David Aspden Born Bolton, England, arrived 1950 1935 - 2005

COLLECTIONS Aspden is represented in National Gallery of Australia, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Art Gallery of Western Australia, Museums and Galleries of the Northern Territory, National Gallery of , Art Gallery of South Australia, and other state galleries. His work is found in regional galleries including Bathurst, Newcastle, Wollongong, Gold Coast, Orange, Armidale, Ballarat, Benalla, Muswellbrook, Manly, Stanthorpe and . Aspden’s paintings are hung in New Parliament House, Canberra and the NSW State Parliament. His work is in the collections of Artbank, Heide, Tarrawarra Museum of Art, Macquarie University, National Bank of Australia, Macquarie Bank, St George Bank, The Australian Club, Festival Hall Adelaide, Allens Arthur Robinson, Clayton Utz, Casino, Fairfax, News Limited, University of Western Australia, Monash University, Beljourno Group, Shell Company of Australia Limited, and numerous corporate and private collections.

Individual Exhibitions 1965 Watters Gallery, Sydney 1966 Watters Gallery, Sydney - March and November 1967 Watters Gallery, Sydney Strines Gallery, Melbourne 1968 Farmers' Blaxland Gallery, Sydney Gallery A, Melbourne 1970 Art Gallery, Sydney 1971 Rudy Komon Art Gallery, Sydney 1973 Rudy Komon Art Gallery, Sydney 1974 Rudy Komon Art Gallery, Sydney 1975 Solander Gallery, Canberra 1976 Monash University, Victoria Rudy Komon Art Gallery, Sydney 1977 Rudy Komon Art Gallery, Sydney 1981 Rudy Komon Art Gallery, Sydney Realities Gallery, Melbourne 1982 Roslyn Oxley 9 Gallery, Sydney 1983 Realities Gallery, Melbourne 1984 Warwick Arts Trust, London 1985 Roslyn Oxley 9 Gallery, Sydney 1986 Charles Nodrum, Melbourne Realities Gallery,Melbourne 1988 Realities Gallery, Melbourne Charles Nodrum, Melbourne BMG Fine Art, Sydney 1990 Studio Exhibition 1991 Studio Exhibition 1992 Studio Exhibition 1993 Studio Exhibition 1994 Anima Gallery, Adelaide 1995 Australian High Commission, Singapore 1996 Gallery 482, Brisbane 1996 Wagner Gallery 1997 Annandale Gallery, Sydney 1997 Anima Gallery, Adelaide 1997 Gallery 482, Brisbane 2000 Wagner Gallery, Sydney 2002 Vanessa Wood Fine Art, Sydney 2002 Celebration of Colour, Orange Regional Art Gallery 2004 Jazz, Charles Nodrum, Melbourne 2005 Wagner Gallery, Sydney 2005 Linton & Kay Gallery, Perth 2005 Jazz, Many Regional Art Gallery 2005 Landscape into Music, Wangaratta Regional Art Gallery 2010 Landscape into Music, works on paper, Utopia Gallery, Sydney 2011 The Colour of Music and Place, Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney

