Wayne  Ashton




Background:
Wayne Ashton’s work spans painting and fiction, including the highly-acclaimed novel ‘Under a Tin-Grey Sari’, and the equally-acclaimed new series of oil paintings about 'Pinski's Travelling Dive Troupe' - a collection which has already sold 59 works in a startlingly short time – the latest having been just completed in October for his solo exhibition at Gadfly Gallery.

In 22 years as a full time practising painter he has held 14 solo exhibitions and participated in 10 group exhibitions, including ‘Australians in London’ and ‘Australians in New York’.

Themes:
Much of his painting over the last two decades has formed different, distinct series, from the Maldives Series, to the Broome Series, to the show at Gadfly in 1998, ‘Iltutmish’, which imagined in expressive 20th century head-portraits the royal court around a young girl, India’s 17-year-old ruler in the 12th century.

This new series of paintings, ‘Pinski’s Travelling Dive Troupe’ was inspired by travels to unpresuming coastal hideaways in quiet and magical places around Australia.The Troupe is a small team of three: Pinski the dog; the diver; and the pilot. Together they fly from place to place in a hot air balloon, meeting up with audiences who gather on the boats, jetties and beaches below to watch the diver leap from the balloon basket, into a lagoon.
Wayne is currently writing a new novel based on the Dive Troupe, ‘The Adventures of Pinski’s Travelling Dive Troupe’.



Education:
1979-81 Curtin University (W.A.I.T)
1977-8 University of Western Australia
1974-6 Guildford Grammar

EmploymentProjects:
2004 Oil paintings commission for Outback Ecology Pty Ltd
1996 Mural for Greenwich Performance Space
1995 Drawings and Paintings for gold mine document, Mr George Lee


Awards / Grants:
2008 Asia Link residency, India
2004 Australia Council, Developing Writer’s Grant for 'Equator'
2000 ArtsWA Development Grant for 'Under a Tin-Grey Sari'
2003 ArtsWA Development Grant for 'Equator'


Solo Exhibitions:
Fourteen solo shows from 1989–2011:
2011 'School Holidays Series IV', 'Pinski’s Travelling Dive Troupe’, Chilli Rooms Sydney
2011 'School Holidays Series III', Chilli Rooms Sydney
2010 'School Holidays Series II', Chilli Rooms Sydney
2010 'School Holidays Series I', Chilli Rooms Sydney
2004 'Oceanscapes',Kurb Gallery, William St, Perth
1998 'Iltutmish', Gadfly Gallery, Western Australia
1997 Mumbai, London & Moore River, Greenwich Performance Space, Hay St, Perth
1995 'Shadows & Masks', The Gallery of Fine Art, Adelaide Tce, Perth
1994 'Whispers Out Of Line', Drabble Gallery, Guildford
1993 'Sublime & Unknown', Oil Paintings, State Theatre Company of WA
1991 'Images Beyond the Subtext', National Arts Week event, New Collectables Gallery
1991 'Poets, Nudes, Landscapes, Interiors' Drabble Gallery
1990 'Oils and Drawings', Tresillian Centre Nedlands
1989 'Painting & Drawing’86-’89', the Max Collard House, Stanley Street Nedlands


Group Exhibitions:
10 group shows in London, Perth and Sydney, 1990 –2010

1998 'Australians in New York', Gelabert Gallery, Broadway
1996 'Australians in London', Mall Galleries, Trafalgar Square
1996 'Contemporary Artists', Neutral Bay Gallery, Sydney
1995 'Autumn Show', Excentrix Gallery, Cowaramup
1994 'Contemporary Artists', Gomboc Gallery
1991 'Water – Metamorphosis of the Medium', Carrilon Gallery, Perth
1990 'Contemporary West Asutralian Artists', Drabble Gallery Guildford
1990 'Medical Research Foundation/R&I Bank Show', Royal Perth Hospital
1989 'Mixed Show', Margaret River Galleries
1989 'Three Views', Moores Building, Fremantle
Gallery, Perth
1995 'Autumn Show', Excentrix Gallery, Cowaramup
1994 'Contemporary Artists', Gomboc Gallery
1991 'Water – Metamorphosis of the Medium', Carrilon Gallery, Perth
June 1990, Contemporary West Asutralian Artists, Drabble Gallery Guildford
May 1990 'Medical Research Foundation/R&I Bank Show', Royal Perth Hospital
1989 'Mixed Show', Margaret River Galleries
1989 'Three Views', Moores Building, Fremantle


Published Writing:
Two novels:
‘Equator’ 2010
‘Under a Tin-Grey Sari’ (2002 & 2010 2nd edition), Fremantle Press (and translated in to Bengali)
'The Aunt', Radio Drama, ABC, 1990 (starring Jill Perryman)
'The Tasman Angel From Hell', Radio Drama, ABC, 2005
'The Oils and Mirrors of Dorothy Hoffkoff', Radio Drama, ABC, 2006
Short Fiction, 'A Vanishiing Act', Penguin Summer Collection 2005 & Australian Short Stories 1992
2002

Recent Publications:
Australian Art Collector, issue 57, July 2011
Australian Art Collector, issue 56, April 2011
The Age, Oct 2010
The West Australian, Aug 2010
The West Australian, May 18 2010
The Independent Sydney, Aug 2010
Alpine Style, #9, 2008
ABC 24 Hours Magazine, 2008
Virgin Blue Voyeur, July 2006
About Us magazine, University of Wuppertal, Germany, issue 14, April 2003
Sunday Times, April 2003
The Age, Nov 2, 2002
The West Australian, Dec 2, 2002
Canberra Times, Oct 2002
The Australian, Sept 2, 2002
Courier Mail, Nov 2002


Collections:
Private collections in Perth, London, Durham, Sydney, New Delhi, Melbourne, Auckland, Brisbane, Hotham, Canberra, Port Macquarie, Monte’s Whitsundays.