Ron Robertson-Swann

The Artist

Travelodge Art Prize, 1970;
Ron Robertson Swann Survey 1965 — 1975, Newcastle City Art Gallery, 3 – 27 April, 1975, no. 9;
Ron Robertson-Swann: Survey 1965 — 1987, Paintings, Charles Nodrum Gallery, 12 — 31 October, 1987, no. 3;
Modern Australian Paintings, Charles Nodrum Gallery, 23 June — 7 July, 1988, no. 50;
On loan to Bendigo Art Gallery, 1994-2021

Art International, Vol XIV / 1 20 Jan 1970, see front cover illustration for 'Sydney Summer';
Art and Australia, Vol 8, No 1, 1970, see p 13 for 'Sydney Summer', winner of the 1969 Transfield Prize;
Harry Nicolson, 'Ron Robertson Swann', Art International, Vol XV / 2, Feb 1971, see p 13 - 15, for illustrations of further works in the series including Brown Bomber, Around Seven, Rainbow Sea, After Midnight, Early Light, and Sydney Summer;
Harry Nicholson, Ron Robertson-Swann: an Australian Master of the New Phenomenalism, introduction to Ron Robertson Swann - Survey 1965-1975, exhibition catalogue, Newcastle City Art Gallery, 1975, see illustration of Rainbow Sea;
Charles Nodrum Gallery, 'Modern Australian Painting', exhibition catalogues, 1987 and 1988

From time to time artists find a form, or a format, which allows them enough latitude to evolve and explore
yet imposes sufficiently firm boundaries to prevent them wandering off. Tony McGillick’s pentagons, Trevor Vickers’ symmetrically paired rectangles, Robert Hunter’s pool table, or Fred Williams’ tripartite landscapes (sky, hillside, paddock) would be contemporary examples. In Ron Robertson-Swann’s case, the ‘flag’ paintings of the 1960s (rectangles cut into four triangles by a diagonal cross) can be seen to have undergone a cut: about a third of the way from the base, the diagonally converging lines change direction and head vertically straight to the top. The change injected movement. Standing in front of any work in this new series can evoke a passage way without actually depicting one, since the floor, the wall, and the ceiling are undifferentiated. The effect on the body is to feel we are walking into the painting. However if we read the work as abutting forms on a 2D surface, the energy in the painting itself seems to be flowing upwards: rather than receding backwards. I mentioned rockets, the artist talked about volcanoes. Equally vital for the artist is the precision of the colours which he sees as critical.

C.N.