DAVID HINCHLIFFE
David Hinchliffe has been painting, exhibiting and selling his work in galleries for 45 years -- since the age of 12. He has won numerous competitions as a young artist (Sunday Mail Art Prize, ABC Argonauts Award, Atlantic City Sculpture Award, Toowoomba Gemini prize) and is a regular finalist in Tattersalls Landscape Prize.
He trained under Brisbane artist, John Rigby, and also studied under premier Australian landscape artist and Archibald prize-winner, William Robinson. David furthered his practical artistic study in both New York and London in the 70s before returning home to pursue a career in politics.
He was elected as a Councillor in Brisbane City Council in 1988 and has served in various capacities including Deputy Mayor for the last 23 years. Described by the late James Gleeson as having an "exceptional talent", he has emerged from 3 decades of work in the public domain to return with renewed passion to his career as a painter.
While his work is principally oils on canvas or linen, he has also produced many gouache works and sculpture as well as holding two exhibitions of his photographs (“Two to the Valley, 1992, and “Detours”, 2010). His style has been described as "contemporary impressionism".
David’s paintings are influenced by his career in urban government. He draws inspiration from the streets, laneways, footpaths and urban settings of the cities he loves – Paris, New York, Venice and his hometown Brisbane. He has just completed his 56th exhibition in a career that has spanned more than 40 years. In 2011 David held an exhibition at the Australian Consulate in New York, followed by a solo exhibition at Michael Ingbar Gallery in Soho NY. His work is in private collections in the US, UK and Australia.
Publications: Toowoomba Sketchbook (Rigby 1976) 'A Child's Guide to Politics' (1975), 'Reconstruction Gang' (1983), 'Two to the Valley' (1991) 'Faces of Chinatown' (2012).
Exhibitions: Toowoomba, Brisbane, Mount Tamborine, Gold Coast, Cairns, New York
Artist’s statement:
“I know it's fashionable to say that painting is a 'release' from the pressures of the world or that the act of painting keeps the artist 'sane'. I don't find that at all. I feel quite 'insane' when I'm painting. I feel an enormous tension and focus when I paint...and I don't think that's a bad thing. The act of creation shouldn't be a passive or gentle thing. My recent work deals with the urban environment in its many forms around the world as well as and abiding affinity with the Australian landscape. My work is a response to light. I like the movement of light, the shapes, the noise and the shadows of city landscapes – whether it’s the drama of lower East Side in New York, the reflections in the canals of Venice, the romance of Paris streets, the quirky laneways of Melbourne, the crowded pedestrian footpaths of Brisbane CBD, or the treed streets near my home in inner suburban New Farm and studio in Fortitude Valley. In recent times I've also been strongly influenced by the extraordinary images and spirituality of Buddhist monks in Luang Prabang, Laos in S.E. Asia."
