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Garry Shead
Born 1942 - Lives and works in Sydney
Garry Shead is one of Australia’s most popular and distinctive artists and printmakers, particularly renowned for his lyrical figurative works.
Garry Shead is one of Australia's most popular and distinctive
artists and printmakers, particularly renowned for his lyrical
figurative works. Beginning his career at the National Art School,
Shead became a scenic artist with ABC TV before staging his first
solo exhibition with Watters Gallery in 1966. In 1967, he won the
Young Contemporaries Prize, then travelled to Japan before
embarking on an expedition to the Sepik Highlands in Papua New
Guinea.
After living in Budapest for a year and travelling widely in
Europe, Shead and his wife returned to Australia and in 1987 and
settled in the small coastal community of Bundeena, south of
Sydney.
Shead's biographer, Dr Sasha Griffin notes that Shead's paintings
"highlight a distinctive love of the Australian landscape." This is
evident in his Stockman's series of the late 1980s, his "gently
satirical" Monarchy suite of paintings, and most significantly in
his famous D.H. Lawrence series.
His paintings are represented in the National Gallery of Australia,
in leading state and regional galleries and in international
collections. In 1993 he won Australia's most predigious portrait
award, The Archibald Prize.
