Damien Minton Gallery

RIGHT TOOLS FOR THE JOB

Of the many great pleasures that occurred as a result of having created Mambo, meeting and having worked with Robert Moore must rate in the top half dozen.

I was introduced to Bob by Sydney gallery owner, Ray Hughes, in 1989, while putting together Mambo’s first exhibition at Ray’s gallery. During one of my visits Ray suggested that I might like to have a look at some of Bob’s work. Why not? Amongst the art I saw that day were two surfboards that Robert had used as a canvas on which to paint, cows.

Having been born on a farm I like to think that I know more about cows than just the fact that they taste good when thrown into a Thai salad. My reaction to the boards was emphatic. This was not the work of some inner-city artist trying his desperate best to be “ironic”, nor were they pretentious. Instead, they were genuinely affectionate portraits of Australian steerage that just happened to be painted on surfboards.

At Mambo, artists were never chosen for their ability to turn a buck. We were only interested in working with artists who were as passionate about their work as we were about Mambo. Bob was one such artist. Whenever I asked him to send us some art it arrived not in an envelope containing two or three pieces but by the kilo. And none of it wasted postage.

Bob also shared our enthusiasm for music (he is both a musician and a producer), cars, surfing- obviously, and humour. Some of that humour can be seen in the titles Bob gives his work: ‘Bitch Magnet’ (the name given to an almost life-size painting of a yellow Monaro that is now ‘parked’ at the QAG) and ‘What a Holden Would Have Cost at the Time of its Release’.

I once asked friend and musician, Martin Armiger, if he had ever come across Bob. He said he had, recording the sound of a shifting spanner bouncing across a concrete floor. Bob has also worked with Neil Finn and Brisbane band, Custard.

In recent years Bob has moved away from the mainstream gallery system choosing instead to control the marketing of his work through sales from his own website and “off the back of his truck”.

This exhibition, ‘Smokey and the grey fergie’, at the Damien Minton Gallery is his first in Sydney for a decade.

Dare Jennings
Director,
Deus exMachina Motorcycles

Born in Brisbane, 1964
Lives in Grafton, New South Wales, Australia

Selected Exhibitions

2007‘Smokey and the Grey Fergie, Damien Minton Gallery, Sydney 2006‘Fire Danger Meter, Heiser Gallery, Brisbane 2004Something Beautiful, Grafton Regional Gallery 2003Something Beautiful, Doggett St Studio, Brisbane 2001Lake Paintings, Doggett Street Studio, Brisbane 2000Cabbage Tree Creek, Ray Hughes Gallery, Sydney 1998Tallow Beach Dogs, Doggett St Studio, Brisbane 1997Zipper, Ray Hughes Gallery, Sydney 1996Western Qld Landscapes, Doggett St Studio, Brisbane 1994Aloha, Ray Hughes Gallery, Sydney 1992Robert Moore, Ray Hughes Gallery, Sydney 1992Robert Moore, Ipswich Regional Art Gallery, Ipswich 1991Colour City Paintings, Ray Hughes Gallery, Sydney 1990Robert Moore and His 33 Country Paintings, Ray Hughes Gallery, Brisbane 1989Blow Your Horn, Ray Hughes Gallery, Sydney 1988Leisure in the Age of Harrisville, Ray Hughes Gallery, Brisbane

Selected Group Exhibitions

2002Jacaranda Aquisitive Drawing Prize , Grafton 2000On The Road – the car in Australian art, Heide, Museum of Modern Art 1999People, Places, Pastimes: Challenging perspectives of Ipswich,Inaugural exhibition, Ipswich Global Arts Link 1998It’s a Guitar shaped World, Tamworth Regional Gallery 1997It’s a Guitar shaped World, Tamworth Regional Gallery 1996It’s a Guitar shaped World, Tamworth Regional Gallery 1995Psychopathia Aesthetica, Mambo Gallery, Sydney 1995Salon des Refuses, S.H. Ervin Gallery, Sydney 1995It’s a Guitar Shaped World, Tamworth Regional Gallery 1994Salon des Refuses, S.H. Ervin Gallery, Sydney 1994Drawing on Inspiration, Ivan Doherty Gallery, Sydney 1994Art Irritates Life, Mambo group exhibition. Toured regional and capital city galleries throughout Australia 1993The Emperor’s New Clothes, Mambo group exhibition, Ray Hughes Gallery, Sydney 1993On The Wall, Gold Coast City Art Gallery, Gold Coast 1990Fourth Australian Sculpture Triennial, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne 199020 Australian Artists, Galleria San Vidal, Venice, Italy; Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane; and Benalla Regional Art Gallery, Victoria, Australia 1990MAMBO, Ray Hughes Gallery, Sydney 1989Victorian Print Workshop Exhibition, Victorian Print Workshop, Melbourne

Collections

National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Australian National Gallery, Canberra
Gold Coast City Art Gallery, Gold Coast
Ipswich Regional Gallery, Ipswich
Holmes à Court Collection, Perth
Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane
Brisbane City Art Gallery, Brisbane
Ipswich Global Arts Link, Ipswich
Grafton Regional Gallery