Evening cloud and star, oil 20 x 15cm

Whisper: an exhibition in Ballarat, Victoria

Highway crossing, Colac, oil 20 x 15cm

 

I will be part of a group show in Ballarat from January 18 until February 26 at The Lost Ones Gallery (14 Camp Street, Ballarat Central, Victoria. Open Wednesday to Sunday, 11am to 4pm.) Fellow painters Nick Dridan and Harley Manifold (with whom I shared a studio for a couple of years) have a shared interest in solitary objects and figures in vast landscapes; the title of the show is Whisper. I will contribute about 50 small oil paintings of the kind often posted on this blog (as above), and very much looking forward to hanging alongside Nick and Harley. More info about it here: http://www.thelostones.com.au/upcomingevents/

Cloud, oil 20 x 15cm

Couple on a hill, sketchbook page, ink, 10 x 15cm

Sun and wind, Cottesloe Beach, oil 20 x 15cm

Sydney Road blue, oil 20 x 15cm

Never give your keys to a stranger, from Rules of Summer, 2013

Three of my larger format prints are now available through my local Brunswick supplier of pop-surrealism, beinArt Gallery http://beinart.org/, at Sparta Place in Brunswick. You can check them out here, or even better, pop in to examine all other weirdness. A broader selection of other prints continue to be available through Books Illustrated, with a couple of recent additions.

Tullamarine Freeway, oil 20 x 15cm

Born ready, pen and pencil, 10 x 12cm

Union Street morning, oil, 30 x 40cm

One of the paintings currently on show at Warrnambool Art Gallery, Somewhere Nowhere until February 2017.  http://www.thewag.com.au/index.php?q=node/649

Young artist, pastel A2

Morning light, Temple Park, oil 20 x 15cm

Warehouse at dusk, oil 20 x 15cm

Warehouse at dusk, oil 20 x 15cm

Apartment lights at the end of Tinning St, oil 20 x 15cm

EVERY PLACE IS THE SAME PLACE

Regent, Melbourne, oil on board 15 x 20cm

The online catalogue of this exhibition is now available, you can view it here:

http://www.tinningstreetpresents.com/shaun-tan.html

The exhibition runs from November 17 - 20 at Tinning Street Presents in Brunswick, Melbourne. Do drop by to enjoy 100 or so small paintings I've made over the last six years.

Upcoming Exhibitions

WAKING DREAMS Gympie Regional Gallery, Queensland Australia, from November 23 to January 2017. A retrospective of illustration work spanning the past 20 years, with a particular focus on picture book illustration. https://www.gympie.qld.gov.au/gallery

THE ARRIVAL (ANKOMSTEN) Havremagasinet, Boden, Sweden. October 29 - January 8, a combination of original pencil drawings and final digitally coloured images which collectively relocate the full story to gallery walls. I was originally approached by the curator with this comment:

'We think it is important to tell this story, given that Boden is a town that has received a large number of refugees during the last years, especially now with many fleeing Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. I think a lot of our visitors will recognize themselves in your story. The story is also important for the Swedish people to understand what these people are going through when they come here.'

http://havremagasinet.se/shaun-tan/ 

Somewhere Nowhere November 19 to February 5, Warrnambool Art Gallery, Warrnambool, Victoria. A varied selection of work ranging from large-scale landscape paintings to small book illustrations, exploring the notions of isolation and displacement in suburbia, and how this might liberate the imagination rather than stifle it.

http://www.thewag.com.au/index.php?q=node/649

EVERY PLACE IS THE SAME PLACE Tinning Street Presents, Ilhan Lane, Brunswick Victoria. November 15 to 21 (one week only). Related to my previous exhibition at Tinning Street, Little Brunswick, this is show will feature 100 small oil paintings produced between 2010 and 2016, all approximately 20 x 15cm, the scale at which I frequently work for landscape studies. These pictures represent subjects from places such as Europe, North and Central America, Asia and Australia (especially Brunswick of course!) most of which have appeared on this blog over the years. Unlike the other exhibitions listed above, this is a commercial exhibition where works are for sale; an online catalogue should be complete by the end of the week and I'll post more about that soon.

Coinciding with a recent launch of The Singing Bones at the Illustrationcupboard in London (where you can see a small range of original sculptures), and also Halloween, Waterstones have put together a little blog showing a few comparisons between pencil sketches and final sculptures: https://www.waterstones.com/blog/shaun-tan-the-grimm-sculptor

Russ the Story Bus

Russ the Story Bus in Rules of Summer outfit (photo: Prudence Upton)

Presented by Sydney Writers’ Festival, Russ the Story Bus is a creative space where children can browse a library full of the latest children’s books, choose a book to take home, listen to a story or hear authors and illustrators talk about their craft. Russ is hitting the road from late October to December. This year the organisers decided to decorate the bus with Rules of Summer artwork, which is a terrific privilege: is there any better canvas than a mobile library? Find out more about Russ.

Shadow place, pastel A2