A SINGLE MIND - Heide Museum of Modern Art single mind: Rick Amor A SINGLE MIND RICK AMOR ... Amor plays guitar and ... recording daily army life and scenes of conflict. 6

EDUCATION KIT A single mind: Rick Amor

A SINGLE MIND RICK AMOR 22 March – 13 July 2008 Education Kit

PART A: Background Information, Glossary and Key Artworks

Rick Amor Self portrait with postcard of Greco Roman bust 2003 oil on canvas 97.0 x 130.0 cm Collection of The University of Queensland Purchased 2005 © Rick Amor

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RICK AMOR’S BIOGRAPHY 1948 On 3 March 1948 Richard Amor is born at Frankston, Victoria, the second child of Irma (née Morris) and Robert Amor, a primary school teacher, amateur artist and woodworker. 1950s Amor is raised near the beach on Long Island, Frankston. He attends the Frankston Primary School and his parents encourage his early talent for drawing and painting. His sister Elizabeth (born 1939), an art student in the late 1950s, introduces him to books on modernist art, and the Italian metaphysical artist Giorgio de Chirico makes a strong impression. 1960–63 Amor attends Frankston Technical School, enjoying art lessons from his teacher John Anson but becoming increasingly unhappy at this sport-orientated school. His mother dies suddenly in August 1961 and Amor and his father move in with his Aunt Jean Amor. Although an extremely unsettled time, Amor begins to paint regularly and takes weekly art classes at the local Peninsula Art Society. 1964–65 Bob Amor builds a house with a studio at Erica Street, Frankston, where Amor lives with his father until 1970. In 1964 Amor enrols in the Certificate of Art course at Caulfield Institute of Technology. The first year is spent at Frankston Technical School, where he is taught by Bruce Fletcher. His second year is based at the Caulfield campus under Fred Cress and Warwick Armstrong. Amor plays guitar and joins an art school jugband. 1966 Amor enrols in an Associate Diploma of Painting at the National Gallery Art School in Melbourne under the tutelage of John Brack, Ian Armstrong, Murray Walker and Marc Clark. Brack in particular is a formative figure, encouraging his students to choose a career as a professional artist but stressing the difficulty of such a life. Amor wins the School’s Hugh Ramsay Portrait Prize. 1967 Amor views an exhibition by former gallery student Jeffrey Bren at Melbourne’s Tolarno Galleries, and Bren becomes a major influence. Amor is awarded equal first prize in the National Gallery Society Drawing Prize judged by Clifton Pugh.

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1968 Amor registers for National Service but is balloted out. He is awarded the last in a long tradition of National Gallery School Travelling Scholarships however, as the stipend is modest, chooses to remain in Victoria and paint full-time. 1969 Amor supplements the Scholarship payments by labouring on a friend’s poultry farm in Mount Eliza. He shows his paintings to Melbourne art dealer Georges Mora who, although not willing to exhibit his work, is very encouraging. 1970 Amor rejoins his old jugband as a guitarist and meets Tina Schifferle,1 the washboard player. In September he moves in with Tina in a shared house in Hawthorn and begins full-time employment at the Public Works Department’s survey section as a field assistant. Amor and Schifferle marry on 27 November. 1971 The Amors move into another shared house in Prospect Hill Road, Surrey Hills, and their first child Lliam is born on 15 May. Amor continues to paint at night and on weekends. John Brack introduces him to Melbourne art dealer Joseph Brown, who purchases two of Amor’s paintings, enabling the family to rent a flat in Burke Road, Balwyn. 1972 Brown commissions Amor to paint his portrait (Portrait of the art dealer Joseph Brown, 1972) and in the course of the sittings suggests that Clifton Pugh could house the family at his artists’ colony Dunmoochin in Cottles Bridge, Victoria. In December the family move to Dunmoochin to house-sit while Pugh is travelling. After Pugh prevails on Brown to support Amor, he offers the artist a modest but welcome retainer: $250 per month for one portrait commission and a choice of four paintings. 1973 By arrangement through Brown, the Amor family move into the housekeeper’s cottage at Sir Daryl and Joan Lindsay’s residence, ‘Mulberry Hill’, in Baxter, Victoria. Amor assists with the general upkeep of the property in return for the cottage, which he also uses as a studio. He begins work for his first solo show. 1974 Amor holds his first solo exhibition at the Joseph Brown Gallery, Melbourne (25 February – 8 March). The Amors’ second child, Zoe, is born on 23 March. 1In 1983 Tina Amor (née Schifferle) changed the spelling of her name to Teana.

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1975–76 Amor’s professional relationship with Brown ends abruptly. Amor finds work illustrating five English educational comics for Macmillan Publishing Company, which he compiles with his wife Tina, and receives a Visual Arts Board Grant from the Australia Council. The dismissal of the Whitlam government in November marks the commencement of his involvement with the Australian Labour Party and the Trade Union movement. 1977–81 Amor produces many posters, cartoons, banners and drawings for the Trade Union, as well as book illustrations, leaving little time for painting. In 1977 he is selected for the Archibald Prize at the Art Gallery of New South Wales for his portrait of Joan Lindsay (Portrait of Joan Lindsay, 1976, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra). In 1980 he receives a further Visual Arts Board Grant from the Australia Council and is appointed official artist in residence at Trades Hall. Around 1981 Amor starts to teach life drawing classes at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology and Pentridge Gaol. He forms a firm friendship with artist Andrew Southall and they often accompany each other on plein air painting expeditions. Amor also meets Stephen Murray-Smith, the founder and editor of the literary journal Overland. The magazine becomes an important outlet for his illustrations and he joins the magazine’s Board, serving until 1998. 1982 Amor reaches an important turning point in his work, producing Nightmare (1982), and he begins to distance himself from politics to concentrate on painting. Following a difficult period, Amor and his wife separate in September. He meets art dealer William Nuttall at Niagara Galleries who agrees to represent him. Amor starts to produce woodcut prints. 1983 Amor creates his first ‘running man’ images based on memories of the Frankston Pier. He illustrates Edgar Allan Poe’s The Raven for Gryphon Press, and produces linocut images for the novel These are my People by Alan Marshall. After his initial solo show at Niagara Galleries (28 July – 2 August), he goes on to exhibit with the gallery annually. 1984 Continues plein air painting excursions with Andrew Southall and meets artist Genny Haasz. She accompanies Amor on drawing trips around the Melbourne docklands and encourages him to ‘free up’ his technique. Amor’s father dies in June. Two months later he meets Megan Williams, his future partner.

