Gregory Cliffe Profile Picture

Gregory Cliffe

Sydney, New South Wales, Australia •
Artist (Painting) •
Born unknown date •
My studio research embraces the concept of “totalized time” and stratification of memory. I employ historical references to emphasise philosophical and ideological threads through time.

My early work was strongly influenced by Abstract Expressionism, sculptural formalism and performance-installation art. I practiced as a installation and performance artist until the late 80s. This was punctuated by two performances at the Cite Internationale Des Artes, Paris in 1984 courtesy of a AGNSW Moya Dyring Studio residency and an Australia Council travel grant. In the 1990s I began to paint and studied a Master of Arts at The University of Western Sydney from 99-2001. Over 30 years my studio research has evolved to embrace the concept of totalized time and the stratification of memory in my work lends itself to the historical references I use in my paintings, creating a mixture of philosophical and ideological threads through time.

I have always been interested in how social values and cultural history can be transmitted by folk narrative, fables, and absurd “yarns” and what these say about group cohesion, conformity, and shared presumptions. I like to collect a range of humorous stories and anecdotes, images of historical artefacts and documents from which to base subjects for my current fictional/factual narrative paintings.

In the exhibition “Groupthink” at Lost Bear Gallery in September, 2016 I sought to examine the nature of group behaviour across a range of sub-cultures and social environments. The paintings focused on sporting, business, recreational and leisure milieus revealing recent change in cultural and social values, family behaviour and human relationships.

My recent work has been focused on the significance of location, my family history and social history through more traditional genres and techniques such as landscape, still life and portraiture. It is extending the subject matter I have explored with group figurative compositions over the last 20 years into the places associated with the stories I have explored. 

My painting technique having evolved from linear expressionist landscape paintings in the 1990’s to montaged compositions of family and social history images. This was previously executed in Alkyd mediums to my more recent traditional solvent-free oil painting processes used by the Baroque masters, C19th Romanticists and Pre-Raphaelites.

 

Discover contemporary artworks by Gregory Cliffe, browse recent artworks and buy online. Categories: contemporary australian artists. Artistic domains: Painting. Account type: Artist , member since 2024 (Country of origin Australia). Buy Gregory Cliffe's latest works on ArtMajeur: Discover great art by contemporary artist Gregory Cliffe. Browse artworks, buy original art or high end prints.

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Biography

My early work was strongly influenced by Abstract Expressionism, sculptural formalism and performance-installation art. I practiced as a installation and performance artist until the late 80s. This was punctuated by two performances at the Cite Internationale Des Artes, Paris in 1984 courtesy of a AGNSW Moya Dyring Studio residency and an Australia Council travel grant. In the 1990s I began to paint and studied a Master of Arts at The University of Western Sydney from 99-2001. Over 30 years my studio research has evolved to embrace the concept of totalized time and the stratification of memory in my work lends itself to the historical references I use in my paintings, creating a mixture of philosophical and ideological threads through time.

I have always been interested in how social values and cultural history can be transmitted by folk narrative, fables, and absurd “yarns” and what these say about group cohesion, conformity, and shared presumptions. I like to collect a range of humorous stories and anecdotes, images of historical artefacts and documents from which to base subjects for my current fictional/factual narrative paintings.

In the exhibition “Groupthink” at Lost Bear Gallery in September, 2016 I sought to examine the nature of group behaviour across a range of sub-cultures and social environments. The paintings focused on sporting, business, recreational and leisure milieus revealing recent change in cultural and social values, family behaviour and human relationships.

My recent work has been focused on the significance of location, my family history and social history through more traditional genres and techniques such as landscape, still life and portraiture. It is extending the subject matter I have explored with group figurative compositions over the last 20 years into the places associated with the stories I have explored. 

My painting technique having evolved from linear expressionist landscape paintings in the 1990’s to montaged compositions of family and social history images. This was previously executed in Alkyd mediums to my more recent traditional solvent-free oil painting processes used by the Baroque masters, C19th Romanticists and Pre-Raphaelites.

 

Gregory Cliffe - The artist at work

Ongoing and Upcoming art events

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Influences

Delacroix, Caravaggio, Daumier, Fischl, William Dobell, Edward Hopper, Luke Fildes, Ruisdael, Rembrandt, Rubens

Education

1999 - 2021 Master of Arts [Contemporary Arts Practice] from Western Sydney University Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

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Achievements

Prizes and Awards

2023 Finalist, Salon Des Refusees, The 2024 Lethbridge 20000 Small Art Prize Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
2021 Shortlisted Finalist Maritime Art Prize 2022. Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
2013 Finalist, Hawkesbury Art Prize Freeman's Reach, NSW, Australia
2002 Highly Commended, Daffodil Day Art Awards, Cancer Council Art Awards Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
2001 Fisher's Ghost Art Awards, Open Section Finalist Campbelltown, Sydney, NSW, Australia
1994 Highly Commended, Blue Mountains Creative Arts Council Annual Award Wentworth Falls, NSW, Australia

Collective Expositions

2022 Out Of The Blue At Parliament House With Blue Mountains Creative Arts Network. Sydney, NSW, Australia
2019 Group Show: Bmcan At Gallery 188 Katoomba, NSW, Australia
2019 Picturesque: Group Show By Blue Mountains Creative Arts Network. Blue Mountains, NSW, Australia
2018 Group Show: "Offensive Art?" At Brunswick Street Gallery, Fitzroy Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
2018 Highly Commended, Summer Group Shows Bmcan At The Edge Theatre, Katoomba, NSW, Australia
2004 Group Exhibition: Alleyway Arts Inaugural Show, Springwood, NSW, Australia
1994 Group Show: Wentworth Falls School Of Arts Entitled "Wild And Domesticated" Wentworth Falls, NSW, Australia

Publications & Press

Solo Expositions

2016 Groupthink, One Artist Show, Lost Bear Gallery, Katoomba, NSW, Australia
2001 Fragmented Values: Compulsive Lives, One Artist Exhibition, Tin Sheds Gallery, Sydney University, Sydney, NSW, Australia

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Last modification date : Apr 2, 2025 (Member since 2024)
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Latest News
All the latest news from contemporary artist Gregory Cliffe

Added Oct 26, 2024

Finalist, The Basil Sellers Art Prize

Basil Sellers Exhibition Centre, Campbell Street, Moruya NSW, Australia

Saturday 7 December 2024
Saturday 1 February 2025

Finalist, The 2024 Basil Sellers Art Prize. 

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