Luke Sciberras

Hill End is one of the sacred sites of modern Australian art, a gold mining town whose charms only seemed to increase when the ore was gone. Donald Friend was so seduced that he bought a cottage, as did Paul Haefliger and Jean Bellette. Recently Luke Sciberras has continued the practise by becoming a Hill End resident and householder.

It says a lot for the attractions of Hill End that it can hold a personality as gregarious as Luke’s. It says something about Luke’s dedication to his art, and sense of tradition, that he would immerse himself in the life and landscape of this battered little town that provided the inspiration for some of Russell Drysdale’s most celebrated paintings.

And yet, while Sciberras is keenly aware of the artistic legacy of Hill End, his vision of the landscape is a personal one. In his paintings he portrays ravaged fields of clay beginning to meld back into the earth. He takes pleasure in the abstract patterns created by human labour and the healing powers of nature. While Sciberras’s paintings are always recognizable as landscapes, he simplifies forms, turns light and shadow into solid shapes. His works are not apocalyptic like Drysdale’s, they are lyrical, muted and understated. His paintings are not momentos of a vanished boom-town, but a celebration of a countryside returning to life.

- John McDonald 2005

BORN

1975 Sydney NSW Australia

Lives and works in Hill End NSW Australia

EDUCATION

1995 – 97 Fine Arts, Painting National Art School

1995 – 00 Regular Studio Assistant to Aida Tomescu, John Peart, Ann Thomson, Tim Storrier, Guy

Warren, Martin Sharp, Garry Shead, Suzanne Archer, Elisabeth Cummings and Greg Weight

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2010

Under a High Desert Wind, James Makin Gallery

2009

More the Desert Reveals, Tim Olsen Gallery, Sydney

Fugues and Furrows, Moree Regional Gallery, NSW

2008

Flipside, Tim Olsen Gallery, Sydney

Plum Blossom Time, James Makin Gallery, Melbourne

2007

Persimmon Season, Tim Olsen Gallery, Sydney

Plum Blossom Time, Windswept and Picked Clean, James Makin Gallery, Melbourne

2006

When the Sun Comes Out, Tim Olsen Gallery Annex Sydney

Art Sydney06, Royal Hall of Industries, Sydney

Plucked and Gutted, Port Jackson Press, Melbourne

Melbourne Art Fair, Royal Exhibition Building, Melbourne

2005

A Painter’s Progress, Bathurst Regional Gallery, Bathurst, NSW

Dogdays and Deluges, Tim Olsen Gallery, Sydney

Melbourne Art Fair, Royal Exhibition Building, Melbourne

Windswept and Picked Clean, Port Jackson Press, Melbourne

Art Sydney05, Royal Hall of Industries, Sydney

2003

Tim Olsen Gallery, Sydney

Small works on paper with Luke Sciberras & Tristan Lanceley, Tim Olsen Gallery, Sydney

2002

Monaro Country, Ben Grady Gallery, Canberra

2001

Back up the Monkey, Tim Olsen Gallery, Sydney

2000

An Uncertain Something, Tim Olsen Gallery, Sydney

Exhibited as finalist in Brett Whitely Scholarship, Surry Hills

Exhibited as finalist in Kings School Art Prize, Parramatta

Meet 2×2, Tim Olsen Gallery

1999

Solo Exhibition at ABC Centre, via Nicky Ginsberg, Ultimo, Sydney

1999

Exhibited as finalist, Brett Whitely Scholarship, Surry Hills

COLLECTIONS

Sciberras’ works are included in many private, public and corporate collections worldwide