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Stephen Eastaugh

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Stephen Eastaugh
Born28 July, 1960
Melbourne, Australia
NationalityAustralian
OccupationArtist
Years active1981-
Known forSemi-abstract Landscapes

Stephen Eastaugh

Stephen Eastaugh (born 1960) is an Australian contemporary artist. Born in Melbourne, Australia, Eastaugh undertook undergraduate studies at the Victorian College of the Arts from 1979 to 1981. After completing his Bachelor of Fine Art he began to travel, first to New Zealand and Norway,[1] and since then has not settled anywhere for more than a few months at a time.[2] Travel informs Eastaugh’s art. Each of his semi-abstract, mixed-media artworks tells a story based on his travels.[3] Since the early 1980s he has participated in over 100 solo exhibitions and 100 group exhibitions in Australia and internationally. He is represented in many of Australia’s leading art museums and private collections including the National Gallery of Australia, the Kerry Stokes Collection, the National Gallery of Victoria and Parliament House Canberra.

Referred to as ‘professional nomad’,[4] ‘peripatetic’[5] and ‘geographically promiscuous’.[6] Eastaugh calls his art of travel an ‘Unstill Life’.[7] He has made nine trips to Antarctica: three trips as the official Australian Antarctic Arts fellow (2000, 2002–3, 2009), and six times as an artist-in-residence on tourist ships. He travelled twice to the North Pole as part of a Polar art residency on Russian icebreakers.[8] Ulan Bator (Mongolia), Nuuk (Greenland), Nufa Alofa (Tonga), Ushuaia (Argentina) are among the 80 plus countries Eastaugh has visited.[9] His 2006 Summer studio at Australia’s Davis Station in Antarctica was the subject of the ABC TV documentary AntarcticArt.[10]

Eastaugh follows a tradition of artists inspired by travel and foreign landscapes, including Claude Lorrain and J. M. W. Turner.[11] His abstract, often surreal, pictorial language retells his exotic travel adventures, such as passing out after his drink was spiked in Peru (Drugs, 1990).[12] Antarctichinoiserie-scape (2004), for example, was inspired by the rafting sea ice found in Antarctica while reminiscent of depictions of distance in Chinese landscape paintings.[13]

“My pieces are not direct representations of nature,” Eastaugh says. “Instead, I pick up bits and pieces from the landscape, and from my weird and wonderful experiences.”[14] The work Eastaugh produces in each country regularly uses materials that resonate with, or are particular to, the local culture.[15] These materials have a strong textural quality: encaustic wax, oilsticks, medical bandages, rugs, fabric, embroidery, damaged paper and pearl shells.[16] Rooted (Mongolia), 2004, for example, abstracts various Mongolian objects and views in 30 panels made from acrylic paint and embroidered medical bandages, wool and cotton thread.[17] In an era of accessible travel, Eastaugh reverses the usual tourist leisure pursuit. “For Eastaugh work is the journey and home is wherever he happens to be.”[18]

In 2012 Eastaugh self-published Unstill Life, a book with a limited-edition of 500 copies, documenting his 30 years of travelling which he wrote over the winter of 2009 at Mawson station in Antarctica.

Personal life

An adopted child[19] Eastaugh made contact with his biological parents when he was 28.[20] His biological father is a former Dutch sailor, based in Broome, Australia.[21] In 2007 Eastaugh married Argentinian photographer and vigneron Carolina Furque in Hong Kong.[22]

Collections (selected)

National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
The National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
The Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth
Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney
Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Hobart
Parliament House, Canberra
Australian Antarctic Division Collection
Kerry Stokes Collection, Perth
Nevada Museum of Art, Reno

Awards, grants, fellowships (selected)

Asialink Residency, Hong Kong 2001 and Beijing 2012
Art Gallery of NSW, Moya Dyring Studio, Cite Internationale, Paris, 2001
Australian Antarctic Division Artists' Program, 2000, 2002–3 and 2009
Faber Castell National Drawing Award (Professional), 1991

External links

stepheneastaugh.com.au

NKN Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
Suzanne Biederberg Gallery, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

References

  1. ^ Hor-Chung Lau, J. “Stitches and stays”, South China Morning Post, 8 August 2004
  2. ^ Thomson, Jonathan. “The Art of Travel”, Asian Art News, Vol. 14 No.6, November/December 2004
  3. ^ Crawford, Ashley. “Wandering star”, The Australian, 26 June 2010
  4. ^ Hor-Chung Lau, J. “Stitches and stays”, South China Morning Post, 8 August 2004
  5. ^ Delany, Max, ‘Drift and Flow’, Unstill Life, 2012
  6. ^ Schmidt, Lucinda. “Everysomewherever”, Mercedes magazine, Autumn 2008
  7. ^ Schmidt, Lucinda. “Everysomewherever”, Mercedes magazine, Autumn 2008
  8. ^ Hor-Chung Lau, J. “Stitches and stays”, South China Morning Post, 8 August 2004
  9. ^ Thomson, Jonathan. “The Art of Travel”, Asian Art News, Vol. 14 No.6, November/December 2004
  10. ^ Schmidt, Lucinda. “Everysomewherever”, Mercedes magazine, Autumn 2008
  11. ^ Thomson, Jonathan. “The Art of Travel”, Asian Art News, Vol. 14 No.6, November/December 2004
  12. ^ Wardell, M “East(augh), West, North and South”, Stephen Eastaugh: Antarctica, international touring exhibition catalogue, 2000-1
  13. ^ Thomson, Jonathan. “The Art of Travel”, Asian Art News, Vol. 14 No.6, November/December 2004
  14. ^ Hor-Chung Lau, J. “Stitches and stays”, South China Morning Post, 8 August 2004
  15. ^ Thomson, Jonathan. “The Art of Travel”, Asian Art News, Vol. 14 No.6, November/December 2004
  16. ^ Schmidt, Lucinda. “Everysomewherever”, Mercedes magazine, Autumn 2008
  17. ^ Hor-Chung Lau, J. “Stitches and stays”, South China Morning Post, 8 August 2004
  18. ^ Thomson, Jonathan. “The Art of Travel”, Asian Art News, Vol. 14 No.6, November/December 2004
  19. ^ Schmidt, Lucinda. “Everysomewherever”, Mercedes magazine, Autumn 2008
  20. ^ Crawford, Ashley. “Wandering star”, The Australian, 26 June 2010
  21. ^ Crawford, Ashley. “Wandering star”, The Australian, 26 June 2010
  22. ^ Crawford, Ashley. “Wandering star”, The Australian, 26 June 2010
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