PAUL PARTOS
Paul Partos emerged as part of an innovative generation of colour and hard-edged abstractionists featured in the landmark exhibition, The Field at the National Gallery of Victoria in 1968. Partos’ trademark border or frame within the picture plane, acting to contain the central image (a painting within a painting), has been perceived as representing the concerns of conceptual art as well as pure abstraction.
Born in Czechoslovakia, Partos came to Australia with his family in 1949. He studied at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (1959-62), initially influenced by artists such as Picasso and Dubuffet. Travelling to Europe for 18 months, he returned to Melbourne, abandoning figuration and developing his grid paintings, increasingly focusing on expressive or restrained marks and gestures to convey the artist’s emotional and inner world.
Partos’ reputation was acclaimed a second time in 2001 with a solo exhibition at Christine Abrahams Gallery in Melbourne, challenging critics who felt his work had reached an impasse. Partos broke with the confines of the grid and revitalised his colour, confirming that he remained one of Australia’s most consistent and inventive abstract artists.
His work is held at the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra and the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne.
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