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1985 In February Amor makes his first visit to the UK to exhibit in Four Australian Artists with Clifton Pugh, David Rankin and Andrew Southall. The exhibition is organised by Adriane Strampp at Crane Kalman Galleries, London (21 March – 13 April). Amor travels to Paris and Amsterdam and visits Somerset in England, where he paints with Pugh. Returning to Australia in May, Pugh offers Amor a house at Dunmoochin, which he renovates to add a large studio. 1986 Amor makes frequent outdoor painting trips with Southall and Pugh. His studies of Williamstown and areas around the port fuel a period of sustained painting in the studio. 1987 Amor and Southall exhibit recent paintings in the joint exhibition, Williamstown: The Bay, The Port, at Niagara Galleries and United Artists Gallery, Melbourne (6 – 23 May). Amor travels to north-west New South Wales and western Queensland with Pugh and others, following the track of Australian explorers Burke and Wills. He is selected for the Archibald Prize for his portrait of Malcolm Turnbull, the beginning of his regular involvement with this prize. 1988 Amor wins the National Australia Bank Art Prize, providing him with his first period of financial security. He visits south-west Queensland and north-west New South Wales on painting trips. Port Jackson Press commission him to contribute to a print portfolio in memory of Overland editor Stephen Murray-Smith, prompting his return to etching. 1989 Amor produces his first sculptures. He and Williams travel to London, Paris, Giverny and south-west England. They visit Combe Sydenham, once his mother’s family estate in Somerset, and he makes numerous sketches and watercolours of the area. 1990 In March a survey exhibition, Rick Amor: Paintings and Drawings 1983–1990, is organised by the Warrnambool Art Gallery and tours Victoria until 1991. Williams moves in with Amor at Dunmoochin. Clifton Pugh dies in October. 1991 Amor is awarded the Visual Arts/Craft Board (VACB) Barcelona Studio in Spain from July to November. During the residency he takes side trips to the Pyrenees and the Costa Brava. He and Williams also travel to Paris and Normandy and return home via London and New York.

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1992–93 Paintings based on studies from Spain are shown in Amor’s annual solo exhibition at Niagara Galleries (26 April – 16 May 1992). In October Rick Amor & the Graphic Arts: Selected Prints 1968–1991, opens at Bendigo Art Gallery and tours Victoria and Tasmania until 1994. Amor travels in China and on his return to Australia purchases a property with Williams in Alphington. 1994 Amor and Williams move to Alphington. He begins informal outdoor painting excursions with friends every Friday morning. 1995 Amor holds his first solo exhibition of sculpture at Rex Irwin Art Dealer, Sydney (4 – 22 July). 1996 Amor is commissioned by Maudie Palmer, then Director of the Museum of Modern Art at Heide, to produce a large sculpture of the running man for the Sculpture Park (Running man, 1996–2003, Heide Museum of Modern Art Collection). Amor is awarded the VACB Greene Street Studio in New York and travels there with Williams via Los Angeles and San Francisco. A large number of studies are made for future paintings. He and Williams return to Australia via London, Edinburgh and Venice. 1997 A series of paintings from impressions of New York are exhibited at Tony Palmer Fine Art, Sydney (10 – 26 October). 1998 Amor undertakes an artist’s residency at the College of Fine Arts, University of New South Wales in Sydney. 1999 Amor and Williams spend January in New York and attend Allen Ginsberg’s last public performance at St Mark’s Church. A Jasper Johns exhibition makes an impression and Amor discovers the art of the late American painter Edwin Dickinson. John Brack dies in February. In September, Amor is appointed by the Australian War Memorial as an official war artist to cover the peacekeeping mission in East Timor. He flies to Dili, via Canberra and Darwin, and travels in East Timor, recording daily army life and scenes of conflict.

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2000 In March Rick Amor: Official War Artist in East Timor opens at the Australian War Memorial, Canberra (2 March – 2 April). Amor is awarded the VACB London Studio in England from March to June. He and Williams also travel to Scotland, Ireland, France and Italy, and visit Arezzo and Monterchi to view frescoes by early Renaissance painter Piero della Francesca. 2001 The Solitary Watcher: Rick Amor and his Art, a monograph written by the poet and art critic Gary Catalano, is published by The Miegunyah Press. 2002 Rick Amor and Sculpture, a survey of Amor’s sculpture, is mounted by the Benalla Art Gallery, Victoria (16 March – 8 May). In September Rick Amor: The sea opens at the Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery, Victoria, reviewing Amor’s interest in marine painting (24 September – 27 October). The National Portrait Gallery commission him to paint a portrait of Nobel Prize winner Peter Dougherty. 2003 Amor holds his twentieth anniversary exhibition with Niagara Galleries. He and Williams house-sit for friend and fellow Australian artist Jeffrey Smart in Tuscany. They travel extensively in the region to view frescoes by early Renaissance painters and visit Orvieto and Urbino in Umbria, then Rome. To mark the tenth anniversary of the Friday painting group that Amor initiated in 1993, 500 Fridays: contemporary ‘plein air’ painting opens at the Geelong Art Gallery in February and tours Victoria until 2004. 2004 A review of Amor’s self portraiture, along with that of artists Peter Churcher, Lewis Miller, Stewart MacFarlane and Kevin Lincoln, is presented in The Painted Self at Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery, Victoria (13 July – 29 August). Following a brief period of ill health, Amor is diagnosed with Myelodysplastic Syndrome (MDS), a disease of the red blood cells. 2005 Amor begins treatment at the Peter McCallum Cancer Centre in March. In May Rick Amor: Standing in the Shadows opens at the McClelland Gallery + Sculpture Park, Victoria, surveying his painting and sculpture (8 May – 26 June). Amor undergoes a successful bone marrow transplant in June and is discharged from hospital only six weeks later. He begins painting immediately and is commissioned by the National Portrait Gallery to paint General Peter Cosgrove, head of INTERFET in East Timor while Amor was a war artist.

