Tony Windberg

Tony Windberg was born in Melbourne, Victoria, in 1966. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (Fine Arts) from Curtin University in 1986, with a major in painting. Since his first solo exhibition in 1989, he has held numerous solo shows and exhibited in prestigious national and state group exhibitions.

Tony sources a diverse range of materials that represent the interface between natural and altered landscapes. His hunting and gathering takes him from the bush to the hardware store, from the natural to the synthetic. Ash, charcoals and tree resins combine with modern binders and non-conventional materials such as artificial turf, appearing as more conventional drawing and painting media.

His landscape-based artwork uses realism and illusion to investigate and challenge pictorial conventions. His innovative use of materials and techniques is critical in connecting to subject. The depicted imagery increasingly extends far beyond his regional home in WA’s south west, probing links between the past and present in addressing future concerns.

The boundary between 2D and 3D is often blurred in wall mounted constructs. The viewer is engaged in a game where the picture plane is distorted or separated; the image imagined. Tony also frequently mimics printmaking techniques such as woodcuts and engraving. In deliberate contrast to the chaotic nature and unpredictability of earthy materials, the precision of controlled cutting and meticulous stippling makes historical references and reflects an innate human desire to control natural worlds.

Tony's artwork has won numerous awards and is represented in private, public and corporate collections including Artbank, Janet Holmes á Court Collection Kerry Stokes Collection, Rio Tinto, Wesfarmers, Woodside Energy, Curtin University, The University of WA, Edith Cowan University, Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, St. John of God Health Care, local government collections of Perth, Armadale, Melville, Bunbury, Busselton, Geraldton-Greenough, Rockingham, Joondalup, Vincent and Wanneroo, and in the National Collection of the Jacaranda Acquisitive Drawing Award in Grafton, NSW.