Exhibition Preview: Carolyn Mckay

COLLECTION | Nigel Thomson, Sunset Series - Blind man, 1996

Nigel Thomson (1945–1999), an Australian artist known for his powerful, often satirical work filled with social commentary and dark humor. He won the Archibald Prize twice in 1983 and 1997, as well as the Sulman Prize in 1983 and 1985. His work has been widely exhibited in Australia and Europe. Nigel was diagnosed with cancer in 1996 and, perhaps as a response to an awareness of his own mortality, he began painting sunsets.

Nigel Thomson, Sunset Series - Blind man, 1996, 46 x 69cm, oil on linen, image courtesy of Carolyn Mckay

COLLECTOR | Carolyn Mckay

Visual arts educator at Sydney College of the Arts and Newcastle Art School, PhD candidate at Sydney Law School, and artist practicing in video and painting.

On the personal significance of the painting, Carolyn Mckay writes: "Nigel Thomson, both as a provocative and uncompromising painter and a generous teacher, has had a continuing influence on my art practice. He was the first teacher at Julian Ashton Art School to instruct me in traditional oil painting techniques, the fundamentals of tone, colour mixing (especially flesh), composition as well as contemporary art practice. At the end of 1998, even as he was becoming increasingly ill with the cancer that would claim his life in 1999, he agreed to my request that I paint his portrait. My painting of him is dark and sombre with a background inspired by Rembrandt's etching of three trees, a favourite image of Nigel's. This work was selected for the 1999 Archibald, my happiness at its selection somewhat tempered by disappointment that Nigel's last portrait was not exhibited."

Carolyn Mckay, Nigel Thomson, Archibald Prize 1999, 127 x 96 cm, image courtesy of Carolyn Mckay

To see more of Carolyn's incredible body of work you can visit her website here : Carolyn Mckay

To view this significant work up close and personal, as well as many other works of art by influential Australian artists from the art collections of Newcastle Art School staff, visit us at the Front Room Gallery, June 6 - 21, 2012.