Brent Harris was born in Palmeston North, New Zealand and gained a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Victorian College of Arts in Melbourne in 1984. His paintings and works on paper are brooding, dripping swamplands delineated in the most meticulous way. Stark planes, often black and white, belie the swooping organic gestures and expressionist shapes. 'Many of his forms vibrate, rise and fall, and cause the viewers eye much exercise in following them', noted James Mollison in Art and Australia recently. But what surprises most is the sensuality of the work; as though the sharp lines and immaculate surfaces can barely contain the emotions brooding beneath. This is the unconscious meshed with a taut, graphic sensibility.
Read MoreBrent Harris has exhibited extensively in Australia since 1985. Recently his work was seen in Orifice, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art and Field Work: Australian Contemporary Art 1968-2002 at the National Gallery of Victoria. His solo show - The Face - at the Art Gallery of New South Wales in 2004 was described by Peter Hill as, 'of-its-time yet strangely out-of-time.' He currently lives and works in Melbourne.
