Ian Friend has over thirty years experience as a practicing artist, educator, curator and mentor to emerging artists.
Born in Eastbourne, England, Friend first came to Melbourne, Australia in 1985 to take up an artist-in-residence at the Victorian College of the Arts. He has since lectured in drawing and painting in several Australian universities while maintaining his art practice and exhibiting in Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States.
From a studio in the inner city Brisbane suburb of Woolloongabba, Friend creates subtle and evocative works on paper using pigment, ink and gouache. His practice is concerned with materiality and his works reflect a rich engagement with jazz, poetry and architecture.
Friend is represented in numerous international public collections, among them The British Museum and Tate Gallery, London, Arts Council of Great Britain. Within Australia his is represented at he Art Gallery of South Australia, National Gallery of Australia and the Australian War Memorial, Canberra, National Gallery of Victoria, Queensland Art Gallery, Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, Launceston plus a host of university and regional galleries around the country.

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