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2006 Amor travels to New York to celebrate the end of an arduous year, visiting a Samuel Palmer exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the refurbished Museum of Modern Art. He undertakes a portrait commission of former High Court Judge and Governor-General of Australia Sir Ninian Stephen. 2007 With artists Philip Davey and Kevin Lincoln, Amor visits Tasmania to paint. The Australian Print Workshop invites him to work at the Venice Print Workshop in Italy. He undertakes a three-week residency in June alongside artists Jon Cattapan, Jan Senbergs and Louise Weaver. The prints are later exhibited at the Australian Print Workshop in Fondamenti Nove (24 November 2007 – 2 February 2008). In November Amor wins the McClelland Award for Sculpture. Further reading Gary Catalano, The Solitary Watcher: Rick Amor and his Art, The Miegunyah Press, Melbourne, 2001 Gavin Fry, Rick Amor, The Beagle Press, Sydney, 2008 A full exhibition history and bibliography is available at: www.niagara-galleries.com.au Chronology taken from: Linda Short, A single mind: Rick Amor, exh. cat., Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne, 2008, pp. 136–147.

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http://www.niagara-galleries.com.au/


EXHIBITION OVERVIEW A SINGLE MIND: RICK AMOR Introduction Over a period of forty years Melbourne artist Rick Amor (b. 1948) has established a reputation as one of Australia’s most significant contemporary figurative artists. This survey of Amor’s paintings and works on paper reveals the motivating forces behind his art, examining the evolution of themes and images arising from his deeply personal and singular vision of the surrounding world.

Almost from the moment Amor began his professional career he showed a reluctance to modify his ideas and purpose to suit prevailing artistic trends or movements. Instead he sought a path that would largely be the progress of his own making.

A single mind charts the development of Amor’s imagery from the 1960s to today, surveying his urban and coastal landscapes, portraits and self portraits. A less familiar aspect of Amor’s oeuvre is also presented in his formative works of the 1960s and 1970s, many of which are on public display for the first time. In this period the artist began to define his signature modes of subject and style, which he has continued to expand in his work to date. 1960s and 1970s As a student of Melbourne’s National Gallery School from 1966 to 1968 Amor began to determine his personal style. While many of his contemporaries pursued international modes of abstraction, or pop-inspired figuration, Amor responded to other interests. A spectrum of sources from the history of art assisted his search for a unique artistic voice. Influences at this time included early European, American and British modernists such as Pablo Picasso, Stuart Davis and William Roberts, and the imprint of Amor’s teacher John Brack was also strong.

The subjects that Amor explored in his student and post art school paintings established important themes that have endured in his work, most notably the belief that art should deal with life. However, as is true for many artists, it was during this period that Amor experimented most spontaneously with ideas and techniques. Works from the 1960s and 1970s reveal an essential process of discovery and change that led Amor to his mature vision. 1980s For Amor the 1980s heralded an important period of artistic growth. Many of the paintings he produced during this decade register transformative points in his working methods and approach to subject matter. Inspired to make works of a symbolic and monumental nature, Amor’s preoccupations at this time shifted from a study of the external realm to an inner, psychological scrutiny. He began to draw

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on imagery from personal experience and memory, and the emotional landscape of his childhood emerges as a dominant theme. A freedom and dynamism also materialised in Amor’s technique as he searched for a suitable mode of artistic expression to articulate these new concerns. He replaced the high-keyed colour and lively collage effects of his earlier works with a darker palette, looser brushwork and unsettling mood. 1990s to today Amor’s tendency to revisit and extend a subject has persisted throughout his career. The repertoire of themes and motifs that evolved in his early works, from the 1960s to the mid-1980s, find their fullest expression in his later imagery. Among Amor’s foremost and continuing concerns are the expressive possibilities of the landscape and urban life. Isolated coastal settings and desolate cityscapes inhabited by solitary figures are recurrent subjects in his paintings from the 1990s onwards. These scenes are translated into dramatic and poetic images that are capable of suggesting complex emotional states or encouraging philosophical contemplation of the human condition. As Amor’s imagery has increased in formal and psychological complexity, the motivations behind the people or occurrences that he presents have become progressively ambiguous. His scenarios resonate evocatively with potential meaning, yet there is no fixed reading of these images. Instead Amor encourages speculation, weaving open-ended narratives that are loaded with suggestion, anxiety and mystery. Self portraits and portraits Amor has shown a long engagement with portraiture and the intriguing realm of self-representation. The self portraits on display present a chronological record of his shifting conceptions of selfhood, ranging from the intimate and personal to public declarations of his own position as a professional artist. With increasing artistic confidence Amor has examined his own image as both a valuable exercise in the straightforward documentation of physical appearance, and as a complex search for self-identification. In the artist’s own words, self-study has provided him with ‘a handy model’ that in turn allows for ‘fixing a time [in life] and answering questions, like, “Who are you?”’

Amor’s ability to capture naturalistic likeness is also evident in his accomplished role as a portraitist, having undertaken many important formal commissions since the 1970s. Alongside his portraits of significant Australian public figures, Amor’s subjects have frequently included his family and friends. His interest in the creative representation of human character is revealed by his ongoing fascination with the painted portrait.

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Drawings and prints Drawing and printmaking play a central role in Amor’s art and have been integral to the development of his painting since the 1960s. The selection of prints and drawings on display derive from the large number of works on paper that he produces both in the studio and directly from nature, or en plein air.

Amor’s skill as a draughtsman underpins the technical precision of his larger oil paintings, which are executed from a synthesis of smaller sketches and preparatory works. These graphic investigations range from pencil and pen and ink documentations recorded in sketchbooks to detailed preliminary studies and expressive, large-scale charcoal drawings.

Often describing himself as a ‘painter-printmaker’, Amor has pursued most printmaking techniques and to date has produced almost three hundred editions. Encompassing all of his major subjects, his prints are used as ‘a way into paintings’ and his painting as ‘a way into prints’. Printmaking allows Amor to distil his conception of a painting, refining his compositions through a careful reworking of the process. As demonstrated by the examples shown here, the most monumental of Amor’s imagery operates just as effectively on an intimate scale. Overview written by Linda Short, assistant curator, Heide Museum of Modern Art, for the exhibition A single mind: Rick Amor, 22 March – 13 July 2008.

