Geoffrey PROUD
Born in Adelaide, 1946
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Geoffrey Proud held his first solo exhibition at the age of sixteen. Since that time he has exhibited in all states with over 80 solo exhibitions and in excess of 100 group exhibitions to his credit. Proud is represented in the National Gallery of Australia, most State and regional galleries as well as many other public and corporate collections including: The Parliament House Collection, Artbank, the IBM collection and the Elton John collection, London.
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Proud has been the recipient of numerous awards including the Sulman Prize in 1976 for a painting on perspex, and the Archibald prize in 1990 for his portrait of writer Dorothy Hewett.
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Often quirky and verging on the surreal, Geoffrey Proud's paintings in oil and pastel are like fractured fairy tales. Depicting a world of innocence with a sometimes ominous edge, Proud's paintings are fantastic and bizarre.
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​Proud’s choice of subjects is broad, including children and childhood narratives, flowers, still life's and nudes. Alternating between expressionist impastoed brushwork and sensitive detail, he experiments freely with vibrant colour and varying textures. The highly glazed surfaces of his recent oils give his scenes an ethereal and otherworldly quality.