Ben Quilty paints like there is no tomorrow. In less than a decade he has become one of the country’s favourite artists. Quilty uses licks of luscious paint to conjure his subjects which include his beloved LJ Torana, his ‘wasted’ mates, his son Joe and more recently himself. His subjects are modern day memento mori; pithy reminders of our mortality and a call to live life in the fast lane.

Painting itself is also the subject of Ben Quilty’s work. He summons his subjects with a palpable physicality. Abstract slabs of vivid colour, often underpinned by urgent aerosol drawings, bring his subjects to life. This publication has been produced on the occasion of the first comprehensive survey exhibition of Ben Quilty’s painting: Ben Quilty LIVE!

Foreword by Nick Mitzevich, Director, UQ Art Museum

Essays by:
Lisa Slade, Curator, Ben Qulity: LIVE! Lecturer, Art History and Theory, University of Newcastle
Jacqueline Millner, Lecturer, Art History, University of Western Sydney
Michael Desmond, Senior Curator, National Portrait Gallery
Clare Lewis, Curatorial Assistant, Museum of Contemporary Art

Poem by Don Walker, Author, musician and songwriter.

ISBN 9781864999457
Published by The University of Queensland Art Museum, 2009
144 pages
RRP $59.95 including gst

RE-PRINT AVAILABLE NOW

Exhibition