Tim Storrier

A renowned symbolic landscape painter, Storrier is one of Australia’s most respected and sought-after contemporary artists.  In his mysterious poignant paintings of the Australian landscape he captures his personal reaction to its melancholy vastness and its unyielding nature, moods, subtleties and desolation.  Alison Burns BA (Hons), MA notes his reflection on “the insignificance of humankind when compared to the awesome magnitude of the natural world …”

Having travelled extensively throughout the Middle East, Europe, China and the USA, Storrier became particularly fascinated by the vast landscapes and remote civilizations of Central Australia and Egypt.  By painting en plein air, his works are infused with a sense of presence and immediacy.  A bold explorer of the limitless space of the night sky and the magnificence of the vast horizons, Storrier draws on his remarkable technical competence to depict beauty and decay set against expansive skies.

Some of Storrier’s most famous artworks are his evocative depictions of the Australian landscape in his iconic Lines of Fire and subsequent Burning Log series.  Inspired by the destruction and decay of material culture and the beauty and harshness of the outback, these paintings highlight the power and vitality of fire as a force of nature.  Creating string-lines of fire hung horizontally within desolate surrounds, he showcases the flames as a source of beauty, power and destruction, their warm and vibrant colours complementing a starry evening sky.

“These blaze-lines, with a beginning and an end, represent a moment in time – a brilliant, albeit brief episode played out against the permanence of a seemingly endless horizon line.”

Storrier has experimented with mixed media, photography and pop art, but the hallmarks of his work are his atmospheric depictions of Australian landscapes.  With his mastery of technique and command of paint and brush, Storrier applies layers and layers of glaze (some opaque) to achieve a rich deepening of colour ('the Leonardo effect'). Continually revisiting the Australian landscape his latest series depict the spectre of the luminescent southern sky and the impenetrable green ocean.  John Olsen, one of Australia’s greatest living contemporary artists, described Storrier as “one of the most secret and enigmatic artists working in Australia today - a man of unpredictable intentions and directions, and one of the most original."

He gained international recognition when the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York acquired several of his paintings and his artwork has been in many prestigious exhibitions including the Australian Bicentennial Exhibition, Fischer Fine Art, London (1988); 'Windows on Australia 1’, Australian Embassy, Tokyo (1995); 'The Australian Experience’, Galerie Konoha, Japan (1996); and 'The Rose Crossing’ touring exhibition (1999-2000).

The winner of several prestigious Art Prizes Storrier is the youngest ever artist to win the Sulman firstly in 1968 at age 19 and again in 1984. He has also won the Wynne and the Doug Moran National Portrait Prize. He has been appointed a Trustee of the Art Gallery of New South Wales and was awarded both the Order of Australia AM for his services to art and a Doctor of Arts (Hons.) from Charles Sturt University, New South Wales.

Storrier’s work is held in major art museums including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, the National Gallery of Australia, all Australian State Galleries and Museums and many regional gallery collections and numerous national and international private and corporate collections.

“My vision of landscape… has to do with it being nothing more than a backdrop for theatre, a stage set for human drama – travel, dreams, disaster.”