Group Exhibitions 1966 Contemporary Australian Painting, Los Angeles and San Francisco 1968 Group 1, Gallery A, Sydney and Melbourne Group 3, Gallery A, Melbourne 1969 The Field, National Gallery of Victoria 1970 Colour and Structure, Blaxland Gallery, Sydney 1971 XI Biennale of San Paulo, Brazil 1972 Australian Landscape, Adelaide Festival of Arts, then to all state galleries. Australian Paintings and Tapestries of the Past 20 Years, NSW House, London and Bonython Gallery, Sydney Sydney Biennale, Opera House 1974 Five Festival Artists, Greenhill Galleries, Adelaide 1975 Ten Australians, International tour and ABC film 1978 Contemporary Australian Drawing, WA Art Gallery 1979 European Beginnings, Ivan Dougherty Gallery, Sydney 1981 Perspecta, Art Gallery of NSW 6 Artist', Wollongong City Art Gallery 1983 12 Australian Painters, Art Gallery of W.A. 1983 Wynne Prize Exhibition, Art Gallery New South Wales 1984 Wynne Prize Exhibition, Art Gallery New South Wales 1985 Wynne Prize Exhibition, Art Gallery New South Wales 1985 Exhibition, Art Gallery New South Wales 1986 Wynne Prize Exhibition, Art Gallery New South Wales 1986 Resistant Spirit, Roslyn Oxley 9 Gallery Realities, Melbourne. 1987 Painters and Sculptors, Queensland Art Gallery and Japan Surface for Reflection, Art Gallery of NSW 1988 Wynne Prize Exhibition, Art Gallery New South Wales 1989 Wynne Prize Exhibition, Art Gallery New South Wales 1989 Artmet, Woollahra Sydney 1990 David Jones Gallery, Sydney 1991 Prints Galore, Wollongong Regional Gallery,. 1992 Wynne Prize Exhibition, Art Gallery New South Wales 1993 Contemporary Australian Painting', Works from the Allen Allen and Hemsley collection 1993 Wynne Prize Exhibition, Art Gallery New South Wales 1994 Wynne Prize Exhibition, Art Gallery New South Wales 1994 Southern Highlands Regional Gallery, NSW 1995 Wynne Prize Exhibition, Art Gallery New South Wales 1995 Charles Nodrum Gallery, Melbourne 1995 Wagner Gallery, Sydney 1995 Blast From the Past, Geelong Regional Art Gallery 1996 Collectors show, Wagner Gallery, Sydney 1996 New paint new work, Utopia Art, Sydney. 1996 Australian Paintings 1950-1990, Charles Nodrum, Melbourne 1997 Wynne Prize Exhibition, Art Gallery New South Wales 1997 Wynne exhibition at the Wynne estate, Mount Wilson, NSW 1997 North Newtown School, Sydney 1997 University of Western Australia, Perth 1998 Robert Steele Gallery, Adelaide 1998 Symbiosis, Utopia Art, Sydney and New England Regional Art Museum, Armidale 1998 Optics, Sir Hermann Black Gallery, University of Sydney Union, Sydney 1998 Eva Brewer, Sydney 1999 Refuse (Wynne Prize), Sydney 1999 Wagner Gallery, Sydney 1999 Geelong Contemporary Art Prize 1999 Redlands Art Prize Exhibition 1999 Sydney Art Gallery 1999 New England Regional Art Museum, Print Portfolio 1 2000 Sydney Art Gallery, Ultimo 2000 We Are Australian, Victorian Arts Centre and travelling 2000 Idea and Influence, Annandale Gallery 2000 Artists in the Field: a Retrospective. MAGNT, Northern Territory 2001 Gallery 482, Brisbane 2001 Investment Paintings, Wagner Gallery, Sydney 2001 Paper, Stella Downer Fine Art, Sydney 2001 Modern and Contemporary , Charles Nodrum, Sydney, Melbourne 2001 Australian Watercolour Institute, annual exhibition 2001 Colour, Studio 91B, Adelaide Charles Nodrum Gallery Melbourne 2002 Refuse (Wynne Prize), Sydney 2002 Stella Downer Fine Art, Sydney 2002 Good Vibrations, Heide, Museum of Modern Art, Vic 2005 Art Gallery of NSW 2006-10 Charles Nodrum, Melbourne Abstraction/s 2006 Queensland Art Gallery 2008 Rubik, Charles Nodrum, Melbourne 2009 Earth, Sea and Sky, Charles Nodrum, Melbourne 2009 Abstraction, Utopia Gallery, Sydney 2009 After the Field, Peter Pinson Gallery, Sydney 2009 Treasures from Tarrawarra Museum of Art, Ellenbrook Gallery, WA

Awards 1963 Wollongong Drawing Prize 1965 Wollongong and Drummoyne Prizes, NSW 1967 Muswellbrook Prize, Joint Winner of Berrima Prize, NSW 1970 Crouch Prize, Ballarat, Victoria 1971 Gold Medal, XI Biennale of San Paulo Alice Prize, Alice Springs, NT H. Richards Memorial Prize, Queensland Art Gallery 1972 Gold Coast City Art Prize, Queensland 1973 Travelodge Art Prize, 1984 V.A.B. grant, artist in residence at Institute of Marine Science, Cape Ferguson, Queensland. 1995 Wynne Prize, Art Gallery of New South Wales.

