Anthony Lister was born in Brisbane, Australia, in 1979, and later completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree at the Queensland College of the Arts. He helped pioneer the stencil and street art movement in Brisbane before moving to New York in 2003 to work with his mentor, Max Gimblett. He met the New Zealand-born artist at the opening of Gimblett’s major solo exhibition at the Queensland Art Gallery.
Lister borrows from his immediate surroundings, painting parodies of modern life. His influences are varied: graffiti, stencilling, installations, Pop art, comic book imagery, cartoons and his recollections of childhood when everything seemed fascinating and animated super-heroes ruled his television screen.
With bold and brash spontaneity and remarkable confidence he paints the complex contradictions of everyday life, and does so with an element of humour. He admits: ‘What I read, what I see, what I do, who I know and what I eat for lunch, it’s all relevant to me. I guess I am in a perpetual state of accepting the obvious as a valid source of inspiration. And it’s also very important that my work continues to be fun and exciting to me.’
Lister doesn’t separate art from social meaning. His imagery can be read as having a political and social message – good versus evil; right versus wrong, and Batman versus the Joker. His working method, with the subject-matter painted on large areas on monochromatic ground, has been developed to create a tension between figuration and abstraction which is evident in his series of Super-heroes. The subjects, often drawn from the media, indicate concern for how the human condition will evolve within the electronic and communications culture and the ever-changing, recyclable environment of today.
He has presented solo exhibitions in London, Los Angeles, Melbourne, Milan, New York, San Francisco and Sydney and is represented at the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra.
Ken McGregor
(extract from Anthony Lister, Macmillan mini-art series No. 13, 2010)
Biography
Born in Brisbane, Australia
Works and lives in Brooklyn, New York
Education
2004 Education Queensland, Minister’s Art Awards, Mentoring Workshops
Residency, Blender Studio, Melbourne
2002 Mentorship, Max Gimblett, New York
2001 BVA Fine Arts, Queensland College of Art Griffith University, Brisbane
Solo Exhibitions
2008 ‘MIART’, Milano, Italy
2008 ‘Elms Lesters, London, UK
2007 ‘Art Miami’, New Image Art Gallery, L.A.
2007 ‘Year 07 Art Project’, London, UK
2007 ‘Super is as Super Does’, Metro 5 Gallery, Melbourne
2007 ‘Cracker got snapped by the Pops’, Upper Playground, San Francisco
2007 ‘Allarmi 3, Nuovo Contingente’, Como, Italy
2007 ‘Rest on Nails’, Lyons Weir Gallery, New York
2006 ‘Saturday Morning Prime Time’, Spectrum Gallery, London
2006 ‘Supermarket’, Metro 5 Gallery, Melbourne
2006 ‘Backdoor Confessional’, Harrison Galleries, Sydney
2005 ‘Smells Like White Out’, Metro 5 Gallery, Melbourne
2005 ‘Plastic Mechanical’, Art Galleries Schubert, Gold Coast
2005 ‘Twice on Sundays’, Fox Galleries, Brisbane
2005 ‘Wrapped Meat Lyric’, Lyons Weir Gallery, New York
2005 ‘My Daughter’s Panic Attack’, Brian Moore Gallery, Sydney
2004 ‘The Finer Points of Monkeyism’, Art Galleries Schubert, Gold Coast
2004 ‘Subtitled’, Fox Galleries, Brisbane
2003 ‘Places & Things’, Fox Galleries, Brisbane
2002 ‘Issues & Aesthetics’, Project Gallery, Queensland College of Art
2001 ‘Urbanised Influence’, Fox Galleries, Brisbane
Selected Group Exhibitions
2005 Studio 14, Rome
2004 ‘Prime’, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane
1980 Crystalis, New York
2003 ‘White Lies Beneath’, Helen Gory Gallery, Melbourne
1980 Atlantic Conference, New York
2002 ‘dis/place/meant’, Fox Galleries, Brisbane
2001 ‘Play it forward’, Queensland College of Art Graduate Exhibition
2000 ‘Young Bux’, Campbell Mahoney, Brisbane
Public Art
2003 Fred Perry Skate Park, Brisbane
1999-03 Switch Boxes, Brisbane City
Awards
2005 Prometheus Art Award, Finalist – Gold Coast
2005 Metro 5 Art Award, Finalist – Melbourne
2004 Churchie Art Award, Finalist – Brisbane
2004 The Courier Mail Art Award, Highly Commended – Brisbane
2004 The Metro 5 Art Award, Finalist – Melbourne
2003 Brett Whiteley Travelling Art Scholarship Exhibition – Finalist, Sydney
2003 Theiss Art Prize – Finalist, Queensland College of Art Gallery, Brisbane
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