BORN 1953

STUDIES

2002    Doctor of Creative Arts University of Western Sydney
1998    Master of Arts University of Western Sydney
1996    Master of Educational Studies Monash University
1989    Graduate Diploma in Special Education Melbourne University
1979    Graduate Diploma in Art Education Monash University
1973    Diploma of Teaching Monash University

Background

Melbourne based artist, was a member of the famously influential ‘Roar’ group.  In the early 1980’s, along with artists such as David Larwill and Pasquale Giardino, this innovative group of young artists established their own gallery space in Fitzroy, ‘Roar Studios’.  Here they set out to have a profound and ongoing impact on the Australian art scene. With an intended play on words, these ‘raw’, energetic and rebellious artists created an art movement with their bold style and continue to be aggressively pursued by investors, collectors and curators alike.

Bruce Earles naïve ‘Roar’ painting style is defined by joyous narratives, drenched in a kaleidoscope of colour.  His richly textured works explore the potential for a harmonious and festive community identity.

Since 1983, Earles has successfully exhibited both Australia wide and internationally, in New York, Tokyo, Seattle, Beijing and Shanghai.  He received a Doctorate in Creative Arts in 2002 and has many academic publications.  In 2000 he was a recipient of the Pollock Krasner Foundation Award for Art.

EXHIBITIONS

2010    Lk Contemporary Perth
2010    Art Images Adelaide
2010    Artistry/Hogan Galleries Melbourne
2009    Linton and Kay Contemporary Perth
2009    Artistry Galleries Melbourne
2009    Trevor Victor Harvey Sydney
2008    Schuberts Contemporary Gold Coast
2008    Art Images Adelaide
2008    Trevor Victor Harvey Sydney
2008    Artistry Galleries Melbourne
2008    Linton and Kay Contemporary Perth
2007    Artistry Galleries Melbourne
2007    House of Phillips Fine Art Sydney
2007    Paul Gullotti Gallery Perth
2006    Art Images Gallery Adelaide
2006    Paul Gullotti Gallery Perth
2005   Goya Galleries Melbourne
2005    Qdos Gallery Lorne
2000-04    Goya Galleries Melbourne
2000-02    Dagmar Art Consultants Melbourne
1999    Maling Gallery Casula Powerhouse Sydney
1998    YZ Gallery University of Western Sydney
1995-97    Hogan Gallery Melbourne
1998    Aikenhead Gallery St. Vincents Hospital Melbourne
1991    Maska International Gallery Pioneer Sq. Seattle
1985    Central Park New York
1983-86    Roar Studios Melbourne
1982    Chrysalis Gallery Port Melbourne
1978-81    Peninsula Galleries Portsea Melbourne
1973    Monash University Frankston 

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2012    Trevor Victor Harvey Gallery Sydney
2010    Trevor Victor Harvey Gallery Sydney
2009    Art Melbourne
2009    Many Arts Festival
2008    Star Gallery Chicago
2007    Goya Galleries International New York
2007    Shanghai Art Fair
2007    Ho Gallery Melbourne
2007    Art International Associates New York
2007    Libby Edwards Brisbane, Sydney
2007    Australian National Pavillion
2007    Beijing China
2007    Art Images Adelaide
2005    Goya Galleries Melbourne
2005    Art Sydney
2005    Hogan Gallery Tsunami Appeal Melbourne
2004    Melbourne Art Fair
2004    Post Gallery Melbourne
2004    Manyung Gallery Mt. Eliza
2003    Sydney Affordable Art Fair
2003    Sydney Art Fair
2002    Melbourne Contemporary Art Fair
2001    Penrith Regional Gallery Sydney
2000    Williamstown Contemporary Arts Festival Melbourne
1999    Goya Galleries Melbourne
1999    Williamstown Contemporary Arts Melbourne
1999    Open Space Gallery Melbourne
1997    Rupert Bunny 3 City of Port Phillip Melbourne
1996    Fringe Festival Melbourne
1994    Victorian Artists Society
1994    Roar 2 Studios Melbourne
1993    Australian Contemporary Arts Fair Melbourne
1992    Ten Years After Roar Studios Melbourne
1991    Aurora Gallery Anchorage Alaska
1987    Emerging Collector East Village New York
1987    Bad Gallery Melbourne
1986    Roar Studios Melbourne
1985    Gallery 212 Waseda Tokyo
1985    The Fight Shinjuku Tokyo
1985    Now Gallery New York
1984    Fringe Arts Festival Melbourne
1984    Roar Studios Melbourne
1983    Roar Studios Melbourne
1983    Fringe Arts Festival Melbourne
1982    Artworkers Union Trades Hall Melbourne
1981    Australian Council Trade Union RMIT Melbourne
1981    Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery Melbourne
1980    Peninsula Galleries Portsea
1979    Flinders Art show
1976    Shire of Flinders Art Exhibiton

