Rodney Forbes

I Am (Your Back Door Man), painting, by Rodney Forbes, house, yard, pink, blue

2023

Rodney Forbes lives in Gippsland, the greenest part of Australia. It’s a place of primeval forests dominated by the majestic mountain ash tree, the largest flowering plant in the world, and home to koalas and lyrebirds. He grew up in the historic seaport of Williamstown, training as an electronics technician on ships, which left him with an enduring love of the sea. As a young man, he traveled overland from Australia via Kathmandu to Europe and his later research work in storytelling has led to visits to Sioux and Navajo communities as well as collaborative work with Australian Indigenous artists, academics and storytellers. Forbes’ paintings combine full-bore colour, intriguing spatial manipulations, humour, and insightful observation of everyday life. They employ surreal juxtapositions which invite the viewer to attach their own stories and to reexamine their own sense of wonder. His works reward those who live with them, unfolding new layers of meaning over time. His work is held in the collection of the Australian National Gallery, Canberra, the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Artbank, Regional Galleries and numerous private collections in Australia and internationally. He is an Honorary Research Fellow at Federation University Australia and was previously the Director of Gippsland Centre for Art and Design and Switchback Gallery at Monash University. His work has been the subject of two major curated survey exhibitions and he has been the recipient of an Australia Council Arts and Crafts Board New Work Grant. He was the winner of the 2020 Australian Maritime Art Award. RODNEY FORBES 1997-99 MA, Fine Art (by research), Monash University, Faculty of Art & Design 1983 Graduate Diploma (Visual Arts) Gippsland Institute of Advanced Education 1980-82 Dip Arts (Visual Arts) Gippsland Institute of Advanced Education 1995 – 2007 Lecturer in Visual Arts, Gippsland Centre for Art and Design, Faculty of Art and Design, Monash University 2008 – 2014 Director, Gippsland Centre for Art and Design, Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture, Monash University 2014 – 2015 Director, Gippsland Centre for Art and Design, Faculty of Arts and Education, Federation University Australia 2015 – present, Research Fellow, Faculty of Arts and Education, Federation University Australia, Individual Exhibitions 2021 Twice is Lucky, 3 Times a Charm, Australian Galleries, Melbourne 2021 Rodney Forbes: In My Life, 4-decade survey exhibition, Gippsland Art Gallery, Sale 2019 Choice Language, Australian Galleries, Melbourne 2017 Art from Down Under: Paintings by Rodney Forbes, Glenn Green Galleries, Santa Fe, USA 2017 THE SEA, THE SEA, Australian Galleries, Melbourne Art from Down Under, Glenn green Galleries, Santa Fe 2015 The Lost White Woman of Gippsland, ArcYinnar, Yinnar 2015 The Lost White Woman of Gippsland, Gippsland Art Gallery, Sale 2014 Lohan-Tuka: The Lost White Woman of Gippsland, Australian Galleries, Melbourne 2012 No Coyotes No roadrunners, Australian Galleries, Derby St Collingwood 2011 Kid’s Cube: Rodney Forbes, Tellers and Listeners, Gippsland Gallery, Sale 2010 BREATHE, Australian Galleries, Melbourne 2008 Slow painting, Australian Galleries, Melbourne