Stewart Angus MacFarlane (born November 1953, Adelaide, South Australia), is an Australian figurative painter. His style is a pared-down realism (with expressionistic touches) combined with a surreality of lighting and perspective.Helmridge-Marsillian, Veronique, Stewart MacFarlane. Riddles of Life, Craftsman House, Sydney, 1996, pp.29–30. He often, though not always, places a female or male nude in a situation of erotic enigma.Helmridge-Marsillian, Veronique, "Work and Sex. Three Paintings by Stewart MacFarlane", Art Monthly, July 1994, p.4. He paints the Australian scene representative of Western society as a whole.Helmridge-Marsillian, Riddles of Life, p.158.
Career When aged 16 he enrolled at the South Australian School of Art, where he was influenced by the Adelaide painters, David Dridan and David Dallwitz. He gained a Diploma of Fine Arts (Painting) in 1974. The next year he travelled to America where he had group and solo exhibitions, as well as pursuing his other love, music. In 1977 he graduated with a Bachelor in Fine Arts (Painting) from the School of Visual Arts, New York City.MacFarlane, Stewart, and Helmridge-Marsillian, Veronique, Stewart MacFarlane. Small Observations. A Survey of Small Oil Paintings 1967–2005, Carnegie Gallery, Hobart, 2006, p.4. He was a studio assistant of Alex Katz, Chuck Close, and Janet Fish. Since returning to Australia in 1983, MacFarlane has earned his living as a professional painter, exhibiting several times a year, either in Australia or internationally.
MacFarlane is also a musician. His band, "Stew Lane and The Untouchables", performed and recorded in New York City from 1979 to 1981. The Album, Harder Than Wax was released by AZ International, France, in 1980. The band's independent release, "U.N.Rap Song" (Private Ear Records, 1980) was acknowledged by Freddy Fresh as one of the earliest rap records and one of the first examples of a group, outside the hip-hop genre, to incorporate rap into their music.Freddy Fresh, The Rap Records, (First Edition) p.259.
References
Bibliography Monographs Helmridge-Marsillian, Veronique, Stewart MacFarlane. Riddles of Life, Craftsman House, Sydney, 1996 Jose, Nicholas & Morrell, Timothy, "Stewart MacFarlane, Paintings", Wei-Ling Gallery, Kuala Lumpur, 2012
Books Aland, Jenny, Australian Artlook, Heinemann, Melbourne, 1997 Drury, Nevill, Images 2, Contemporary Australian Painting, Craftsman House, Sydney, 1994 Drury, Nevill, Images 3, Contemporary Australian Painting, Craftsman House, Sydney, 1998 McCulloch, Alan, (rev. by Susan McCulloch), The Encyclopedia of Australian Art, Allen and Unwin, Sydney, 1994 McCulloch, Alan, McCulloch, Susan, and McCulloch, Emily, The New McCulloch's Encyclopedia of Australian Art, Miegunyah Press, Melbourne, 2006 Pickett, Charles, Cars and Culture. Our Driving Passions, HarperCollins and Powerhouse Publishing, Sydney, 1999 Williams, Donald, and Simpson, Colin, Art Now. Contemporary Art Post-1970, McGraw-Hill, Sydney, 1994
Articles Adam, Rosemary, "Stewart MacFarlane: 'Roswell'", Art Monthly, September 1990 Adam, Rosemary, "Stewart MacFarlane", Tension, March 1992 Heathcote, Christopher, "Summer Famine", Art Monthly, March 1989 Helmridge-Marsillian, Veronique, "Work and Sex. Three Paintings by Stewart MacFarlane", Art Monthly, July 1994 Morrell, Timothy, "The Function", Artlines, Queensland Art Gallery Society, August–September 1997
Catalogues Katz, Vincent, Compulsion: Stewart MacFarlane, Brisbane City Gallery, 2001 Leong, Roger, The Painted Self. Rick Amor, Peter Churcher, Kevin Lincoln, Stewart MacFarlane and Lewis Miller, Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery, 2006 MacFarlane, Stewart, Door of Memories, Roswell Museum and Art Center, New Mexico, USA, 1987 MacFarlane, Stewart, Screenplay, Galerie Carlos Hulsch Berlin, Germany, 2000 MacFarlane, Stewart, and Helmridge-Marsillian, Veronique, Stewart MacFarlane. Small Observations. A Survey of Small Oil Paintings 1967–2005, Carnegie Gallery, Hobart, 2006 Rufe, Laurie, and Fleming, Stephen, Beyond a Gift of Time. Current Work by Former Fellows of the Roswell Artist-in-Residence Program, Roswell Museum and Art Center, New Mexico, USA, 2008 Smith, Jason, So You Wanna Be a Rock 'n' Roll Star, NGV Shell Collection, 2005 Wei-Ling, Lim, Private Life. Stewart MacFarlane, Wei-Ling Gallery, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 2006
Video Nedelkopolous, Nicholas. Private View (2004, 49 mins, Mini Digital Video) Documentary on artist Stewart MacFarlane.
External links stewartmacfarlane.com , official site Private View by Nicholas Nedelkopoulos