The narratives in Colin Lanceley's paintings reflect the influence of both European modernism in the early 20th century and 'New Image' painters from the 1980s. Consistent and essential to his practice was an allegiance to figurative painting with the artist describing the picture plane as a kind of theatre.
Read MoreLanceley attended the North Sydney Technical College from 1956 to 1960 and established the 'Annandale Imitation Realists School' with Mike Brown and Ross Crothall in 1962. His work from this period revealed a commitment to Surrealism, characterised by a seemingly random association of images and narratives.In 1966 he was the recipient of the Rubenstein Scholarship and travelled to Europe, living in London and developing the iconography for which he is well-known and lecturing at the Gloucester College of Art (1981) and the Chelsea College of Art and Design.
He returned to Sydney in 1986, exhibiting works whose assemblage of collaged narratives and high-key colours - a style that was subsequently associated with Lanceley. In 1988 Lanceley was awarded the Order of Australia. His work is represented in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York and the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, amongst many other significant public and private collections.
