His work has been the subject of two major curated survey exhibitions and he has been the recipient of an Australia Council Arts and Crafts Board New Work Grant.
Forbes is also active in curation of indigenous exhibitions and cross-cultural art projects. He enjoys playing the harmonica, reading poetry, kayaking and bushwalking.
Date of Bio
Inscription
Edition, title, signature in pencil (verso)