Rob Cleworth

Rob Cleworth first began exhibiting with Legge Gallery, Sydney, in 1992. As a Samstag International Visual Arts scholar, rob undertook postgraduate study in 1993 at the Glasgow School of Art, Scotland, under the tutelage of Douglas Gordon. He has since exhibited in numerous solo and group shows in Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne, Adelaide, Bunbury, Perth and Newcastle. He is represented in the collections of the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra; the University of Western Australia Art Collection, WA; City of Bunbury Collection, WA; City of Greater Geraldton Art Collection, WA; City of Prospect, SA; and private collections

“Despite the fact I have been painting for over 30 years now, my interests and obsessions remain largely the same. After the fact that some of the most arresting images ever created were in the medium of oil paint, it was the extraordinary material qualities, and ‘feel’, of oil paint (its smell, viscosity, colour palette) that were completely intoxicating. These qualities ‘hooked’ me in, and still do to this day. Beyond these personal, sensory connections, it is the capacity of this medium - when it is used with deep conviction, honesty and intelligence - to tap into our social and cultural consciousness (and to thoughts and feelings not accessible through language) that is most exciting, and enduring. It is all of these qualities that keep drawing me back to this activity called ‘painting’.”