Angus Wishart
I am an oil painter working in the observational method. As an artist I hold no certainty that I am changing the world, but I remain deeply engaged with how we experience it. I find myself at times suspended between existentialism and nihilism—between the belief that everything matters and the suspicion that nothing does. The pendulum swings, back and forth. Perhaps the truth lives somewhere in the motion itself.
The Other Side (Self Portrait with Shaved Head)
Oil on linen
My work lives in oscillation, exploring what it means to sit with both truths at once. My work documents my own personal experience of life, and so my subject matter is, I suppose, the human experience itself. Painting as a mirror, I hold the mirror up for my audience, so that they may see the awe, the beauty, the pain, the serenity—things they have felt as well as I have. I want to show you that moment when a car is parked on the street and the light catches it in a particular way that makes it more than just a car on the street, but an ephemeral moment in time, never to be repeated. I want to show you just how captivating a glass of amber liquid can be. My aim is to create art that speaks to everyone. One thing I will say for my work is that it is not elitist. If it only appeals to those ‘into art’, then I have failed. Like my painting heroes, Sargent, Sorolla and Serov, I look for the everyday transcendence—that sweet spot where realism and impressionism meet; realistic enough to feel recognisable, loose and painterly enough to feel warm and alive. And perhaps it is this intersecting point which makes it accessible, finding level ground for mind and heart to mingle.
Ludwig, Reclining
Oil on Linen
After finishing high school, I never felt the desire to study art, and relished the extra time I had just to paint, teaching myself anything I wanted to know. I actually don’t remember ever ‘deciding’ to be an artist; I had always painted, and I just never stopped at the point where most people do, which in this society makes you an artist. I sometimes wonder what the world would look like if none of us stopped creating like we did as children—I suppose we wouldn’t need the word artist anymore, simply ‘human’. As Picasso so eloquently put it, “Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.”
Having found my calling in tonal impressionism and direct painting, I made many trips during my twenties to Europe, hunting down my favourite artists in galleries and museums, and soaking up the feeling of being where this painting tradition all began.
Of course, these trips did not fund themselves, and still unable to make a living from art (also speaking in the present tense here), I have had a mixed job history including work as a barista, barman, waiter, landscape gardener, labourer, arborist, event photographer, postman, life model and, once, selling bread rolls at a rave (surprisingly profitable).
Study in Amber and Gold
Oil on Linen
In 2024, after feeling for some time that my art career in Australia had plateaued, I decided to take a leap of faith and move to Europe: Berlin. Not the most obvious choice for a painter of traditional style, but the city called to me, so I answered. What followed was a time of great creative freedom, personal growth and unforeseeable change. I began painting more than I ever had before, alive with a refreshed vigour that comes from being in a new place. Not everything about this move was easy, and I also experienced unprecedented lows, but even this gave way for lessons to be learned, skin to be shed. I am grateful for it all.
While in Europe, I spent three weeks at Studio Escalier in France, learning more about painting the human figure, led by the excellent teacher Tobias Hall. Many of these paintings and poster studies can be seen in my show here at VAS. I found the poster studies especially captivating; a useful tool in understanding the light effect, but at the same time beautiful miniature pieces of art in their own right.
Luka
Charcoal & White Chalk on Toned Paper
Sunflowers at Tempelhoferfeld
Oil on Linen
Golden Hour on Pintschallee
Oil on Linen
I also spent one month as an artist in residence at ‘Phlox’, a space for artists in Friesland, the Netherlands. In a tiny village in the flat, agricultural landscape of northern Holland, this afforded me time without distraction, total licence to paint with nothing else to do. I completed almost thirty paintings in this time, many of which are part of this show at VAS. Many were also bought by the townspeople of Húns, and I cannot thank them enough for their enthusiasm for my work, and especially the director and creator of the project, Folkert van der Hoek, whose portrait is also part of this show.
I have no interest in fictionalising my success; the move to Berlin has been creatively rewarding, but the struggle is the same. Life as an artist is tough, and we all know it. Time will tell if this will work, but I am more excited about the direction my work is heading in than ever before, and maybe that is more important than success or even recognition. Painting helps me to see, and seeing helps me to live.
Last Light on Pintschallee
Oil on Board
Exhibitions & Events by Angus Wishart
Acknowledgment of traditional owners.
We would like to pay our respects to the traditional owners of the land on which our building stands, their leaders, past, present and emerging.