Even though the majority of his career was as a graphic artist, right from the start, Ross Wilsmore always dabbled in art. As a 16-year-old schoolboy he was providing the artwork for surfboards - in return for being able to create his own boards. This is a hobby that he still pursues, although the board art has changed to a more stylized, contemporary version.
Now, he is a sophisticated emerging artist whose work is instantly recognizable and is held in corporate and private collections. He takes simple locations such an outback air strip or a seaside dock and builds a powerful landscape image.
Ross qualified as a graphic artist at the Caulfield Institute of Technology and later went on to study Applied Art at the Prahran Institute. He then worked for more than 25 years as a graphic designer and consultant for advertising agencies. Three years ago, he cut himself free to work on his own art out of his studio in Cheltenham, Victoria.
When working on a piece, Ross begins with the sky and the mood it creates, building layer upon layer, while all the time working forward. He is influenced by his graphics background and his appreciation of the urban landscape and its control of the people who move through it.
He paints with acrylics, accentuating the mood with colours, perspective, angles and the composition. His images are thought provoking in their simplicity, the colours and mood often surreal. Through the juxtaposition of elements of art in the landscape, he points to the character in both and that, in turn, becomes a piece of art. Sometimes, he says, the result is art within art.
Artist Statement:
A surfer from way back, Ross surfs all year round, and in some
ways this was a
precursor to his latter day art career. In summer, he rides the
waves down on
Victoria’s MorningtonPeninsula
and in winter turns his attention to the West
Coast beaches. “I have always liked to draw, but I first began to
dabble in commercial art when I was sixteen years old,” he says. “There was a
surf board manufacturer who employed me to paint his boards and in return, I
got to use his equipment to make my own. It was like the panel van art that was
so popular in the 1980s. “I still do that now, spending a day a week doing surf
board art. I love the culture and the company of the other blokes, although the
art I do on the boards is now more stylized and funky.”
Ross is a family man with two grown up children. His studio is his
shed in
suburban Cheltenham, a Melbourne
suburb. “Every man needs a shed,” he
confesses, “and when I am there painting, it is my own world. I
like to put in
eight hours a day and push my painting. Sometimes I will stay down
there for
sixteen hours if I am on a roll.”
Right now, he is busy positioning himself as an artist by ensuring
that his work is
instantly recognizable - that people will look at it and know
straight away they
are looking at a painting by Ross Wilsmore.
His speciality is landscapes. Using acrylics, he takes his colours
and enhances
the visual by accentuating the moody and compellingly surreal
light effects. The
sky is a feature of his paintings and he always paints it first,
adding layer on
layer and moving forward. The sky seems to dictate the mood of the
painting.
Although his style is distinct and instantly recognizable, he
appreciates that he is
often compared to Jeffrey Smart, the iconic expatriate Australian
painter,
recognised for his modernist depictions of urban landscapes, now
in his 80s and
living in Italy.
While Ross accepts that this is a very flattering comparison and
there may be
some similarity in the ambience of both artists’ work, in his
opinion, however, it
ends there. “I will accept that my paintings may evoke a similar
emotion to
those of Jeffrey Smart,” he says, “However, I believe, my
technique and use of
colour is far more sophisticated.”
His art is dramatic and often surreal. Ross explores the impact of
man upon his
landscape and how each affects and changes the other. So he might
tease with a
modern plane laying in an ancient and barren landscape, or
confront with a
barbed wire, locked gate to a port. The juxtaposition of all
elements in the piece
accentuates the unique character of each individual element.
The surfer in him appreciates nature and the environment, while
his upbringing
in the suburbs opened his eyes to imposed constructed beauty. His
background
in graphics sees him exploring the angles and perspective, with
the results
startlingly stark, simple, beautiful, whimsical and thought
provoking. Of his
recurring theme of art in the landscape that, in turn, becomes
another work, he
says, “Often, in my paintings you find art within art. By saying
that, I mean that
the lines and signs on the road are art in themselves and the way
they are
incorporated into the landscape becomes the composition.”
The winner of two Melbourne Art Director’s Club Awards for
Illustration and
Design, the art of Ross Wilsmore is fast becoming popular and is
already held in
many corporate and private collections. He is finding it difficult
to keep up with
the demand, currently preparing for an exhibition in July.
Ross rarely has the opportunity to interact with other artists
and, by and large,
between searching for that perfect wave and spending hours in his
shed, is a
solo being. “I’m just happy to be,” he says. “There are not many
full time artists
around here and, after painting eight hours a day, I lead a pretty
full life with my
family and my surfing. My art is developing in its own way, so I’m
pleased about