AWARDS

2001    University of Western Sydney Research Grant
2001    University of Western Sydney Top Up Award
2000    Pollock Krasner Foundation Grant New York
2000    Artist in Residence, St. Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne
1999    Artist in Residence, St. Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne
1995    Australian Postgraduate Award
1979    Flinders Art Award
1978    Shire of Flinders Acquisitive Award

REPRESENTED

Artistry Galleries Melbourne
Trevor Victor Harvey Sydney
Soho Galleries Sydney
LK Galleries Perth
Anthea Polson Gold Coast
Art Images Adelaide
Red Sea Gallery Brisbane, Singapore 

COLLECTIONS

National Australia Bank
St. Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne
University of Western Sydney
Monash University
Mildwaters Warwickshire England

PUBLICATIONS AND ARTICLES

2008 Top 5 Guide Website, 18 June 2008
Today The West Australian, 18 June 2008
Radio RTR interview 19 June 2008
RTR’s Morning Magazine June 19-July 5 2008
Voice News ShortArts, 21 June 2008
Xpress Magazine Eye4:Arts/Eye2:Eye, 26 June 2008
West Online Website, 26 June 2008
The West Australian, Seven Days, 28 June 2008
Subiaco Post, Timeout, 28 June 2008
Cambridge Post, Timeout, 28 June 2008
Mosman/Cottesloe Post, Timeout, 28 June 2008
Clairemont/Nedlands Post, Timeout, 28 June 2008
The Sunday Times, STM Entertainent, 29 June 2008
Herald Sun, 9 July 2008, Page 51
Melbourne Weekly Magazine, July 30-August 5 2008
Mossman magazine September 2008, Page 20
Manly arts festival 2008 booklet, 12-28 september 2008
Art Guide Australia, September/October 2008
Box Magazine, Autumn 2008
North Side Courier, Editorial, 4th may 2007
Mosman Daily, 4th May 2007
Australia Art Scene,  Australia National Pavillion, Australian Government, Shanghai art fair 2007, 15-19th November 2007
Mosman Daily, 26th April 2007
Art Gallery Guide Australia, November/December 2007
Investment Art, House of Phillips Fine Art Update, Issue 12/Issue 10 2007
The Adelaide Review, July  14-27 2006
The Advertiser Review, July 15 2006
BURST magazine, spring edition 2005, page 39
Art Sydney 05, 25-28 August 2005 , page 39
Australia Art Collection, September 2005
Art Almanac, October 2004
The Age, 13 October 2004
Design, Melbourne Herald Sun, July 27 2003
Images of The Urban Experience in Contemporary Painting, University of Western Sydney, 2002
2001 Art on Display, Melbourne Times May 21
2001 Profiles, Art Almanac, March July
Art Almanac, March 2001, Page 89
Art Almanac, December 2000/January 2001
2000 Profiles Art Almanac, February, December editions
2000 The Age, Goodlife Coloumn, February 8, Melbourne
2000 Critics Choice, Jeff Makin, February 28, Melbourne Herald Sun
Art Almanac, Feburary 2000, page 72
2000 Art In America
2000 The University of Western Sydney Art Collection
2000 Public Art Strategy, Moonee Ponds Creek Coordination committee, Cities of Hume, Melbourne, Moonee Valley and Moreland Australia.
2000 Consultation and Issue Identification, Moonee Ponds Creek Public Art Strategy, Collaborations, Australia.
2000 The Pollock Krasner Foundation Newsletter, New York July 18
2000 Acquired Taste, Penrith City Star, October 10
2000 Works Put Our Region Into New Perspective, Penrith Press, October 20
Timeout Penrtih Press, 20 October 2000p
2000 Art: a regional mirror, Sydney Western Weekender, October 27
Western Weekender, 27 October 2000
Penrith City Star, Tuesday, 10 October 2000/November 14 2000
Panthers Magazine, 14 November 2000
2000 Easel Does It, Penrith City Star, November 14
2000 New Acquisitions, Panthers Magazine, November 14
Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grants from Fiscal year July 1999- June 2000
1999 The Inclusiveness of Diversity, University of Western Sydney
1998 Inquiry Into The Appeal of Anonymity to the Artist, University of Western
Sydney, Symposium presentation art Gallery of New South Wales.
1992 Art and About, Fitzroy, Melbourne Herald Sun
Broardsheet, 26 May-14 June 1992
The Melbourne Times, June 3 1992, page 17
The Southern Peninsula Gazette, 12 September 1979
Around Red Hill by SMC, September 27 1978, Page 56

