Rex Newell
Rex Newell's name is synonymous with the towns and buildings of the vast Australian outback. His artistic portrayal of them over the last 35 years has won him both national appreciation and acclaim.
Not for Newell the cold clinical high-rise studded cities but rather the bush and the buildings it boasts - the old buildings that bespeak a proud pioneering past. He was drawn by both their atmosphere and architecture and has painted them with a sense of urgency since the mid 1960's in a bid to capture them on canvas before time eroded them further or they fell prey to renovation and redevelopment. The quest to find them has meant years travelling off the beaten track producing paintings that ranged from humble to faintly derelict and those that still retained a majestic grandeur.
Newell is a product of the bush. He was born at Coffs Harbour NSW in 1938 and grew up in the Kempsey area discovering a talent for sketching as a youngster. Aged 14, he'd finished an afternoon's painting on the banks of the Macleay River when a man stopped to admire the still wet canvas and was so taken with it as to buy it on the spot. It firmed Newell's resolve on an art career which led him to Sydney for five years' study in fine art, commercial art and sign writing.
In order to steep himself in the atmosphere he wished to paint, Newell spent years living in the old god mining tons of central NSW, setting up his first studio in Mudgee in 1972. Exhibitions were so successful as to dictate a move back to Sydney in the mid 1970's where further exhibitions drew galleries wall-to-wll with eager buyers. Achievements attracted strong and ongoing media attention from national newspapers, magazines and television.
Affable and humorous, Newell is also noted for his generosity in giving both his time and talent to paint for charities and causes and has been a strong and long time supporter of the Cancer Society.
Private collectors include Prince Phillip, duke of Edinburgh, Crown Prince Harald of Norway, Ex President of Ireland Dr Patrick Hillery and the late "Duke" of Hollywood John Wayne. Major banks and corporations have commissioned his works and Newell was recently commissioned by the Perth Mint to paint a limited edition of six heritage pubs, one from each state.
His distinctive, easily recognisable style featured faithfully and sympathetically against a backdrop of the first light morning or the last light of day means we can enjoy an integral part of Australia's heritage. |
