Artist Luke Sciberras was born in Sydney in 1975. He attended the National Art School in Sydney from 1995 to 1997.
Since the 1990s, Sciberras has held more than 40 solo exhibitions in Sydney, Melbourne and numerous regional galleries. Regional group exhibitions include Jamberoo Mountain Road at Shoalhaven Regional Art Gallery, River on the Brink: Inside the Murray-Darling Basin at S.H. Ervin Gallery Sydney and Salient: Contemporary artists at the Western Front (an exhibition commemorating the centenary of the Great War).
Sciberras has also been a finalist in the Hadley’s Art Prize and the Kedumba Drawing Award, as well as in the Wynne Prize and the Tattersalls Landscape Prize on multiple occasions.
Luke’s work is represented in a number of collections including the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Parliament House Collection Canberra, the ANZAC Memorial Sydney, the Union Club Sydney, Macquarie Bank and regional gallery collections including Manly, Shoalhaven, Bathurst, Orange, Port Macquarie, Broken Hill, Penrith and Newcastle.
‘To make an impression, a gesture or a glimpse of a memory is one of our most universal and natural instincts. The impulse to tell a story or more strongly, to share is the urge to embed a place or circumstance with the human condition. Painting and drawing is, to me, the very essence of all these expressions. Perennially, I travel around and into Australian landscapes to visit and revisit people and places which hold for me a resonance and compelling painterly allure.
Invariably I have worked alongside people who occupy and understand these places best. The indigenous peoples of the central desert, Arrernte, the Walpiri in the Tanami, Wanambaal Wunguur on the Kimberley coast, Kamilaroi at Moree and the Barkindji of Wilcannia all illuminate my experience profoundly and I warm to their friendship and generosity.
In the same spirit I have learned a great deal and enjoyed long friendships with graziers, environmentalists and other non indigenous custodians who have opened their doors and gates to allow me to form intimate and sustained acquaintances with some of Australia’s most staggering beauties. This is the reason I deeply feel that an artist doesn’t go out to the landscape but into it.
These wonderful chapters in my life and the subsequent time spent in the studio come to form a series of bodies of work which enduringly reward me as much as they spur me on to the next.’
– Luke Sciberras, 2020
Commissioned by Bathurst Regional Art Gallery and Campbelltown Arts Centre for the exhibition 'Luke Sciberras: Side of the Sky'. At BRAG: 11 June – 7 August 2022 At C-A-C: 4 June - 7 August 2022 Bathurst Regional Art Gallery (BRAG) in partnership with Campbelltown Arts Centre (C-A-C) presents a comprehensive survey exhibition of acclaimed artist, Luke Sciberras. Held concurrently across the two venues and covering 25 years of practice, Side of the Sky will focus on Sciberras’ extensive travels, and highlight his connection to Wedderburn, Hill End and the Central West region. The exhibition will also foreground Sciberras’ drawing and print practice. Luke Sciberras draws inspiration from the immediate environment, working directly in the landscape, capturing elements, symbols, shapes and textures of places, usually over a series of visits. Upon return to his studio, he processes this raw material and, drawing on his memories and connections to local people, creates work that is as much about the process of painting as it is about the landscape where he began, and the place of the people within it. Sciberras was born in Campbelltown and spent his formative years assisting artists in the Campbelltown artist-community of Wedderburn. From one artist-community to another, Sciberras has lived in historic Hill End since 2000, a town he first visited in 1997 as a National Art School student. C-A-C and BRAG both represent the artistic communities that are of central importance to Sciberras’ life and work. A Bathurst Regional Art Gallery and Campbelltown Art Centre partnership. Luke Sciberras is represented by King Street Gallery, Sydney and Scott Livesey Galleries, Melbourne. Artist documentary video produced by Catherine Hunter and Bruce Inglis. Copyright 2022 Catherine Hunter Productions PtyLtd & Sync Pictures
This is the uncut recording For over 25 years, previous podcast guest Luke Sciberras has been immersing himself in landscapes across the world, returning to his studio to draw on the smaller works created from life. His paintings are bold and have a commanding presence. Many of those works, as well as drawings and prints, have been brought together for the first time in two excellent survey shows. The exhibitions, titled ‘Luke Sciberras: Side of the Sky’, are running concurrently at Campbelltown Arts Centre and Bathurst Regional Art Gallery in NSW and include works sourced from public and private collections around the world. A beautiful monograph also accompanies the exhibitions (link below). The shows end on 7 August 2022. I interviewed Luke in 2019 in his studio in Hill End, NSW – an old stone church built in the 19th century – and the conversation we recorded is episode 64 of the podcast. I also recorded video on that day and this episode is the full audio recording from that video. The popular 4 minute YouTube video made from the recording can be seen on the Talking with Painters YouTube channel.