BORN 1956 Melbourne

STUDIES
Fine Art RMIT 19881 – 1984
Diploma of Teaching University of Melbourne – 1989

Background

Born of Dutch parents he began painting at the early age of eight and held his first solo exhibition whilst still in his teens. He spent three years studying and painting in Amsterdam and London where he encountered the works of Constable, Turner and Rembrandt. This impressed him and influenced his own work.  On returning to Melbourne he began studying for his fine arts degree. This brought him in close contact with some noted exponents of abstract and contemporary art in Australia, broadening his approached by focusing on the urban landscape and presenting it in a way unknown before. Three times winner of the coveted Camberwell Art Prize and twice winner of he Alice Bale award, this multi award-winning artist paints with an enthusiasm that is well recognized overseas as well as in Australia.

Apart from these notable prizes Herman has won approximately 90 major awards. In 1994 the National Taiwan art institute asked Herman to participate in a book and traveling exhibition with selected artists from Australia, USA and Taiwan. His works are featured in the books, ‘Australian Impressionist and Realist artists’, which was compiled by Tom Roberts; ‘120 Years of Watercolors’, by the Australian Realist Artists; ‘ Artists and Galleries of Australia and New Zealand’ by Max Germaine, and ‘Profile on contemporary Watercolors’. Herman’s works are represented in many private and corporate collections throughout Australia and overseas. Currently Herman holds sellout exhibitions annually in the USA.

Artist Statement

“I always had this conflict with myself thinking, ‘God, I’m only a traditional painter. It’s been done a hundred times before.’ And now I think, Well it has been done a hundred times before but if it has artistic integrity it doesn’t matter, and artistic integrity is something that’s very hard to explain. I don’t know how to put it, you see a painting and even though you know the subject and it’s been done a hundred times before, let’s say a plain old apple, it’s the way it’s painted, the feeling in the painting, the brush strokes, the paint quality, everything about it that sets it apart. Quite often modern work hits you with a bang but really it’s very shallow if it’s taken any further and quite often doesn’t stand the test of time.”

