Simple Wonders: Exhibition of the Paintings from the Collection of Andrew Johns Part Nine: Patrick Carroll and Jamie Boyd

Patrick Carroll (1949 - 2019) described himself as a Contemporary Realist stating in his bio on his website that: I work mainly in oil, acrylic and watercolour on canvas and paper. The search for new and challenging subject matter has permitted me to travel extensively throughout Australia and overseas. Painting is a process that I find both painful and rewarding. Each new work presents me with a ‘minefield’ of problems to solve as I try (in vain) to force my vision onto a painting that appears to have a life of its own.¹

The Patrick Carroll painting in the Simple Wonders exhibition is Rock Formation and Billabong Narrabeen as shown below.

This is a most wonderful painting by Patrick Carroll and illustrates as one commentator described: He is constantly walking a fine line between the comfort of realism and the pulsating line and colour in an expressionist mode, which seeks to surprise and energise the viewer. He has developed a technique where abstraction is pushed into reality.²

Carroll himself stated that:
The best a painter can hope to achieve is to show the ordinary in an extraordinary manner. If successful, one has survived mood swings ranging from exhilaration to despair as one makes the inevitable compromise in order to begin afresh in the ongoing search for the ‘elusive masterpiece’.¹

After studying part-time at Bathurst Technical College, from 1960 to 1963, Patrick Carroll moved to Sydney in 1968 where he studied part-time with Roma Lewington, Henry Hanke and Alan Hansen from 1970 to 1974.¹

In 1974, Carroll held his first solo exhibition at the Styles Gallery, Sydney. Following the success of this show, he became a full-time painter, having exhibited widely throughout New South Wales in solo and group shows during 1975-98. He has conducted occasional teaching and painting workshops throughout New South Wales...¹

Carroll...received numerous awards and commendations for his work since 1965 (when he won the Bathurst Agricultural Show, Secondary School Student Award), including the ACTA Maritime Award (1987); Doug Moran in ‘Search of Excellence’ Award (1989); Sydney Morning Herald Art Prize Award (1990), as well as various Royal Agricultural Society and Royal Easter Show Awards (1977–94).¹

He is represented in Campbelltown Regional Art Gallery; Dubbo Regional Art Gallery; Lismore City Art Gallery; P. & O. Maritime Collection; Sydney Morning Herald Art Prize Collection and numerous private and corporate collections in Australia, Japan, USA, Europe and New Zealand.¹

Tragically Patrick Carroll died in 2019 in a horrific fire in his studio.

The other painting we will look at today is Shoalhaven River by Jamie Boyd - a member of the renowned Boyd dynasty of artists.

Jamie Boyd was born in Melbourne in 1948 but moved to London with his family as a young boy. At the age of 17 he began painting full-time in London and trained at the Central School of Art and Design. He held his first Australian exhibition in 1966 at the Bonython Galleries in Adelaide.³

Since then he has exhibited regularly in Australia and throughout Europe.
His work is represented in public collections including Artbank Australia, Tavistock Centre London, National Gallery of Victoria amongst others.³

Jamie Boyd is acknowledged as a master colourist and many of his paintings contain a lyrical dream-like quality as seen in Shoalhaven River (below). ³

The poetic qualities of Boyd's paintings match the sensitive attention he gives to surface textures, while his vigorous, instinctive response to landscape is balanced by a sense of mischief. ³

And what do you think about these paintings which so impressed Andrew that he purchased them for his collection? Please leave a comment to express your opinion especially as related to the inclusion of both these landscapes in the Simple Wonders exhibition being held at the Singleton Arts and Cultural Centre from 23 August to 3 November 2024.

And if you have missed the previous posts in this series please use the search tool at the top of the post with the key words Simple Wonders to locate the previous posts.

Tomorrow- a very different style of landscape art from Max Watters as we next review, from the exhibition, paintings which include iconic Australian buildings in multiple interpretations of their quaint glory.

^{Credits
1.patrickcarrollartist.com/bio
2.kabgallery.com/artist/patrick-carroll/bio/
3.jamieboydpaintings.com/bio}