Ben Buckler is a headland at the north end of Bondi Beach, Australia. Each summer for several years, I would spend days and nights out there, observing the connection between the landscape and the Pacific Ocean. These painting, are my imaginings of this experience.

“I’ve walked many miles along these lines…”

Railroads crisscross the countryside and have captured my imagination for many years; evoking a sense of freedom and adventure. The route and purpose of train travel changes with time.

This exhibition of paintings depicts abandoned railways and the landscape that surrounds them. On my many journeys I’ve observed how nature reclaims them in it’s own time and in it’s own way.

An examination of history and the effects of time; a blurred image, a brief moment, a fleeting detail, faded memory.

These veiled details reinterpret masterpieces of western art in an attempt to convey distance between now and then

A few years ago I stayed in a hotel in Berlin. Across the laneway, at the rear of the building, stood an apartment building. Each evening residents of the apartments would arrive home and begin preparing meals. As I watched these people going about their lives, I became aware of the cinematic qualities of the scenes I was seeing. 

This series of paintings permits the viewer to engage in incidental voyeurism as they observe people in their private worlds.

A figure in a window at night is highlighted and will always attract attention. Lit from within, the images are naturally framed by the black surround, making the subject even more striking. 

The exhibition was held at BlackCat Gallery, 95 Johnston St, Collingwood

A single light source, once provided by candlelight, has now become common as subjects are illuminated by the glowing screens of digital communication devices.

These devices are both portals to the world and mechanisms of isolation.

The exhibition was held at 69 Smith St Gallery, Fitzroy.

The first works in a series of paintings featuring a single light source to illuminate a subject.
These works form the beginning of the Illumine Exhibition held later that year at 69 Smith Street Gallery. 

Bread is often a universal and overarching theme. We think of the table, food, family, sharing, nourishment, fuel, fire, hearth, home - life.

There is something transcendental about bread - it's an ancient human staple, and like the dog, the rat and alcohol - always nearby most of the time.

The biblical story of the lost sheep has modern day significance; the sheep represents the outcasts of society: the lonely, the homeless, the alcoholic and drug addicts and the refugees.

This is the story of Tom Wills – the man most often credited with creating the game we now know as Australian Rules football.

Sent to a strict English school, Rugby in 1850 at fourteen, Tom returned a worldly man whose cricket prowess quickly captured the hearts of Melbournians. But away from the adoring crowds in the desolation of the Queensland outback, he experienced first-hand the devastating effects of racial tension when his father was murdered in the biggest massacre of Europeans by Aboriginal people. Yet five years later, Tom coached the first Aboriginal cricket team.

Tom Wills lived hard and fast, challenging authority on and off the field. But when his physical talents began to fade,  psychological demons that alcohol and adrenaline  had kept at bay surged to the fore, driving him to commit the most brutal of suicides, He was forty-four and destitute.

The flatness, dryness and productivity of the Australian landscape has always appealed to me. This series of paintings, Ochre Ground examines the subtle features of dry continent and the markings left by those who work it.

Inspired by aerial views of farming country in north western Victoria, the gridded landscapes offer pattern, tone and colour enriched further by the harsh Australian drought conditions experienced over many years. 

This series of paintings closely followed the Picnic at Hanging Rock exhibition. I felt the need to further explore the theme of figures in a landscape with the focus being darkness, vastness and the continual search.

The original story of Picnic at Hanging Rock was inspired by a painting. The story, in turn, inspired this series of works. The story is a tale of misplaced people; vulnerable Europeans in a vast and foreign landscape.

Ronald Ryan was hanged at Pentridge Prison, Melbourne in 1967. He was the last person to be executed in Australia.

This series of works is drawn from contemporary media images of Ryan and my own narrative.

My landscapes are inspired by the heat, dust and productivity of the Mallee region of Victoria. Using discarded, rusting flat iron and dried wheat stalks found on farms my compositions depict the Australian landscape in a unique way.

Sculpture for me is an extension of my work as an artist. The timeless elegance of bronze attracted me to this medium.

My subjects are figurative and are carefully chosen before being modelled in wax and finally cast in bronze.

My bronze sculptures depict a range of subject matter including Australian football, rugby and animals.