EXHIBITIONS

2012    Trevor Victor Harvey Gallery, Seaforth Australia (Group Show)
2011    Trevor Victor Harvey Gallery, Seaforth Australia (Group Show)
2010    Solander
2010    Lindberg
2010    Wollongong Regional Gallery, Group Show
2010    Gosford Regional Gallery, Group Show
2010    ‘Landscapes’, Group Show, Trevor Victor Harvey Gallery, Seaforth Australia
2009    Lindberg Contemporary
2009    Mosman Regional Gallery, Group Show
2009    Bathurst Regional Gallery, Group Show
2009    Castlemaine Regional Gallery, Group Show
2008    Lindberg Contemporary
2008    Caulfield Arts Complex, Group Show
2006    Grafton Regional Gallery, Group Show
2006    Trevor Victor Harvey Gallery, Seaforth Australia
2006    Greenhill Gallery
2006    Axia Modern Art
2004    Mahonies Gallery
2004    Trevor Victor Harvey Gallery, Seaforth Australia
2003    David Sumner Gallery
2002    Mahonies Gallery
2002    Artarmon Gallery, Group Show
2001    Mahonies Gallery
1998    Delshan Gallery
1994    Delshan Gallery
1994    Taiwan National Gallery, Group Show
1985    Von Bertoch Galleries
1985    Gould Gallery, Group Show
1983    Australian Galleries, Group Show
1983    Pinacothica Galleries
1979    Wiregrass Galleries
1978    Wiregrass Galleries
1974    Ordon Galleries

AWARDS

1995    Camberwell Rotary’s Gold Medal Watercolor Prize
1993    Camberwell Rotary’s Gold Medal Watercolor Prize & Alice Bale Award
1989    Camberwell Travel Grant and Rotary’s Gold Medal Watercolor Prize
1989    Alice Bale Award
1988    Wesley Art Judged by Director of the National Gallery
1987 & 83    Mountbatten Award

COLLECTIONS

Artbank
Eltham Shire Permanent Collection
National Leasing Collection-Canberra
Royal Overseas League-London
St. Kevin’s College-Toorak

BOOKS & PUBLICATIONS

Impressionist journey – by Douglas Stewart
Impressionist and realist artists of Australia – by Tom Roberts
Artists and Galleries of Australia and New Zealand – by Max Germaine
Melbourne Art Review
The Age – Robert Nelson

BORN 1973

STUDIES
University Science Degree

First brush with art

I vaguely remember the first time I thought anything to do with art was cool. I was probably 6 or 7 years old and I was watching Rolf Harris painting on a children’s show with a large brush, I thought it was amazing and wanted to paint like Rolf.

First exhibited

The Sydney Royal Easter Show had an art exhibition and way back when I was a kid it was considered a pretty big deal. So my parents entered one of my paintings in it. My mum can’t remember exactly how old I was, she thinks I was about 9 or 10 years old when the painting got exhibited. It looked like a bad Pro Hart painting with a little house and some gum trees but I thought it was pretty good. For a couple of years following I was exhibited at the Easter Show.

Boats

At about 13 or 14 years of age I became obsessed with sailing boats. I still painted but not very regularly. I spent every possible moment either sailing or in the old mans garage building boats with resin, fibre glass and carbon fibre. I managed to design and build a couple of State and National Title winning boats although usually they won with someone else sailing them!

Giving up painting

After high school I went to Uni and got myself a Science Degree. Don’t tell anyone though, it would be bad for my rep, but yep I’m a bit of a science nerd. Between studying, racing and building sail boats the painting and dreams of being an artist disappeared.

Why “Grassi”?

I worked in a Ski shop to help pay for my way through Uni and while I was there the Head Ski Technician was “The Master” and I was “The Grasshopper” (from the classic 1970’s TV show Kungfu) and the nickname stuck and I’ve been Grassi ever since.

Ski Bumming

After finishing Uni, I got an office job and quickly realised I hated it. Driving into the city in traffic each day to sit in front of a computer was not for me. So in less than a year I quit and took off, with a mate, to work in the snow for a season. We became lift operators (lifties) at Perisher Blue and for the first three seasons it’s hard to remember much.