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GLOSSARY OF ART TERMINOLOGY Allegory: Subject matter presented as a narrative in which the characters, symbols and/or events signify a deeper, hidden meaning or tale. Architecture: The design or style of a building. Aquatint: An intaglio method of printmaking, producing tone that imitates the washes of watercolour. A metal plate of copper, zinc or steel is covered with a finely grained resist of resin dust, which is shaken over the plate and then fused by heat. This creates a rough surface texture so that the plate holds ink. The artist repeatedly immerses the plate in an acid bath to corrode different areas, progressively ‘stopping out’ (protecting from acid) any areas that have achieved the desired tonality, usually with varnish. A light tone requires a short time in the bath and a darker tone a longer period. The remaining ground is then cleaned off the plate. The plate is inked and then wiped back so that only the etched lines contain ink. The plate is then printed on moistened paper through a high-pressure press. Chiaroscuro: An Italian term that translates as ‘light-dark’ in English. It refers to the technique of modelling form by gradations of light and shade in a drawing, painting or sculpture. It is most commonly discussed when the artist has used strong tonal contrast. Composition: The way that objects and/or visual elements are arranged within an artwork. Conté: A drawing medium made of compressed powdered graphite or charcoal mixed with a wax or clay base. Charcoal: A black drawing medium created by burning sticks of wood (usually willow or linden) without the presence of oxygen. Charcoal smudges easily and is often adhered to paper through a sprayed fixative. Charcoal is used in both sketches and finished works. Draughtsmanship: The ability to draw competently. It usually refers to skilled handling of drawing media and realistic depiction of objects. Edition: In printmaking, the number of prints taken from one plate. Most artists produce a limited edition of prints, normally signed and numbered to indicate the unique number and totality of prints respectively, e.g. 43/100. Etching: An intaglio method of printmaking that produces lines. A metal plate of copper, zinc or steel is covered with a waxy ground that is resistant to acid, such as bitumen. Using a pointed etching needle the ground is scratched off where a line is

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http://213.121.208.204/collections/glossary/definition.jsp?entryId=435


to appear in the finished piece, exposing the bare metal. A strong acid is used to corrode unprotected parts of the metal surface after the plate is cut. The remaining ground is then cleaned off the plate. The plate is inked and then wiped so that only the etched lines contain ink. The plate is then printed on moistened paper through a high-pressure press. En plein air: A French expression meaning ‘in the open air’; used to describe the act of painting in the outside environment rather than indoors. Focal point: The point of interest or area to which the eye is drawn or focused in a work of art. Figurative: Art that represents the human figure. It can also mean art that is representational. Formal elements/qualities: The visual elements in an artwork, such as colour, line, shape, size, tone, texture, composition and scale. Formalism: The aesthetic or interpretive emphasis on form (as opposed to content) in art. Golden section: Also called the golden ratio, golden mean or divine proportion. A compositional device based on traditional proportion where a fixed length is divided in two so that the ratio of the shorter portion to the longer portion equals the ratio of the longer portion to the entire length. It is not able to be expressed as a finite number but, mathematically, it is approximately 1.618 or 8:13, and expressed as the ratio b/a = a/(a+b). The golden section occurs frequently in geometry and nature and, as such, is said to possess beauty and harmony.

Image sourced from: local.wasp.uwa.edu.au/~pbourke/other/miscnumbers

Grisaille: A monochromatic painting in shades of grey, with the addition of another colour (usually brown/sepia). Grisaille was originally used by Renaissance artists to depict or imitate relief sculpture in paintings.

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http://local.wasp.uwa.edu.au/~pbourke/other/miscnumbers/


Impasto: Thickly applied paint.

Intaglio: Any form of printmaking in which the image is produced by incising into the printing plate. The incised line or area retains the ink and creates the printed image. Intaglio methods include etching and aquatint.

Motif: A dominant feature or theme in a work of art (often recurrent).

Media: The materials used to create an artwork. Mezzotint: An intaglio printmaking process that means ‘half-tone’ in Italian. The surface of a metal plate is roughened by a spur-like tool called a ‘rocker’. When inked, this surface prints a rich, velvety black. The image is created by smoothing areas through burnishing and scraping to produce lighter tones (as the plate holds less ink). Monochromatic: One colour with the addition of black and/or white. Narrative: A story. In art it may be the representation of a story or events that take place over time (but may appear compressed into a single image). Neo-Classicism: A revivalist art movement of the eighteenth century that looked toward the values and style of ancient Greek and Roman civilisations. It privileged proportion, order, symmetry, serenity and beauty. Oeuvre: An artist’s entire body of work. Portrait: An image of a person that interprets their appearance and/or personality. Perspective: A system for representing three-dimensional space in a two-dimensional artwork. Linear perspective or depth is achieved by making parallel lines appear to meet at a horizon line, or by making objects appear smaller and less detailed as they ‘recede’ into the ‘distance’. Relief print: An image created through a printmaking process (such as woodcut), where the raised surface/original face is that which holds the ink and is printed, with the carved areas retaining the colour of the printed surface/paper. Representational: Art that has recognisable subject matter, usually based on ‘real life’. Romanticism: An art movement that was popular in the eighteenth century. It privileged emotion and imagination over rationalism, realism and order. The sublime in landscape was prominent subject matter.

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Realism: An art movement that originated in mid nineteenth-century France. It was pioneered by the painters Gustave Courbet and Jean Francois Millet. In its original sense, it implied an interest in everyday subject matter (rather than religious themes) as well as the accurate depiction of nature. Naturalism is the more accurate term used to describe the illusion of reality in art. Often these words are used interchangeably. Sublime: Nature’s ability to inspire awe, humility and terror, usually conveyed through infinite scale, e.g. imposing mountains juxtaposed with a small human figure. Subject matter: The objects, forms or events represented in a work of art. Technique: The way an artist uses media (art materials). Tone: Darkness and lightness in colour. Woodcut: A relief printing technique in which an image is carved into the surface of a block of wood with a knife or chisel. The raised or ‘un-carved’ areas are those that hold the ink, with the carved areas remaining the colour of the printed surface.

