Justin Pearson Artist

Justin Pearson’s

Curriculum Vitae

“All the world’s a stage

And all the men and women merely players…”

William Shakespeare’s As You Like It

This is Just how Justin Pearson likes it.

Poetry and the performing arts resonate with Justin and record the lunacy, the exuberance, the variety and the archetypes of life and the human experience.

He draws inspiration from the landscapes and stories he lives through and connects with. He is also inspired by the storytelling recorded by other art forms.

Justin saw his first opera at the age of seven and has been drawn to it ever since. He controversially accompanied his father to life drawing classes, where it was whispered that the pre-pubescent lad was too young to be sketching nude women.

Justin has recently become the unofficial artist-in-residence to Opera Australia. He spent a fortnight studying the Don Giovanni production during the winter season. One of his life drawings from this residency fetched $3.000 at auction. This is a pursuit Justin has revived from his student days where he was well known in the wings when the English National Opera Theatre was on stage.

Justin Pearson’s life has been drenched in art. His father, expessionist Alan. R. Pearson, is one of New Zealand’s most prominent painters. His mother, Coral Pearson Revel, is a sculptor and potter, and his brother, Alan Pearson, a movie set designer and artist.

Popular culture has influenced Justin’s outlook and his work. He has drawn from and been drawn into the worlds inhabited by stylised comics ranging from Charlie Chaplin to The Goons, modern fabless, such as Harry Potter and the Lord of the Rings, comic creations like Asterix and Tin Tin, poets such as Dylan thomas and Coleridge, and by many more custodians of the dramatic.

Justin was born in New Zealand, travelled and throughout Europe, predominantly England,and lives in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales.

 

Education

1985-88: Bachelor of Arts, Byam Shaw School of Art, London

1984-85: Foundation,Chelsea Shool of Art, London

1982-84: Pre-Foundation: Putney Art Shool, London

Major Exhibitions

2011 Sohi Art Gallery, Group Show, Bawral, Southern Highlands

2011 Sohi Art Show, Truths and Roses , Peppers Craigieburn Resort, Southern Highlands

2010 Light Horse Gallery, New South Wales
2010 Ryders Gallery, New South Wales
2009 Tap Gallery, Sydney
2008 Gallery Red, Sydney
2008 Blacksphere art gallery, Melbourne
2007 South Australian Living Artist Festival, Art Studio, Adelaide Hills, South Australia
2007 Hahndorf Academy, Heysen Gallery, Adelaide, South Australia
2006 Upstairs Gallery, Adelaide, South Australia
2004 Why Cafe, Sydney
2003 Vineyard Gallery, Hunter Valley, NSW
1997 Seymour Theater Center, Sydney
1997 Tap Gallery, Sydney
1996 Artist Alive Project, Sydney
1996 Hollywood Hotel, Sydney,
1996 Tap Gallery, Sydney
1995 Bank Gallery, Sydney
1995 Katkoko Restaurant, Sydney
1995 Toast Gallery, Sydney
1994 Toast Gallery, Sydney.
1993 Art House Gallery, Sydney
1993 Tap Gallery, Sydney
1992 Gigmanity Gallery, Canberra
1992 Canterbury Gallery, Cristchurch, New Zealand.
1992 Pod Gallery, Sydney
1992 Punch Gallery, Sydney
1990 Balmain Gallery, Sydney
1990 Proba Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand.

Major Awards

Fettlers Heritage Art Prize, 2nd Prize Winner, Southern Highlands, 2011

Finilist, Adams Portrait Award,New Zealand Portrait Gallery, Wellington, 2010

Tap Gallery,2nd Prize Winner of Real Refuses, Sydney, 2009

Adam Portrait Award, Highly Commended, 2008, New Zealand Portrait Gallery, Wellington.

Winner of The Heysen Prize for Australian Landscapes, 2007, oil and acrylic.

Winner of Touch of Red 111 Competition, 2007 Melbourne.

 

Art Awards Finalist

 Adams Portrait Award, New Zealand Portrait Gallery, Wellington, 2012                            Goulburn Art Award,Goulburn Regeional Art Gallery,NSW 2011
Works on paper Prize, BDAS Gallery,NSW 2011
Still Life Prize, BDAS Gallery,NSW 2010
Adam Portrait Award, New Zealand Portrait Gallery,NZ 2010
Heysen Prize for Australian Landscape, Heysen Art Gallery, SA 2006

Collections

Private and corporate collections in Australia, Waikato Museum in New Zealand also James Wallace Arts Trust in Auckland NZ, and in the United Kingdom.

Bibliography

The Southen Highlands News Paper-Sydney,2010:Collectors Arts Magazine-Sydney,2009; SA LIFE Magazine, South Australian Artists, Adelaide, 2007; Courier News Paper, The Arts, South Australia, 2007; Summit Insight Council Newspaper,Community Art, Adelaide, 2006; Courier Newspaper, The Arts, South Australia, 2006; North Shore Courier Newspaper, Arts Today, Sydney, Australia, 2005; The Australian-House and Garden Magazine, The Arts, Australia, 1998; The Glebe and Inner Western Weekly News Paper, Sydney, Australia, 1998; Two CD covers,for Jeff Duff and his Orchestra, Sydney, Australia, 1998; Godfrey Miller The Artist, written by Deborah Edwards,Curator of the Australian Art Department,NSW Art Gallery.  Mr Pearson received thanks in the acknowledgments for helping with the book,1996; Playboy Magazine, The Arts, 1996; New South Wales Art Gallery, Lecture for The Young Friends of the N.S.W.Art Gallery, Australia, 1995; The Sydney Morning Herald Magazine, The Good Weekend, The Arts,Sydney, Australia, 1995; Rolling Stone Magazine, 1995.; Self Published own Autobiography, Justin Pearson A Retrospective(1971-1994), Sydney, Australia, 1994; Art Teacher in Long Bay Prison,(Remand Centre)Sydney, 1993; The Daily Telegraph Mirror News Paper,The Arts, Sydney, Australia, 1993; Christchurch Herald News Paper, Christchurch, New Zealand, 1992; Vogue Magazine,The Arts, Australia, 1992; Eastern Herald News Paper,The Arts, Sydney, Australia, 1991; The Kiwi Cooee, Magazine, The Arts, Sydney, Australia, 1991; NZ Herald Newspaper, The Arts,  Auckland, New Zealand, 1990.