11th November – 3rd December 2011
BMGArt

Exhibition Dates: 11th November – 3rd December 2011
BMGArt, 31 – 33 North Street, West End, Adelaide, South Australia 5000  P +61 8 8231 4440 E bmgart@adam.com.au

Before … The Flood

Fleurieu Prize for Landscape Painting
November 4th – 5th December 2011
www.artprize.com.au

A studio shot of the work auctioned on Saturday 15th October. All proceeds go directly to the Murdoch Research Institute’s research into childhood disease.

“Art for Science is an extraordinary merger of creativity and philanthropy in support of pioneering research at the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute. Australia’s leading established and emerging artists have generously donated artworks that will inspire and intrigue – this wonderful collection is sure to captivate both the serious collectors and those with a growing passion for contemporary art. Importantly, champions from the corporate, business and philanthropic sectors unite through Art for Science to raise vital funds for priority child health research.

100 per cent of funds raised goes directly to research into conditions such as diabetes, allergies, asthma, premature birth and mental health problems, conditions which are on the rise in our children, and cancer and genetic disorders that remain unsolved.”

For more information visit:
Art for Science website
Murdoch Research Institute’s Website

30th August – 24th September 2011
Scott Livesey Galleries, Melbourne

Todd Hunter

Artist Statement

What interests me most in painting abstraction is being able to access an emotional energy that, through the process of painting, captures a glimpse that refers strongly to reality.

Where the ocean meets the land you have a confrontation of sorts. The drama of that confrontation is what I wanted to capture,  with the many associations we make with the sea – loss , danger , drama and beauty . Metaphorically the ocean has inspired art and music throughout the centuries and is full of connotation.

This series was framed before it was painted to serve two purposes. The frames create an arena for the painting, reinforcing a preciousness of the object. The frames are not aesthetically considered, rather they are subject to the painting process. They carry with them the drips and swipes that are normally left behind in the studio. In the studio the frames are  a constant reminder that the painting is just that – a painting – and therefore an illusion.

25th-29th May 2011
GRANTPIRRIE GALLERY at the Hong Kong International Art Fair

Cruel Sea (Series of 7 paintings), 2011, 61cm x 61 cm, Oil on Canvas, Timber Frame

4th-8th August, 2010
Scott Livesey Galleries

Click on thumbnail to see full painting

Raucous Rock: the paintings of Todd Hunter
Natalie King, 2010

There is a synergy between the exuberant, frenetic brushwork of Todd Hunter and his predilection for lyrical music especially Bob Dylan, Nick Cave and Tom Waits. A poster by Aussie garage band, The Drones, takes prime position on his studio wall. Perhaps its the way their signature sound seems most comfortable lying naked in the dark woods, suffering under haunting tales of regret and self-pity, at other moments the music partners up with a drunken, confident swagger, beckoning challengers to try and be tougher than it. Hunter embraces a similar emotional register with violent brushstrokes and tender swirls. His luscious palette presents us with moody evocations of carnal desire and aching embraces. Sometimes, we can discern writhing figures, human forms embedded in these viscous surfaces of impasto paint. Hunter has a penchant for pornography; bodies and pleasure seem to ooze out of every painting. Titles give further clues to emotive associations: All My friends, Last Ride (and She Was) and Love Sick might be songs of yearning.

Hunters atelier in Sydney is laden with canvases, tubes of oil paint, over fl owing ashtrays, rock paraphernalia, guitar magazines, art historical clippings and newspapers. Brimming with cds, brushes protruding from old tins, this chaotic environment is covered in paint. Almost every surface bears witness to the residue of his large format canvases. Hunters fractured surfaces are layered with a vortex of fervent brushstrokes. At times, these abrupt lashings become tender especially the quieter palette of Dream of Foreign Lands (2010) with its gentle, fleshy tones of pink and white. Overall, this new series is lighter than previous paintings, with deep blue and green occasionally emerging from the perimeter of the canvas.

Hunters paintings are densely covered with flourishes and potent brushstrokes that evoke movement. He relishes the expressive range of paint on canvas with all its historical overlays. We are reminded of the fleshy curves of Peter Paul Rubens, the vulgar gestures of Willem de Kooning and Francis Bacons tortured figures. Hunter processes these masters through an intimate understanding of art history, having trained at Julian Ashton Art School in Sydney after completing a visual arts degree at Griffith University in Brisbane. Hunters practice is derived from a life-drawing tradition evident in a sensuous suite of charcoal drawings gone awry. This pictorial sensibility is a precursor to the epic gesture of his paintings. With graphic ingenuity, figures are barely visible amidst smudges and trembling lines. It is possible to fathom eyes, breasts, elbows and other body parts. Even a demented embrace emerges from these macabre yet sensuous drawings.

March 2010
GRANTPIRRIE GALLERY

Let’s get physical
David Broker

If Todd Hunter’s paintings were a crime scene, there would be evidence of a struggle. The crime is serial and the visceral nature of Hunter’s work makes an immediate indelible impression. Unusually, Hunter’s particular brand of abstraction has its roots in life drawing and thus figurative remains are always present.

His studio space has been variously described in the abject terminology of “slaughterhouse” and “abattoir” generating an ongoing mythology that has developed around Hunter’s uncompromisingly “meaty” work. By the time each painting is complete, his tracks have been covered with layer upon layer of thick paint leaving any interpretation of the traces that lie beneath to the audience’s imagination. The viewer is acutely aware that the artist’s relation to the paint and canvas has been exhaustive and physical.

Love Buzz is work with muscle. If it were pornography it might be hardcore but it would also be effective in its eroticism. Significantly however, Hunter avoids the literal by dealing in a currency of (potent) sensation and as an artist who confidently works paint, he is adept in conveying the essence of heightened tension via paintings that wrestle attention.

la petite mort 
Ashley Crawford

It is fair to say that good lovemaking is, in its delirious and pleasurable way, an arduous task. To reach the right pitch one must move gradually, building up layer upon layer of pleasure utilising all the tools of human anatomy. The best results begin slowly, languorously, gently; a touch here, a touch there, a repeat at the right moment, a pause to prolong the anticipation. And finally the rapturous, combustive moment of realisation, ‘la petite mort’ as the French would have it. Indeed, this is how Todd Hunter paints, a gradual build towards climax, his layers, at first gently applied, building to a morass of orgasmic surface, a frenzy of fleshy tonality, a momentary eclipse of all things literal. You can call this abstraction, but you could equally describe it as an attempt to capture a moment beyond the literal – a nigh impossible task that Hunter takes on with mischievous and passionate relish.

http://www.strobed.com.au/2010/03/hunter-hayes-west-grantpirrie/

http://clementineblackman.blogspot.com/2010/03/la-petite-mort-i-want-more.html

http://gabriellejonesart.blogspot.com/2010/03/galivanting-at-galleries-todd-hunter.html