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AMOR’S INFLUENCES AND REFERENCES Amor finds visual inspiration in classical and modern art. In particular, he studies the formal elements of individual artist’s work, such as Vilhelm Hammershøi’s colour palette or Nicolas Poussin’s classical style of composition. Some of the artists whose work he admires include: Visual Artists

Australian John Brack Albert Tucker European Michael Andrews Francis Bacon Edgar Degas Piero della Francesca Alberto Giacometti Francesco Goya David Hockney Vilhelm Hammershøi

Fernand Léger Giorgio Morandi Pablo Picasso Nicolas Poussin James Pryde Auguste Rodin Jacques Villon

Rick Amor often draws inspiration for the subject matter and mood of his paintings from literature and film. Common themes that Amor responds to include alienation, disquiet, suspense, turbulence, myth, existentialism and ruminations on the human condition. The following texts and films have been key influences: Literature

TS Eliot: The Wasteland (1922); Prufrock (1917) WB Yeats’ poetry WH Auden’s poetry Percy Bysshe Shelley: Osymandias (1818) Franz Kafka: The Trial (1924); The Castle (1926) George Orwell: Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949) Ancient mythology

Film

Orson Welles: The Trial (1962) David Lynch: Lost Highway (1997); Mulholland Drive (2001) Roman Polanski: The Tenant (1976)

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ARTWORKS

Rick Amor Morning train 1968 oil on canvas on composition board 80.2 x 101.0 cm VCA Art Collection University of Melbourne Gift of the artist 2002 © Rick Amor

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Rick Amor Tina ironing 1973 oil on canvas 122.0 x 97.0 cm Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Hobart Purchased 1974 © Rick Amor

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Rick Amor The runner 1988 oil on canvas 76.0 x 110.3 cm Private collection, Melbourne Courtesy Niagara Galleries, Melbourne © Rick Amor

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Rick Amor Running man 1996–2003 bronze 180.0 x 175.0 x 65.0 cm Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne Purchased with funds donated by an anonymous donor and Christine Collingwood 1995 Photographer: John Gollings, 2008 © Rick Amor

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Rick Amor Morning in the outlying districts 2003 oil on canvas 176.8 x 196.4 cm TarraWarra Museum of Art, Victoria Gift of Eva and Marc Besen 2006 © Rick Amor

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Rick Amor Studio with a covered painting 2006 oil on canvas 117.0 x 130.0 cm Private collection, Melbourne Courtesy Niagara Galleries, Melbourne © Rick Amor EDUCATION KIT A single mind: Rick Amor 22 March – 13 July 2008 Written by Stephanie Karavasilis, Education Officer, Heide Museum of Modern Art © Heide Museum of Modern Art, the artist and authors

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PART B: VELS Art Activities – Levels 3–6


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JUNIOR PRIMARY ART ACTIVITIES – VELS LEVEL 3 EXPLORING AND RESPONDING Artwork analysis: Morning train (1968), oil on canvas on board List everything that you can see in Morning train (1968). How many people can you see in the painting? ________________________ List the three shapes that Amor has used the most. What kinds of colours has Amor used? (Circle) Bright Dull Light Dark Write down the three main colours Amor has used. What texture is the paint? (Circle) Smooth Rough Bumpy Do the objects look realistic? (Circle) Yes No Where do you think the train is taking the people? Why? ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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Why do you think the men are wearing neck ties? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ What is the most interesting part of the artwork? Why? ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Imagine you are one of the people in Morning train (1968). Use the details of the painting to write a story that describes the characters and where they are going. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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Artwork analysis: The runner (1988), oil on canvas Write a detailed description of what you can see in The runner (1988). ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ How does this painting make you feel? Why? ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ What kinds of colours has Amor used? (Circle) Bright Dull Light Dark Write down the three main colours Amor has used. What texture is the paint? (Circle) Smooth Rough Bumpy Do the objects look realistic? (Circle) Yes No What time of day do you think it is? Why? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________

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Describe the pose of the man. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Do you think the man is running towards or away from something? Give reasons for your answer. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Do you like this artwork? Give reasons for your answer. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Write a story called The runner inspired by Amor’s painting. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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Compare Compare Morning train (1968) and The runner (1988) using the table below. List the similarities and differences between the two works. Qualities unique to Morning train (1968)

Qualities unique to The runner (1988)

Similarities between the two artworks

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MIDDLE YEARS ART ACTIVITIES – VELS LEVEL 4 & 5 EXPLORING AND RESPONDING Artwork analysis: Morning train (1968), oil on canvas on board Shade the Art Elements bar graph relative to Morning train (1968). Show the individual importance of each of the art elements in the artwork’s overall composition (1 = Low importance, 10 = High importance). Art Elements

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In the boxes provided use adjectives to describe Morning train (1968).

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Use your list of adjectives to assist you in writing a description of what you see, think and feel when you observe this work. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Describe Amor’s technique. How has he applied the paint to the canvas? ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ What mood is captured in Morning train (1968)? Explain your answer by referring to the imagery, style and colour. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ What is the focal point of Morning train (1968)? How does Amor direct your attention to this part of the painting? ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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What do you think this artwork is about? ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Artwork analysis: Self portrait with postcard of Greco Roman bust (2003), oil on canvas Shade the Art Elements bar graph relative to Self portrait with postcard of Greco Roman bust (2003). Show the individual importance of each of the art elements in the artwork’s overall composition (1 = Low importance, 10 = High importance). Art Elements

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In the boxes provided use adjectives to describe Self portrait with postcard of Greco Roman bust (2003). Use your list of adjectives to assist you in writing a description of what you see, think and feel when you observe this work. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Describe Amor’s technique. How has he applied the paint to the canvas? ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ What clues are there that this work is a portrait of an artist? ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ What type of person has Amor presented himself as? ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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SECONDARY ART ACTIVITIES – VELS LEVEL 6 EXPLORING AND RESPONDING Artwork analysis: Morning train (1968), oil on canvas on board Shade the Art Elements bar graph relative to Morning train (1968). Show the individual importance of each of the art elements in the artwork’s overall composition (1 = Low importance, 10 = High importance). Art Elements

