David Naseby Obituary – A must-see exhibition including the figurative works of David Naseby, one of the most renowned modern portrait painters, is called The Lost 15 Years. David Naseby is a well-known Australian artist who has appeared in the finals of Australia’s famous Archibald Prize five times. He is passionate in capturing the unique characteristics of his subjects. Naseby’s goal, whether depicting people or landscapes, is always to learn more about what lies beneath the surface. When painting portraits, Naseby imagines himself as a detective sleuthing into an unknown life and discovering what a person’s body is actually concealing.
Any iceberg’s strength is hidden under its tip. I’m curious to find out if the character is fictional or real, if their confidence is a mask for their fear, or if their goodness is an indication of something evil. It doesn’t matter if they are a clergyman in a high position or a person sitting in the gutter. I think of the traumas and conflicts they have experienced. Dave Naseby Sir John Gorton, Les Murray, Angry Anderson, and cartoonist Bill Leak are just a few of the well-known Australians that Naseby has painted. Many years ago, Naseby found himself on the Murray River’s edge in a location where salinity had decimated all of the riverside trees. He recalls how the deceased gums’ spectral forms resembled pained dancers reaching out in prayer.
He was troubled by the sight for a while, and when he eventually returned to studying the human form, he realized that his depictions of people resembled the organic shapes of the landscapes he had been painting and that had troubled him for so long. The majority of my paintings feature some sort of conflict. If they are not, I feel like I am wasting my time. Only when I push my art past its perceived boundaries, and this is when those free explosive marks start to appear, am I truly content. I realize I do have some insight after all as my boldness increases and I start to really grasp this power. The line between freedom and control must be delicately drawn. I want the viewer to be able to piece together a story even when the figures are seriously warped.
This entails removing extraneous elements, which is a step in creating good drawings and paintings. – David N. The exhibition The Lost 15 Years, which runs from April 29 to May 31 and includes a wide range of Naseby’s figurative works, is open for online and in-person purchases. David Naseby was born in England in 1937 and completed his education there before relocating to Australia in 1953. Before relocating to Sydney, where he spent a lot of time in the advertising industry, he worked as a rouseabout and attended the Queensland Art Gallery. He painted many portraits on commission over the years, including two of Greg Norman.
One of his first portrait commissions was of Belinda Green for John Singleton. He is featured in collections in the USA, the UK, and Australia. Les Murray (twice) and Bob Ellis were the subjects of his portraits, which were semifinalists for the Archibald Prizes in 1995, 1998, and 1999. The National Portrait Gallery acquired his portraits of Murray and Ellis in 2001. He was a resident artist at Bundanoon in 2002. (Copyright, Canberra’s National Portrait Gallery)
