Iconic Australian artist Ken Done's latest exhibition For the Love of Colour opens at Gallery One on Friday 6 September and runs until the end of the month. His previous exhibition Paintings You Probably Haven't Seen in 2017 was a sell-out show.
For the Love of Colour is an exhibition of sixteen gorgeously coloured and pretty works which firmly place Ken Done as one of Australia leading colourist painters.
Ken Done and 'colour' have had a magical relationship ever since Ken's first solo exhibition at Holdsworth Gallery, in Sydney,1980. Colour is a powerful and instructive tool for the artist who has incorporated every shade and nuance of Newton's colour spectrum in his expressionistic oeuvre.
This exhibition celebrates the potent impact of colour on our visual senses by an artist with his own mark and style. Ken uses colour to 'envelope' the viewer and engender an emotional reaction. It is the key element to define the moment and feeling of his beloved subjects — Sydney Harbour, his garden, the surrounding still life, coral reefs and figurative muses.
Ken carefully casts colour as the protagonist of his story and through this character the viewer comes to understand and appreciate how this key element is so transformative. The artist generously portrays colour in bold sparkles of light that hit the ocean and bright blocks, loose lines and morphing shapes immersed in underwater coral reefs and jewel seas. Colour acts surreptitiously in and around the subject to reveal beauty, innocence and delight of meeting for the first time.
Born 29 June 1940 in Sydney, Ken left school at 14 to enter the National Art School in East Sydney. After five years of study, he commenced a highly successful career as an art director and designer in New York, London and Sydney. At the age of 40 he gave up his advertising career to become a painter full-time. Since then, he has held over 50 one-man shows, including major exhibitions in Australia, Europe, Japan and the USA. This year Ken was a finalist in both the Wynne and Sulman prizes at the Art Gallery of NSW. He has been a finalist in the Archibald Prize as well as the Dobell prize for drawing. Working with underprivileged children has always been an important part of Ken's vocation and commitment to his community. In 1988 Ken Done was appointed as an Australian Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF and in 1992 Ken received the Order of Australia (AM), for services to Art, Design and Tourism.
For the Love of Colour opens is Ken Done's second solo exhibition with Gallery One. This exhibition of new work by Ken Done runs from 6 September – 30 September 2019.