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________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Describe the composition of Morning train (1968). How have the elements been arranged? ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ What is the focal point of the artwork? How does Amor direct your attention to this part of the painting? ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Amor painted Morning train (1968) when he was still a student. He was influenced by his teacher, the artist John Brack. Research the work of Brack and compare his painting Collins St, 5pm (1955) with Amor’s Morning train (1968). Write an analysis that outlines the similarities and differences in style, technique and subject matter between these two paintings. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ What do you think Amor is communicating about modern life in Morning train (1968)? Answer with reference to elements in the work. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________

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Artwork analysis: The runner (1988), oil on canvas Shade the Art Elements bar graph relative to The runner (1988). Show the individual importance of each of the art elements in the artwork’s overall composition (1 = Low importance, 10 = High importance). Art Elements

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What mood is captured in The runner (1988)? Explain your answer by referring to the imagery and colour. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________

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Describe Amor’s technique. How has he applied the paint to the canvas? ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Describe the composition of The runner (1988). How have the elements been arranged? ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ What is the focal point of the artwork? How does Amor direct your attention to this part of the painting? ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ The running man figure first appeared in Amor’s work in 1983, and he has developed the motif throughout his career. (Amor’s bronze Running man (1996–2005) is on permanent display in the Connie Kimberley Sculpture Park, Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne.) What do you think the running man might symbolise? ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Amor returns to images of the pier and sea, which are inspired by his memories of the beach at Long Island, Frankston, where he grew up. Amor also admits to dreaming about the sea frequently. Look closely at Amor’s depiction of the sea in The runner (1988). Why do you think he has painted it this way? What might be the significance of this approach? ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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Artwork analysis: Morning in the outlying districts (2003), oil on canvas Shade the Art Elements bar graph relative to Morning in the outlying districts (2003). Show the individual importance of each of the art elements in the artwork’s overall composition (1 = Low importance, 10 = High importance). Art Elements

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________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ What is the focal point of the artwork? How does Amor direct your attention to this part of the painting? ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ What do you think Morning in the outlying districts (2003) is about? Consider Amor’s use of scale, architecture and tone. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Why do you think Amor depicted the figures so small in relation to the buildings? ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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Look closely at the various studies for Morning in the outlying districts (2003). Write down the process Amor uses in working toward a large-scale painting, step-by-step. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ What variations occur as Amor develops the work from a pencil sketch to a charcoal drawing to an oil painting? ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Why do you think Amor works so methodically when composing a work? ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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Post-visit: CREATING AND MAKING ACTIVITIES

• In his early career Amor was influenced by his teacher, the artist John Brack. Choose an artist whose work you admire and create a work in their style, using your own interests as subject matter.

• In the 1970s Amor made many paintings of his family. Use your family

members as subject matter for a series of paintings. You may wish to work in an abstract or representational style.

• Use an unsettling dream as the basis of a painting. Focus on psychological

or unusual imagery so as to create an eerie atmosphere. Keep your palette dark to enhance the mood.

• Create a self portrait that focuses on capturing your unique qualities and

variations in tone. Use a mirror or photograph to observe facial features.

• Create an artwork that gives the feeling of a narrative. You may wish to use events in your own life or those from a book as starting points.

• Choose one of Amor’s central motifs (listed below) and present your own

interpretation of the subject’s qualities. You may like to brainstorm these qualities in a concept map first and/or collect images from newspapers as reference. Use this motif as the basis of a series of works created in a range of traditional materials: pencil, charcoal, lino print and paint.

- businessman - fugitive - waiter - dog

• Amor often uses memories of his past as the basis of his imagery. Use a

memory from your past – such as your first holiday or teacher – as subject matter for a painting.

• Amor often looks to film and literature for inspiration. Use the characters or

mood of your favourite movie or book as the basis of an artwork.

• In the last decade, Amor has used classical architecture to structure his paintings. Find or take a photograph of a traditional building, like a museum or Victorian office building, and use an unusual or dramatic angle as the basis of a large-scale painting or drawing.

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• Amor often combines his memories and observations of places and people (both from photographs and from real life) to create his paintings. Create a hybrid landscape with a solitary figure using this process.

• Amor works methodically on his artworks. His working drawings and notes

are usually made in sketchbooks, and he often trials his composition and images in a series of sketches, prints and tonal studies. Use this process to create a folio of work based on a specific theme.

• Amor often composes his paintings using the golden section, and grids up

his sketches on canvas before painting. Research these processes and create a painting using these methods.

EDUCATION KIT A single mind: Rick Amor 22 March – 13 July 2008 Written by Stephanie Karavasilis, Education Officer, Heide Museum of Modern Art © Heide Museum of Modern Art, the artist and authors

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PART C: VCE Art Activities


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VCE ART ACTIVITIES UNIT 1, Area of Study 1: Developing ideas and skills UNIT 3, Area of Study 1: Investigation and interpretation Investigation and trialling of materials, techniques, working methods and themes Rick Amor works methodically on his artworks. He compiles most of his working drawings and notations in notebooks and sketchbooks, and often trials his compositions and images in a series of sketches, prints and tonal studies, adjusting and refining the images at each stage. Amor researches and records the palettes and compositions of works by artists who he admires, and uses a combination of memory, photographs and plein air sketches to develop ideas for his paintings. He sometimes brainstorms titles for his paintings in lists, which help to inspire his imagery. Amor often returns to themes and motifs, but re-works them to produce new compositions and images. Case Study: Morning in the outlying districts (2003), oil on canvas Amor’s artistic process is a useful way to approach the development of a VCE folio. Using Morning in the outlying districts (2003) as a case study, undertake these activities to prepare for the creation of your own folio. Theory

1. Look closely at the various studies for Morning in the outlying districts (2003) in Amor’s sketchbooks and the canvasses on display. Write down the step-by-step process Amor uses when he is planning a large-scale painting.

2. What variations occur as Amor develops the work from ink sketches to a

charcoal drawing to the grisaille and oil paintings?