Member of the Australian Watercolour Institute

SELECETED BIBLIOGRAPHY Horton, M. (ed), Present Day Art in Australia, Ure Smith, Sydney, London, 1969 McGreggor C., Beal, D., Moore, D., Williamson,H., In the Making, Thomas Nelson (Aust) 1969 SBN 17001819 Smith, Terry Colour-Form Painting, Sydney 1965-70, Other Voices, Melbourne, Vol 1, No 1, June/July 1970 Smith, Terry 'The Painting of David Aspden', Art International, Vol XIV, No 8, October 1970 Hutchison Noel 'The Dynamiting of the Picture - David Aspden's Paintings', Art and Australia, Vol 9, No 3, December 1971 Smith Bernard Australian Painting 1880 - 1970, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1971 McCaughey Patrick Ten Australians, (exhibition catalogue). Visual Arts Board, Australia Council, Sydney, 1974 Krausmann Rudy 'Interview with David Aspden, Aspect, Sydney, Vol 4, No 3, 1979 McCaughey Patrick Surviving the Seventies in Australia. Artscribe, London, No 23, June 1980. Reprinted in Paul Taylor (ed): Anything Goes - Art in Australia, 1970 - 1980. Art and Text, Melbourne, 1984. Lindsay, Robert The Seventies: Australian Paintings and Tapestries from the Collection of the National Australia bank. The National Bank of Australasia Limited, Melbourne, 1982. Horton, M (ed) : Australian Painters of the Seventies, Ure Smith, Sydney, 1975 Bond, Anthony Surface for Reflection Part I and II, Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney, 1986 Hogan, J.(ed), Painters and Sculptors, Diversity in Contemporary Australian Art, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, 1987 Luck, R.K A Guide to Modern Australian Painting Sun Books 1969 Bonython, Kym, Australian Painting 1960-1970 Bonython, Kym Australian Painting, 1970-1975 Bonython, Kym Australian Painting, 1975-1980 The First Gallery in Paddington, Edwards and Shaw, Sydney, 1981 Australian Art Collector, July 1997 Lindsay, Robert, Shell Collection of Contemporary Australian Art, Melbourne, 1995 Art and Australia Volume 3 No. 4 Illustration “Red & Yellow Diamond” Back Cover Volume 4 No. 1 Illustration “Blue & Green Divided” Page 16 Volume 14 No. 3 Illustration “Crazy Grey” Page 343 Volume 14 No. 4 Volume 15 No. 2 Illustration “Meditation No.5” Page 157 Thornton, Wallace Sydney Morning Herald SMH, 23/02/1966, “Abstract Image With a Purpose” Thornton, Wallace Sydney Morning Herald SMH, 16/11/1966, “A Question of Expression” Brook Donald Sydney Morning Herald, 10/09/1970, “Miraculous Week” Hutchison Noel Sydney Morning Herald, 10/06/1971, “Dilemma of the social artist” Sydney Morning Herald, 22/10/1971, “AG Richards Memorial Prize, Queensland Art Gallery” Gleeson, James Sydney Morning Herald, 15/10/1972, “When Colours Began to Meet in an Embrace”, James Gleeson Brook, Donald Sydney Morning Herald, 12/10/1972, ”Pleasantness Triumphant” Thomas, Daniel Sydney Morning Herald, 31/05/1973, “Surprise – A Vital Emotion” Thomas, Daniel Sydney Morning Herald, 01/11/1973, “Entertainment and the Arts” Thomas, Daniel Sydney Morning Herald SMH, 21/06/1974, Art Review, Gleeson, James Sydney Morning Herald, 30/06/1974, “Sequences by Colour” Borlase, Nancy Sydney Morning Herald, 08/03/1976, Art Review Borlase, Nancy Sydney Morning Herald, 23/03/1976, “Boudoir Fripperies and Restless Exploration” Borlase, Nancy Sydney Morning Herald, 16/09/1977, “A Reminder of the Goodness of Good Art” Borlase, Nancy Sydney Morning Herald, 30/06/1979, “With Pleasure and Offence” Maloon, Terance Sydney Morning Herald, 13/11/1982, Art Review, Lloyd, Tim The Adelaide Review, 24/09/1994, “Camouflage Lifts to Reveal a Hidden Nature” MacDonald, John Sydney Morning Herald SMH, 26/10/1996, Spectrum Arts Reid, Michael, Weekend Australian, 21/07/2001, “Art Market” MacDonald, John Sydney Morning Herald, 21/06/2001, “Back From the Edge” Forward by Alan Sisley I am delighted that the Orange Regional Gallery is able to present a selection of the work of David Aspden.

