James
Gleeson AO is Australia’s best-known surrealist artist. Deeply
interested in psychology, he wrote poetry, essays and books, and was a
tireless supporter of Australian modern art. As a child he lived at
Gosford on the NSW central coast and much of his work has been inspired
by rock pools, full of ‘biomorphic forms’. For Gleeson the littoral zone
where sea meets land was a powerful metaphor for the interplay of the
conscious and unconscious mind and the fluid nature of existence. This
can be seen in Gleeson’s study for his enormous painting Portrait of the artist as an evolving landscape,
which was a 1994 Archibald Prize finalist. In the surreal composition,
the artist’s fragmented face materialises out of the drawing. Gleeson
reflected that ‘One of the most important and constantly recurring
motifs throughout my work is based on a sense of the mutability of all
forms and substances. Metamorphosis has always been, for me, one of the
basic facts of life. Everything takes on a form, changes, falls apart
and reforms in new organisations in an endless cycle.’
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Ray Wilson OAM in memory of James Agapitos OAM 2011
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
© Estate of James Gleeson
The National Portrait Gallery respects the artistic and intellectual property rights of others. Works of art from the collection are reproduced as per the
Australian Copyright Act 1968 (Cth). The use of images of works from the collection may be restricted under the Act. Requests for a reproduction of a work of art can be made through a
Reproduction request. For further information please contact
NPG Copyright.