3. Why do you think Amor works so methodically?

4. What formal elements does Amor concentrate on in Morning in the outlying districts (2003)?

5. What materials and processes might you adopt from Amor’s practice for

your own folio? Why?

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Practice

1. Explore the characteristics of a range of black and white media, such as pen, pencil, conté, charcoal, ink, pastel and paint. Practice depicting tone by trialling a range of techniques, such as cross-hatching, rendering, smudging and pointillism.

2. Investigate the qualities of a range of painting media on different grounds,

such as oil, acrylic, gouache and watercolour on canvas, paper, hessian, glass and cardboard. Record the outcomes and processes in your sketchbook.

3. Investigate the golden section and use these principles to compose a range

of urban landscape drawings or paintings.

4. Collect reproductions of classical or neo-classical architecture and, using cropping, sketch a range of dramatic viewpoints.

5. Choose an interesting building and take photographs of it at different times

of day, focusing on the variations in shadows. Use this as the basis of a painting, working from sketches to tonal studies, to a completed painting in a style similar to that of Amor.

6. Use the inherent geometry in buildings as the basis of a series of abstract

studies.

7. Produce a series of studies that explore the idea of distorted scale.

8. Use the idea of looming shapes and strong contrasts in tone as the basis of a series of studies.

9. Use the idea of narrative as a theme. You may wish to use events in your

own life or those from a book as starting points.

10. Create a series of hybrid landscapes with a solitary figure by combining your own memories and observations.

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UNIT 3, Area of Study 2: Interpreting art Using the artworks in the exhibition and those reproduced in Part A of this Education Kit, answer the questions below. Use the commentaries to assist you. Formal interpretation framework

1. Compare the style and technique of one of Amor’s early works, Tina ironing (1973), with the more recent Studio with a covered painting (2006).

2. In his early career Amor was influenced by his teacher, the artist John Brack.

Research the work of Brack and compare his paintings with Amor’s 1970s works. Write an analysis that outlines the similarities and differences in style, technique and subject matter between the two artists.

3. Describe Amor’s use of colour, tone and space in The runner (1988). How

does this contribute to the mood and meaning of the artwork?

4. Describe the composition of Morning in the outlying districts (2003). How have the elements been arranged? What is the focal point of the artwork? How does Amor direct your attention to this part of the painting?

5. Describe Amor’s use of scale in Morning in the outlying districts (2003).

How does this contribute to the mood and meaning of the artwork?

6. What Romantic and classical elements are evident in Morning in the outlying districts (2003)? Why would Amor have chosen to reference these styles?

7. Describe the formal shifts that have occurred in Amor’s works between the

1970s and now. Focus on style, technique colour and composition.

8. How do the formal elements of Amor’s work ‘suggest that behind prosaic realities something else is lurking’? Use at least two artworks to support your point of view.

COMMENTARIES ‘While many of his contemporaries pursued international modes of abstraction, or pop-inspired figuration, [Amor’s] own interests reflected less current trends, emulating artists whose outlooks he felt coincided with his own. His teacher John Brack was a formative figure.’ Linda Short, ‘“A single statement of a single mind”’ in A single mind: Rick Amor, exh. cat., Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne, 2008.

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‘The initial concept or field sketch is first overlaid with a grid of 90° and 45° lines, then copied and enlarged into one or more secondary drawings before being again grid-transferred to canvas. From this first small painting (the modello of academic practice), Amor then works the picture up, occasionally via a mid-size version, to the large, final, finished work. At every stage of this process the composition, the tonal and chromatic balance is re-worked, adjusted, refined.’ David Hansen, ‘Vacant Possession’ in A single mind: Rick Amor, exh. cat., Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne, 2008. Each element is carefully selected for its formal qualities and its ability to contribute to the emotional readings of the work, then carefully and formally arranged, often following traditional principles such as the “golden mean” to build both subliminal and conscious responses to the work.’ Robert Lindsay, Rick Amor: Standing in the Shadows, exh. cat., McClelland Gallery + Sculpture Park, Langwarrin, Victoria, 2005. ‘I take photographs, make drawings, bring them back [to the studio], combine them, pull them apart.’ Rick Amor, quoted in Chris Beck, ‘Master works’, The Age, 26 July 2003. ‘Rick Amor often uses a combination of images from his photo albums, each element selected for its ability to add to the emotional and visual resonance of the final composition.’ Robert Lindsay, Rick Amor: Standing in the Shadows, exh. cat., McClelland Gallery + Sculpture Park, Langwarrin, Victoria, 2005. ‘Rick Amor locates his art within a Romantic tradition of painting, but with an inherent dichotomy, for his approach to the formalist construction of his works reflects a Classicist cerebral allegiance to structure and technique.’ Robert Lindsay, Rick Amor: Standing in the Shadows, exh. cat., McClelland Gallery + Sculpture Park, Langwarrin, Victoria, 2005. Psychoanalysis framework

1. Discuss the ways in which Amor’s childhood in Long Island, Frankston is reflected in his work. What themes and emotions does Amor tend to focus on? What could be the reasons for this?

2. The central figure in Amor’s work Tina Ironing (1973) depicts his first wife

Tina. What do you think Amor is communicating about his domestic situation in this artwork?

3. Where is there evidence of Amor’s use of dreams in his artworks? Reference

two works in your response.

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4. What mood is evident in The runner (1988)? Discuss with reference to Amor’s preoccupations and influences as referenced in the commentaries.

5. How has Amor presented himself in Self portrait with postcard of Greco

Roman bust (2003)? What emotion is evident? What is the significance of the white shirt and postcard?