Snow Sculptures

When you’re a Lifty there’s plenty of time to slack off and do nothing.  It gets boring, so to fill in time I would entertain myself building snow sculptures next to the lift I was working. This quickly expanded and escalated into a full time gig and I became a professional snow sculptor.

Return to painting

It’s a funny thing when you get badly hurt, it can change the way you look at things and in my case it reminded me how much I enjoyed painting. I had a bit of an incident involving some crowd surfing at a rock concert, a metal hand rail, my back and some enthusiastic security guards. Anyway after I got out of hospital I was a bit immobile so I found my old paints and started painting again. Somehow I had become better at painting and could paint whatever I wanted.

Lucky Break

After recovering I took off to Canada to chase after a girl (now my wife). We spent the winter over there just snowboarding and skiing almost every day. My Mum rang me out of the blue one evening and asked me how much I wanted for some of the paintings I did while recovering. I didn’t care but she ended up selling them to a lady who had only seen photos of them. That was great, it paid for us to fly down to America and go to Disneyland 

Another Lucky Break

Back in Australia and dirt poor, I decided to give the dream of becoming a professional artist a bit of a crack. I took some paintings, walked in off the street to the Trevor Victor Harvey Gallery (TVH) in Sydney and showed them. Now normally they would have told me to go away and come back with an appointment and some professionalism but luckily for me Trevor, the gallery’s owner, spotted something he liked about my paintings. They also needed a labourer to help move a large travelling exhibition they were running and I needed a job. So they showed my paintings and gave me a job.

Trevor Victor Harvey Gallery  quickly sold every painting I had. So they sacked me as a labourer and told me to go away and paint. Hey presto I became a professional artist while still in my early twenties.

Inspiration/ Influences

At the moment I am probably most influenced by a large list of Australian artists. Various aspects from John Glover, Arthur Boyd, Brett Whiteley, Jeffrey Smart, William Robinson, Jason Benjamin, John Olsen, Tim Storrier, Margaret Woodward, John Earle and of course Rolf Harris currently capture my interest and inspire me to paint. I mainly focus on painting Australian landscapes – from spacious country fields to perfect surfing beaches and everything in between.

While my current style tends to focus on landscapes in a cross between surreal, naïve and realism, I do keep a keen eye on developments in modern art across the globe and the likes of Jeff Koons, Chris Ofili and Damien Hirst all spike my interest. I have produced some abstract artworks using carbon fibre, Kevlar and metallic automotive paint inspired by these artists and I built a Damien Hirst inspired snow sculpture at Thredbo in 2008 so I do depart occasionally from landscapes.

That’s the beauty of art in this current time I can do whatever I’m influenced by at that particular moment and whatever I find pleasing. I like to think that all the art styles and techniques from the last few hundred years are like tools in a great big shed that I can choose to pull down and use in any way I want.

 EXHIBITIONS

2012   Landscape Group Show with Trevor Victor Harvey Gallery
2011   ‘Gosford regional art Prize’ Gosford Regional Gallery NSW
2011   ‘Sydney Art Show’ Darling Harbour with Trevor Victor Harvey Gallery
2011   ‘Drawing Connections’ Siena Art Institute Siena Italy
2011   ‘Elements of Australia’ Redsea Gallery Brisbane Qld
2010   ‘Landscapes’ Trevor Victor Harvey Gallery
2009   ‘Grassi Paintings’ Aarwun Gallery Canberra
2009   ‘Nilsson Family Fund charity auction’ Sotheby’s Melbourne
2009   ‘Clouds Coast and Country’ Delshan Gallery
2008   ‘Brisbane Art Fair’ with TVH Gallery
2008   ‘Sydney Art Fair’   with TVH Gallery
2007   ‘Andrew GRASSI Kelaher’ Trevor Victor Harvey Gallery
2006   ‘Lazy Days Afternoon Haze’ Trevor Victor Harvey Gallery
2005   ‘Sydney Art Fair’ Fox Studios with Trevor Victor Harvey Gallery
2005   ‘Sweet Summertime’ Delshan Gallery Melbourne
2004   ‘Cruising the Coast – Wandering the Waterways’ Trevor Victor Harvey Gallery
2004   ‘Melbourne Art Fair’ with Trevor Victor Harvey Gallery
2003   ‘Sydney Art Fair’ with Trevor Victor Harvey Gallery
2003   ‘Group Exhibition’ Manyung Gallery, VIC
2003   ‘Summer, Surf and Sailing’ Trevor Victor Harvey Gallery
2003   ‘Solo Exhibition at the AMP Centre’ Circular Quay
2001   ‘Checking Out the Scenery’ Trevor Victor Harvey Gallery
 

