1214 High Street, Armadale Vic 3143
10am-5.30pm Tues- Fri | 11am-5pm Weekends
Phone: 03 9500 8511 | email: info@metrogallery.com.au
Born in Sydney, Tim Storrier gained early recognition as an artist when in 1968 at the age of nineteen he became the youngest recipient of the prestigious Sir John Sulman Prize for genre painting at the Art Gallery of New South Wales.
His father was a stock dealer and grazier and Tim grew up with his twin sister on the family property, Umagarlee, near Wellington in rural New South Wales. In 1967 he enrolled at the National Art School in Sydney and commenced studying graphic design, after two years he abandoned his studies to take up a position as a graphic artist at the Australian Broadcasting commission.
Tim Storrier’s work has always revealed certain nostalgia, and throughout his entire oeuvre he has focused on and developed a consistent style that has become instantly recognisable. His now famous blaze lines and fire paintings are as recognisable as Sidney Nolan’s Ned Kelly paintings or Arthur Boyd’s Shoalhaven landscapes.
The blaze lines or burning ropes evolved from the early 1980’s. With his technical competence and totally original vision he paints the essence of the country, explores the limitless space of nocturnal sky, the arid beauty of the endless horizon an the atmospheric light of the burning campfire.
His themes and iconic imagery are constantly changing as he continues to search for new poetic visions which have now extended to the green oceans and the Boys Own paper jet planes. Many of his paintings present the idea of a journey, they are about mortality, destruction and renewal. If culture is political then Storrier paints political pictures, his burning televisions and burning newspapers are his responses and objections to crass modern culture where escapism and voyeurism seem the norm – and where more media attention is awarded to a socialite’s journey from geek show to freak show than is given to a great author or serious musician.
In 1994 he was awarded the Order of Australia (AM) for his services to contemporary Australian art. Tim Storrier is one of the most respected and sought-after artists. He achieved international recognition when several of his works were acquired by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. He is also represented in the National Gallery of Australia and all State and most Regional Galleries.
-Ken McGregor
(Edited extract from “Tim Storrier – MacMillian mini art series number four”)