Robert Moore is an Australian artist known for his distinctive take on Australian popular culture and landscapes. Bajinhurrba ghost gums was created during the Vast project, when twenty artists in the fields of music and visual art converged on the historic town of Cossack in the Pilbara WA in September 2017 resulting in an album, film and various artworks. This project is typical of Moore’s practice, which often involves collaboration and crosses between visual arts and music performance and production. The painting is an expressionist landscape, with a meandering white line conveying the strength and vitality of the trees. The painting’s textured surface and mounting/framing in Australian hardwood further amplify the environment it emanated from.

Robert Moore studied at the Darling Downs Institute of Advanced Education in the early 1980s, exhibited with Ray Hughes Gallery in Brisbane and Sydney in the 1990s, with Bruce Heiser Gallery in Brisbane since the early 2000s and currently with Nicholas Thompson Gallery in Melbourne. His iconic drawings of cow’s heads, drumkits and cars were signature designs created for the Mambo surfwear company. Moore has had major exhibitions across Australia exploring his passion for cars, music, animals and the landscape particularly the coast and his work is in the collections of public galleries including the National Gallery of Australia, Queensland Art Gallery, National Gallery of Victoria, Artspace Mackay, Gold Coast City Gallery and the Holmes a Court Collection in Perth. As Moore is based in Grafton, acquisition of this painting fits the collection policy section 2.4.2: of priority collecting areas (2) Australian art: works acquired under this section of the policy reflect the broad directions in Australian art practice and (3) Local and regional art: This section includes work by regional and local artists as well as art referring to the region created by visiting artists.

[Written by Jo Besley, 25 March 2019]

Abstract painting, pigment and binders on board.