5 - 24 May 2011
about the exhibition
Strong black strokes, bold earthy tones and richly layered backgrounds characterise the works of Graham Fransella. Stripped of detail, Graham’s paintings, prints and sculptures are highly symbolic, spontaneous and intuitive, reminiscent of pictograms and graffiti. His paintings and prints are boldly minimal, lying somewhere between abstraction and figuration. Whilst continuing to develop his renowned ‘figure’ imagery, Graham has also recently delved into landscapes which continue to employ his topograhical bold lines, but with a more abstract vocabulary. Graham’s bronze sculptures echo the themes of his figurative work, with interpretation left entirely up to the viewer. For Graham the creative process informs the conceptual content of his work: “I have always had a liking for images which engage the eye and drawings that are spontaneously arrived at rather than pre-ordained. Pictures may appear simple, initially, but they reveal much more after contemplation.”
Graham Fransella was born in Harrow, England, and studied at the Bradford School of Art, Yorkshire, before moving to Australia in 1975. He has had over fifty solo shows across Australia and Europe, and has been exhibiting with Beaver Galleries since 1993. Graham has won the Art Gallery of NSW’s Trustees Watercolour Prize five times since 2000, mostly recently this year, and his work has been selected for the Archibald, Wynne, Sulman and Dobell Drawing Prizes seventeen times since 1991. Graham’s work is represented in numerous private and public collections across Australia and overseas, including the National Gallery of Australia, National Gallery of Victoria, Queensland Art Gallery, Parliament House and Artbank.
