John Wolseley

b. 1938

Since moving to Australia in 1978, John Wolseley has immersed himself in the landscape, an approach which has given rise to a variety of different ways of collaborating with the land itself. His large scale works on paper, watercolours and installations are often based around scientific themes.

In the 1980s and 1990 his practice often included juxtaposing images of deep geological time with the shallow time of the present. This included the rising of the seas on the Kimberley coast, movement of sand dunes in the Simpson Desert and even the migration of the tectonic plates which once held the ancient continent of Gondwana together. This work was acknowledged in numerous exhibitions, grants and commissions. Including in 1996 the publication of a scholarly monograph by Sasha Grishin, John Wolseley: Landmarks (reprinted 2015) an Honorary degree of Doctor of Science (2005, Macquarie University) and the awarding of the Australian Council Visual Arts Emeritus Award (2005). In these years he developed the ability to see and paint the underlying forces which have shaped a particular landscape. Wolseley’s interest in flood plains was consolidated in the period from 2011-15 which he spent tracing water systems all over Australia for the commissioned project Heartlands and Headwaters: John Wolseley (NGV, 2016).

Over the last ten years Wolseley has also collaborated with the great Yolŋu artist Mulkuṉ Wirrpanda in a project to draw attention to the food plants which once kept her community healthy but which are now being replaced with European ‘junk’ food. (Midawarr/Harvest: The Art of Mulkuṉ Wirrpanda and John Wolseley, National Museum of Australia 2017) His exposure to her deep knowledge of every aspect of the great floodplain on which she lived influenced his ideas about how important it is to understand the flows of water, energy, wind, animals and plants if one has any hope of providing stewardship for the land. In the paintings which Wolseley produced under Mulkuṉ’s influence he was trying to show how a tropical river ecosystem can be painted as a kind of microcosm of our earth. A map of the dynamic systems of earth air and water which enfolds the lives of plants, insects and fish.

In recent years John Wolseley has regularly visited farming properties along the upper Murray and in the region around Albury. Here he discovered that both artists and farmers need to be attuned to the ways in which the land acts as a self-regulating system comprised of physical chemical, biological and human components all of which are delicately balanced and complex. Earth canvas was a pioneering project that coupled six well established artists with a number of regenerative farmers situated between the Murray and Murrumbidgee rivers. The work generated during this time toured to a number of regional galleries and then to the National Museum in Canberra in 2022.
17 November 2022

Since 2019 Wolseley has continued following creeks and rivers to the west of his home in the Whipstick Forest – travelling down the Banyena/Richardson and the Kurakibiyal/Avon rivers.

PAST EXHIBITIONS

2022

2019

2018

In Blog

John Wolseley Exhibition at Gippsland Art Gallery

John Wolseley  The Overburden Dump, Hazelwood Power Station  1979  oil on board  14.7 x 60.9 cm John Wolseley: The Quiet …

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John Wolseley – at Castlemaine State Festival

Essays on Earth  installation image. John Wolseley presents a collaborative multichannel video installation, Essays on Earth, with artist Brodie Ellis …

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John Wolseley – Feature in Artist Profile

Preeminent landscape painter and printmaker John Wolseley has been interviewed in his studio by Elli Walsh and published in Artist …

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Dianne Fogwell – ‘Prescience’ Exhibition at Geelong Gallery

Image above: Dianne Fogwell  Prescience  2023  linocut and woodcut  4,500 x 145 cm  – installation at Geelong Gallery Congratulations to …

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Raymond Arnold Highly Commended & Rodney Pople a Finalist in the 2024 Glover Prize

Image above: Raymond Arnold Congratulations to Raymond Arnold, who has been Highly Commended in the 2024 Glover Prize, and to …

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The 2024 Palmer Sculpture Biennial

Image above: Greg Johns  The Kiss (Buried Alive)  2022-23  Corten steel  140 x 486 x 18cm “Congratulations to Greg Johns …

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Gallery News – When one door closes, another one opens…

The three adjoining properties which comprise the Australian Galleries Sculpture Park in Porcupine Ridge are now on the market. The …

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Marina Strocchi – Featured in The Art of Healing magazine

Image above: Marina Strocchi  Dusk in the Hills  2023  acrylic on linen  60 x 93 cm Marina Strocchi’s insightful writing …

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Sculpture by the Sea, Cottesloe 2024

Image above: Greg Johns  Sit Down Fella (Contemplative)  2023  Corten steel and bronze  260 cm high To view a selection …

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Barbie Kjar – Winner of the 2024 Adelaide Perry Prize for Drawing

Image above: Barbie Kjar and her winning work No Expectations  2024 Photograph by Louisa Chircop Congratulations to Barbie Kjar, Winner …

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David Frazer ‘All That You’ve Loved’ Exhibition at Trinity College

‘David Frazer is primarily a graphic artist, a printmaker, who in his work creates a little microcosm, or a convincing …

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Simon Normand – Exhibition Reviews and Interviews – The Age, ABC Radio & Nikkei Asia

Image above: Simon Normand  Map – Australia  2023  acrylic on canvas and mixed media  145 x 170 cm  Simon Normand’s …

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Michael Buzacott – SLOT Window Gallery 2024

Image above: Michael Buzacott  Olympia  2024  steel  199 x 130 x 69 cm   SLOT is an independent window gallery …

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