We have entitled the exhibition ‘Celebration of Colour’, for David has pursued colour and its infinite nuances, its ephemeral but powerful ontology, for nearly forty years, and with perhaps a more single minded purpose than any other Australian painter.

The exhibition has its major focus on what may be called his ‘torn paper style’, although quite a few other works are painted in differing modes, particularly works with neutral backgrounds of ambiguous space upon which dance an energetic punctuation of gestural paint marks. The exhibition has examples of his work over thirty years, but because David Aspden has throughout his career chased the most subtle variations upon a theme, from the exquisitely lyrical to the bold and brassy – much like the jazz music he loves – these 30 works can only be said to form the bare bones, only a few bars of his unique life’s symphony.

I use musical analogies because the artist is profoundly influenced by music, particularly modern jazz music, and the titles tell us of his unusual sensitivity to the synasthaesic colours of music. For instance his triptych Black Brown and Beige, with its references to Duke Ellington’s great piece.

The titles are very important to the artist, and I realise why when I discovered the ma\\name of a particular painting … Fishing the Hawkesbury. What had previously been a work of interesting colour harmonies and arranged formal markings suddenly became alive with the movements of fish and their glittering scales and sunlight glinting through the turgid water, the broken surface nipped with patches of bright reflected colour….. a scene I know well myself. I cannot thin of many other abstract painters whose titles are so important.

Besides music, the other great theme in this exhibition is the painting of landscape. His works have reflected his environment since he first began to make large pictures in his backyard in the early sixties. This exhibition contains work inspired by travels in Australia, Norfolk Island as well as India.

A Celebration of Colour contains works selected from the seventies to the present, each of a somewhat different formal approach.

The majority of these works are abstracted from the landscape, the play of light on hills and trees, the darting quickness of a bird across the air, the slosh of the sea, the falling and rolling autumn leaves. He is able to suggest all of these with remarkable economy and glowing colour. There are in fact a multitude of visual stimuli in these works, and auditory notes as well, forming a synthesis of energy and rhythm. And David Aspden is a master at presenting real depth and spatial effects in his works, the perennial problem for the modernist abstract painter.

In description of a 1975 ABC video series he was described as ‘perhaps the most single minded of the painters in the Ten Australian series”, and judging by the stunning variations on a theme pursued to marvellous effect in this exhibition, this description continues to hold true today.

I wish to thank David Aspden, Karen Coote and Arthur Whall for their help in selecting and mounting this exhibition. It has been a great pleasure to work with them.

Artists statement For me the nature of colour is the colour of nature. Nature being so various, colours are endless. People respond to colours and are often delighted by them. What for example is your favourite colour?

Colours in painting can work for or against each other. One can have harmonies and collisions in a single work. In my recent jazz works in this exhibition I have concentrated on combining colour to create harmony but include small variations in colour that challenge you, the viewer, to find the discord.

Colours for example can express exhilaration, despair, well-being, calm and any number of emotions. What are the colours of music? I have attempted to address this subject in my current jazz series but have often explored the relationship of colour and music over the years. Colours in painting can work for or against each other. One can have harmonies and collisions in a single work. In my recent jazz works in this exhibition I have concentrated on combining colour to create harmony but include small variations in colour that challenge you, the viewer, to find the discord.

Very often when you read the back of a record cover or listen to an introduction to a music score on the radio, you often hear or read a reference to colours in the orchestration as described by the reviewer.

You will also see in this exhibition a great deal of reference to landscape and the environment. I am challenged by the colours that can be found in the air, wind and weather environments, as well as more easily recognisable colours in the tangible world of nature.

David Aspden June 2002