6. What do you think Amor is saying about his role as an artist in Studio with a

covered painting (2006)? What is the significance of the covered canvas? COMMENTARIES ‘I dream about the sea all the time. It’s always dramatic. There’s [sic] dark clouds and rough seas and the feeling that something is about to happen. There is a perceived threat.’ Rick Amor, quoted in Chris Johnston, ‘Secrets of the sea’, The Age, 27 September 2002. ‘[In 1982] I began to paint subjects that I found personal significance in, especially the sea. I rediscovered my childhood.’ Rick Amor, quoted in Chris Johnston, ‘Secrets of the sea’, The Age, 27 September 2002. ‘I invent places that I like to see, sort of strange places. It’s a bit like a dream – but off to one side.’ Rick Amor, quoted in Chris Beck, ‘Master works’, The Age, 26 July 2003. ‘A man or woman’s life should be there in the face without enhancement from me. If the portrait shows psychological depth it’s a bonus, but not something I consciously paint in.’ Rick Amor, quoted in Dimity Goldie, ‘A meeting of great minds…’, Portrait.4, Winter 2002. ‘Rick Amor’s painted world is like a dream – or a nightmare. It draws you in but leaves you feeling strangely detached. Like a dream, you wake up before the image gives you answers.’ Scott Bevan, ‘Disquieting tales of the unexpected’, Sydney Morning Herald, 24 August 2004. ‘I’ve always thought that behind the façade of buildings all sorts of mysterious things go on. I suppose it’s from my childhood and reading Kafka. I like to suggest that behind prosaic realities something else is lurking.’ Rick Amor, quoted in Gary Catalano, The Solitary Watcher: Rick Amor and his Art, The Miegunyah Press, Melbourne, 2001. ‘I don’t dwell on the mother thing [Amor’s mother died when he was 13], or the suggestion that my work echoes a sense of loss, voids and empty spaces. I was a kid with a nice dad, who gave me his paints and let me be an artist.’ Rick Amor, quoted in Louise Bellamy, ‘In search of beauty’, The Age, 18 September 2004.

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‘A number of Amor’s works [from the 1990s] are steeped in autobiographical significance and take as their subject specific memories of personalities and locations from his adolescence. In keeping with the romantic tenor of much of his later painting the monumental scale of the brooding clouds and turbulent sea [in The beach (1995)] impart a sense of threat and ominous presence.’ Linda Short, ‘“A single statement of a single mind”’ in A single mind: Rick Amor, exh. cat., Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne, 2008. ‘Rick Amor imbues his works with an emotional tone of anxiety and apprehension. These emotions are amplified in nature by dark storm clouds, dramatic long shadows and encroaching twilight, and within his cityscapes by grandiose impersonal spaces with dark corners and high windows from which sentinels of the state, both real and imagined, observe.’ Robert Lindsay, Rick Amor: Standing in the Shadows, exh. cat., McClelland Gallery + Sculpture Park, Langwarrin, Victoria, 2005. ‘Doorway (2004), painted during Amor's battle with leukaemia, has no such ambiguity. It is the sarcophagus-door to Hades, its black interior almost as solid as the monolith in Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey.’ David Hansen, ‘Vacant Possession’ in A single mind: Rick Amor, exh. cat., Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne, 2008.

Symbolism framework

1. What recurring motifs appear in Amor’s work? Analyse one early and one later work to outline the stylistic changes that Amor made to these motifs over time and their possible meanings.

2. The running man figure first appeared in Amor’s work in 1983, and he has

developed the motif throughout his career. (Amor’s bronze Running man (1996–2005) is on permanent display in the Connie Kimberley Sculpture Park, Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne.) What do you think the running man might symbolise? Using Amor’s The runner (1988), interpret the symbolism of the running man.

3. Amor returns to images of the pier and sea, which are inspired by his

memories of the beach at Long Island, Frankston, where he grew up. Amor also admits to dreaming about the sea frequently. Look closely at Amor’s depiction of the sea in The runner (1988). Why do you think he has painted it this way? What might be the significance of this approach?

4. What is the significance of the postcard in Amor’s Self portrait with postcard

of Greco Roman bust (2003)?

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5. What is the significance of the covered canvas in Amor’s Studio with a covered painting (2006)?

COMMENTARIES ’All artists paint the same picture with half a dozen themes and variations on those themes.’ Rick Amor, quoted in Louise Bellamy, ‘In search of beauty’, The Age, 18 September 2004. ‘Amor’s figures operate as a symbol for the Everyman and his elimination of the individuality of the figure through maintaining a back view, echoes the compositional devices of the German Romantic artist Caspar David Friedrich.’ Robert Lindsay, Rick Amor: Standing in the Shadows, exh. cat., McClelland Gallery + Sculpture Park, Langwarrin, Victoria, 2005. ‘A major recurring motif in Amor’s work from the late 1980s to the 1990s is the figure of the running man – poised on one leg, in flight from an unseen threatened menace.’ Robert Lindsay, Rick Amor: Standing in the Shadows, exh. cat., McClelland Gallery + Sculpture Park, Langwarrin, Victoria, 2005. ‘The industrial wastelands that predominate in his recent imagery deliberately depict the point where the advance of the man-made world meets the natural environment.’ Linda Short, ‘“A single statement of a single mind”’ in A single mind: Rick Amor, exh. cat., Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne, 2008.

Extended responses

1. Compare and contrast Amor’s early works (from the 1960s or 1970s) with his most recent paintings.

2. Compare and contrast two of Amor’s self portraits.

3. Compare and contrast two of Amor’s ‘pier’ or ‘sea’ paintings.

4. Compare and contrast Amor’s woodcut, Runner (1984) with his painting,

The runner (1988).

5. Interpret the meanings and messages of Morning in the outlying districts (2003) or Self portrait with postcard of Greco Roman bust (2003) using either the Psychoanalysis or Symbolism framework.

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6. Choose one of the following works and write a formal interpretation of it: • Tina ironing (1973) • The runner (1988) • Morning in the outlying districts (2003) • Studio with a covered painting (2006)

Plan your response by completing the table overleaf: EDUCATION KIT A single mind: Rick Amor 22 March – 13 July 2008 Written by Stephanie Karavasilis, Education Officer, Heide Museum of Modern Art © Heide Museum of Modern Art, the artist and authors


VCE ART – FORMAL INTERPRETATION OF AN ARTWORK

Visual Analysis

Style

Technique

Meanings and Messages

Artist: Tile: Date: Medium: Dimensions:

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A SINGLE MIND - Heide Museum of Modern Art single mind: Rick Amor A SINGLE MIND RICK AMOR ... Amor plays guitar and ... recording daily army life and scenes of conflict. 6