robert moore

Smokey and the grey fergie

Exhibition dates: Wed 14 Nov – Sat 1 Dec, 2007
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RIGHT TOOLS FOR THE JOB

Of the many great pleasures that occurred as a result of having created Mambo, meeting and having worked with Robert Moore must rate in the top half dozen.

I was introduced to Bob by Sydney gallery owner, Ray Hughes, in 1989, while putting together Mambo’s first exhibition at Ray’s gallery. During one of my visits Ray suggested that I might like to have a look at some of Bob’s work. Why not? Amongst the art I saw that day were two surfboards that Robert had used as a canvas on which to paint, cows.

Having been born on a farm I like to think that I know more about cows than just the fact that they taste good when thrown into a Thai salad. My reaction to the boards was emphatic. This was not the work of some inner-city artist trying his desperate best to be “ironic”, nor were they pretentious. Instead, they were genuinely affectionate portraits of Australian steerage that just happened to be painted on surfboards.

At Mambo, artists were never chosen for their ability to turn a buck. We were only interested in working with artists who were as passionate about their work as we were about Mambo. Bob was one such artist. Whenever I asked him to send us some art it arrived not in an envelope containing two or three pieces but by the kilo. And none of it wasted postage.

Bob also shared our enthusiasm for music (he is both a musician and a producer), cars, surfing- obviously, and humour. Some of that humour can be seen in the titles Bob gives his work: ‘Bitch Magnet’ (the name given to an almost life-size painting of a yellow Monaro that is now ‘parked’ at the QAG) and ‘What a Holden Would Have Cost at the Time of its Release’.

I once asked friend and musician, Martin Armiger, if he had ever come across Bob. He said he had, recording the sound of a shifting spanner bouncing across a concrete floor. Bob has also worked with Neil Finn and Brisbane band, Custard.

In recent years Bob has moved away from the mainstream gallery system choosing instead to control the marketing of his work through sales from his own website and “off the back of his truck”.

This exhibition, ‘Smokey and the grey fergie’, at the Damien Minton Gallery is his first in Sydney for a decade.


Dare Jennings
Director,
Deus exMachina Motorcycles

 

Born in Brisbane, 1964
Lives in Grafton, New South Wales, Australia

Selected Exhibitions

2007‘Smokey and the Grey Fergie, Damien Minton Gallery,
       Sydney
2006‘Fire Danger Meter, Heiser Gallery, Brisbane
2004Something Beautiful, Grafton Regional Gallery
2003Something Beautiful, Doggett St Studio, Brisbane
2001Lake Paintings, Doggett Street Studio, Brisbane
2000Cabbage Tree Creek, Ray Hughes Gallery, Sydney
1998Tallow Beach Dogs, Doggett St Studio, Brisbane
1997Zipper, Ray Hughes Gallery, Sydney
1996Western Qld Landscapes, Doggett St Studio, Brisbane
1994Aloha, Ray Hughes Gallery, Sydney
1992Robert Moore, Ray Hughes Gallery, Sydney
1992Robert Moore, Ipswich Regional Art Gallery, Ipswich
1991Colour City Paintings, Ray Hughes Gallery, Sydney
1990Robert Moore and His 33 Country Paintings, Ray
       Hughes Gallery, Brisbane
1989Blow Your Horn, Ray Hughes Gallery, Sydney
1988Leisure in the Age of Harrisville, Ray Hughes Gallery,        Brisbane

Selected Group Exhibitions

2002Jacaranda Aquisitive Drawing Prize , Grafton
2000On The Road - the car in Australian art, Heide, Museum
       of Modern Art
1999People, Places, Pastimes: Challenging perspectives
       of Ipswich,Inaugural exhibition, Ipswich Global Arts Link
1998It’s a Guitar shaped World, Tamworth Regional Gallery
1997It’s a Guitar shaped World, Tamworth Regional Gallery
1996It’s a Guitar shaped World, Tamworth Regional Gallery
1995Psychopathia Aesthetica, Mambo Gallery, Sydney
1995Salon des Refuses, S.H. Ervin Gallery, Sydney
1995It’s a Guitar Shaped World, Tamworth Regional Gallery
1994Salon des Refuses, S.H. Ervin Gallery, Sydney
1994Drawing on Inspiration, Ivan Doherty Gallery, Sydney
1994Art Irritates Life, Mambo group exhibition. Toured
       regional and capital city galleries throughout Australia
1993The Emperor's New Clothes, Mambo group exhibition,
       Ray Hughes Gallery, Sydney
1993On The Wall, Gold Coast City Art Gallery, Gold Coast
1990Fourth Australian Sculpture Triennial, National Gallery
       of Victoria, Melbourne
199020 Australian Artists, Galleria San Vidal, Venice,
       Italy; Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane; and Benalla
       Regional Art Gallery, Victoria, Australia
1990MAMBO, Ray Hughes Gallery, Sydney
1989Victorian Print Workshop Exhibition, Victorian Print
       Workshop, Melbourne

Collections

National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Australian National Gallery, Canberra
Gold Coast City Art Gallery, Gold Coast
Ipswich Regional Gallery, Ipswich
Holmes à Court Collection, Perth
Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane
Brisbane City Art Gallery, Brisbane
Ipswich Global Arts Link, Ipswich
Grafton Regional Gallery