For more information on Ben and his stunning watercolour paintings, call Salt Contemporary Art on 03 5258 3988
A Leading Contemporary Australian
Watercolourist
Ben Shearer started painting in watercolour towards the end of the 1970s and rapidly established himself as a leading contemporary watercolourist. He is particularly well known for his interpretations of the Australian landscape, in all its harsh beauty.
It may be the result of his early textile studies or his careful observation of the landscape but some of Shearer’s work can appear as tapestry with a textured surface, such as Skeletal Surface Lake Eyre SA, or a broad open land ‘embroidered’ with bush such as Sand Dunes Bedouries Qld.
1941 - Born - Adelaide, South Australia
1960 - Awarded Wool Research Fund Scholarship - Studied textiles, Gordon Institute of Technology, Geelong
1964 - Post Graduate studies in fabric design and weaving, Scottish Woollen Technical College Galashiels, Scotland. Worked as Textile Designer, felt and textiles, Melbourne and Sydney
1979 - Art Teacher – St. Catherine's
1980 - Art Teacher - Scotch College, Melbourne
1995 - Full time artist
Australian Inspired Painting
As a source of inspiration for his paintings, Shearer makes regular trips to the Australian outback, including joining the world’s longest mail run – a two-day, 2,600km plane hop from cattle ranch to cattle ranch, from Port Augusta on South Australia’s coast to Boulia in Western Queensland. In November 2003, Shearer took to the skies in a light aircraft to retrace the route taken by ill-fated explorers Burke and Wills who, in the 1860s, were the first Europeans to cross the Australian continent from north to south. Unlike Lewis and Clarke’s successful expedition across the United States, Burke and Wills died of starvation at Cooper’s Creek, Queensland.
Shearer has also depicted some of Australia’s major geological features and sites sacred to Indigenous Australians, particularly Uluru (Ayer’s Rock) and Kata Tjuta (the Olgas) in Central Australia. Rather than painting them close up, as often seen in promotional posters, these paintings show a broad flat landscape divided only by the sharp line of a track which leads to the rock formation in the distance.
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Australian Landscape Paintings
Ben Shearer’s works are a celebration of the Australian landscape – the huge open expanse of a mysterious and ancient land.
Dusty tracks and seasonal waterways wind their way through the landscape like ancient serpents, as the detailed foreground fades into subtle studies of colour and abstraction.
These paintings are also very much about light and colour – long shadows or the shade from passing clouds are the focus for some of the works while in others the artist’s palette has been turned up to accentuate the redness of the earth or the unforgettable vivid skies.