The First Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art

Gareth Sansom, one of the most consistent and inventive figurative painters of the past thirty years, was born in Melbourne, Australia in 1939. Sansom's work was often seen as a daring and colloquial variation of pop art, but this is only a partial account of an art which is concerned with self-confession and the psychological fragments of memory and experience, which is expressed with a sense of humour and, on occasions, affront. Although best known as a painter who often incorporates collage and photographs into his work, Gareth Sansom is also a pro- lific draughtsman and, particularly in the 1970s, was a photographer who produced images of candour about the individual and sexuality. His early interest in Picasso pro- vided a stylistic springboard which encour- aged him to restructure and manipulate the figure and face, and in the work of Francis Bacon he saw the ability to reveal the intensity of private introspection. In recent years Sansom has abandoned the demands of teaching and art education to paint full-time, with his last appointment being Dean of the School of Art, Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne. He is acutely aware of the variety of attitudes which have at various times preoccupied, if not dominated, artistic thinking and practice, but these have had very little effect on the character of his art. Sansom's striding independence has earned him critical admiration and respect, and throughout his career he has exhibited widely in solo and group exhibitions, both in Australia and abroad. He is represented in most Australian public and institutional collec- tions. In 1982 Sansom was visiting artist at the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and was Artist-in-Residence at the University of Melbourne in 1985. In 1991 he represented Australia at the seventh Triennale in India. A cursory look at Gareth Sansom's art might suggest chaos-filled canvases, exuding different and disjointed interests and ideas which come together in an exuberantly painted and precariously arranged compo- sition. A closer inspection reveals, however, the existence of a tenuous narrative in which ideas that are felt, experienced or observed are incorporated into a unique and personal iconography. These ideas, while specific in their reference, are nonetheless expressed with deliberate ambiguity. Amongst the flux and juxtaposition of the component parts, Gareth Sansom's paintings AUSTRALIA GARETH SANSOM in the 'First Asia-Pacific Triennial' are in many respects more contemplative and literal in relation to the specific issues they address than his previous work. He has always been interested in the way the human mind and emotions might respond to personal and particular experiences and conflict, whether these might be spiritual or sexual, and in the case of Mortality, Retirement and Schizophrenia the issues of death and the individual's belonging to the world are raised. The paintings not only refer to specific people known to the artist but they also incorporate other images suggesting the universality of militarism and the complex nature of personal, public and culturally different forms of communication. Doug Hall 109 Mortality 1993 Mixed media on cotton duck 213x 152cm Collection: The artist Bottom Retirement 1993 Mixed media on cotton duck 213x152cm Collection: The artist