TELEVISION

2011    ‘Ripcurl Freeride Throw Down’ channel 10 sports tonight
2011    ‘V8 Supercars Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 Launch’ channel 7
2011    ‘Toyota One Hit Wonder’ Channel 9
2010    ‘Sportsline Sky News’ Live cross from Thredbo ski resort
2010    ‘Weather Channel’ commercial
2009    ‘Sports Tonight’ Channel Ten Rip Curl Freeride series
2008    Sculpture and artist featured in a commercial opening Warren Miller Ski Movie
2007    Fuel TV
2006    ‘Today Show’ Live from the Newport Arms Hotel Channel 9
2005    MTV Music Television
2005    Boost Mobile Million Dollar Draw Live on The Today Show Channel 9
2005    ‘Footy Show’ Sydney Channel 9
2005    ‘Today Show’ Live from Perisher Blue Channel 9
2005    Wild Winter Weekend Channel 9
2005    ‘Today Show’ Live from Newport Arms Hotel Channel 9
2005    ‘Hot Source TV’ Channel 9, interview
2005    ‘Cactus Garden TV’ Ten Network, interview
2004    ‘Footy Show’ Sydney Channel 9
2003    TV1 Commercial, Artist building snow sculpture in fast-forward
2003    Fox Sport Channel, Sculpture used in live broadcast
2003    ‘Today Show’ Channel 9, interview
2003    ‘Today Show’ Channel 9, charity snow sculpture
2003    ‘Footy Show’ Sydney Channel 9
2002    ‘The Weather Channel’ Foxtel, interview
2002    ‘Perisher Blue’ features on commercial
2002    ‘Footy Show’ Sydney Channel 9
2001    ‘Perisher Blue’ features on commercial
2001    ‘Footy Show’ Sydney Channel 9
2000    ‘Today Show’ Channel 9
2000    ‘Big Breakfast Show’ Channel 9, interview
2000    Channel 7 News and weather, Olympic snow sculpture and live broadcast
2000    ‘Hi-5’ snow video
 

RADIO

2004     Northern Beaches FM 90.3, interview
2003     2HD Newcastle, interview
2003     2SM Sydney, interview
2003     Snowy Mountains 2XL, interview
2001     FM 96.9 Newcastle, interview
2000     FM 96.9 Newcastle, interview
AWARDS

2011     Finalist ‘Gosford Regional Art Prize’ Gosford Regional Art Gallery NSW
2011     Exhibited “Drawing Connections’ Siena Art institute, Siena Italy
2005     Canberra Art Prize – finalist
2002     Year of the Mountains Art Prize – Winner – Contemporary section
2000     Top of Australia Art Prize – Highly Commended
2000     Lloyd Rees Memorial Youth Art Award – Highly Commended
 

COLLECTIONS

Toyota Australia
Thredbo Ski resort
Fosters Group
Corona
Garnier
Coca Cola Amatil
SC Johnson Wax (Sponsor of the Lloyd Rees Youth Art Award)
Australian National Retailers Association
New South Wales Chamber of Commerce
Perisher
RKM consultants
Boost Mobile
Land Rover
Nestle