Graham Fransella, Figure in the Sand

GRAHAM FRANSELLA (England, b. 1950; emigrated to Australia 1975 ) Figure in Sand 2015 Oil on linen 153cm x 182cm Acquired 2016 TEMP15

Biography:

Graham Fransella is a Melbourne-based painter, printmaker and sculptor.

Having trained at the Bradford School of Art in Yorkshire from 1970 to 1973, he was awarded the Bradford School of Art traveling scholarship in 1972 and arrived in Australia in 1975.  Upon arrival Fransella quickly obtained gallery representation in Melbourne, Sydney and Canberra, eventually being comprehensively represented by galleries across Australia in addition to regularly exhibiting in London.

Fransella has been a finalist in many art prizes in particular, several times in the Wynne Prize (2000, 2006, 2007,2009, 2011), and frequently in the Dobell Prize for Drawing during the 1990s through to the early 2000s. His extensive CV also includes a survey exhibition of his work at the Stonington Stables Museum of Art at Deakin University in 2003[1].  Fransella is represented in numerous public and state institutions, galleries and museums throughout Australia, including the National Gallery of Australia, National Gallery of Victoria, Queensland Art Gallery, and Parliament House in addition to many notable corporate collections.

Artwork:

Recognized for his incisive strong, bold strokes set amidst primary colours of red, yellow and orange, pronouncing graffiti like figures, Fransella’s motif which has become emblematic of both his painting and printmaking practice.

“Figure in sand” is a quintessential work by Fransella, articulating the bold outline of a figure with arm raised, set against a balanced combination of yellow and orange brushwork, and is representative of a stylistic direction employed by the artist for the past 2 to 3 decades.

Bibliography:

Capon, Edmund, Graham Fransella:Figures and Landscape, Macmillan Publishing, 2002

Grishin, Dr Sasha, Graham Fransella: eau forte, Deakin University, Melbourne, 2003

Gippsland Art Gallery; Print-Making in the Collection, Gippsland Art Gallery, 2021

View:

More works by Graham Fransella at the National Gallery of Victoria, Art Gallery of New South Wales,