MODERN TIMES

Its a debatable point as to if Australian art ever really had a true modernist movement in the same sense as was seen in Europe and the US early last century. However painters who were influenced by such a dramatic shift in aesthetics – Sidney Nolan, John Olsen, Arthur Boyd, John Brack etc. – continue to dominate the market place. Even artists from the next generation after these innovators – such as Tim Storrier and Brett Whiteley – are engaging with the shifts in perception that modernism let loose. In the case of Storrier it is curious that he is often labeled as a conservative painter. I would argue that although Storrier’s art is clear and exact in its representational nature the juxtaposition of imagery – such as TV sets in the desert – adds a distinctly modern and even surreal quality to his work.