2020 Archibald, Wynne and Sulman Awards.
2024
Waterways, Scott Livesey Galleries, Melbourne, VIC
2023
From Scratch, King Street Gallery on William, Sydney
2022
Arms Reach- Letters from Home Scott Livesey Galleries, Melbourne
25 Year Survey Bathurst Regional Art Gallery & Campbeltown Arts Centre
2021
Close to Home King Street Gallery on William
2020
Black & Blue Scott Livesey Gallery Melbourne
2019
Belle Ile with Euan Macleod King Street Gallery on William
Rose into view King Street Gallery on William
2018
Belle Ile with Euan Macleod Manly Art Gallery & Museum, Sydney NSW
Escarpment Scott Livesey Galleries, Melbourne, Vic
2017
Out There King Street Gallery on William
2016
West of the Darling King Street Gallery on William
About Place Scott Livesey Galleries
2015
Flying Goose Hill (With Elisabeth Cummings) Nock Art Foundation, Hong Kong
Human Condition Olsen Irwin Gallery, Sydney
Human Condition Glasshouse Regional Gallery, Port Macquarie, NSW
2014
On Country Scott Livesey Galleries
From My Travels Olsen Irwin Gallery Annex, Sydney
Tu-Whit! Tu-Whoo! Tim Olsen Gallery, Sydney
Tu-Whit! Tu-Whoo! Bathurst Regional Art Gallery, Bathurst, NSW
2013
Signs of Life James Makin Gallery, Melbourne
Road Show (with Guy Maestri) Tim Olsen Gallery
2011
Highways and Other Recipes Tim Olsen Gallery
2010
Under a High Desert Wind James Makin Gallery, Melbourne
2009
More the Desert Reveals Tim Olsen Gallery
Fugues and Furrows Moree Plains Regional Gallery, Moree, NSW
2008
Flipside Tim Olsen Gallery
Plum Blossom Time James Makin Gallery
2007
Persimmon Season Tim Olsen Gallery
Windswept and Picked Clean James Makin Gallery
2006
When the Sun Comes Out Tim Olsen Gallery
Art Sydney06 Royal Hall of Industries, Sydney
Plucked and Gutted Port Jackson Press, Melbourne
Melbourne Art Fair Royal Exhibition Building, Melbourne
2005
A Painter’s Progress, Bathurst Regional Art Gallery, Bathurst, NSW
Dogdays and Deluges Tim Olsen Gallery
Melbourne Art Fair Royal Exhibition Building, Melbourne
Windswept and Picked Clean Port Jackson Press, Melbourne
Art Sydney05 Royal Hall of Industries, Sydney
2003
Luke Sciberras & Tristan Lanceley Tim Olsen Gallery
2002
Monaro Country Ben Grady Gallery, Canberra
2001
Back up the Monkey Tim Olsen Gallery
2000
An Uncertain Something Tim Olsen Gallery
Meet 2×2 Tim Olsen Gallery
1999
ABC Centre Ultimo, Sydney
2024
The Wynne Prize, AGNSW, Sydney, NSW
2021
Storylines + Songlines Justin Art House Museum, Vic
The Wynne Prize, Art Gallery New South Wales, Sydney
2020
Kenwood Road King Street Gallery on William, Sydney
The Wynne Prize AGNSW, Sydney
Collection Highlights Orange Regional Art Gallery, Orange
2019
Inside/outside King Street Gallery on William, Sydney
River on the Brink: Inside the Murray-Darling Basin National Trust S.H. Ervin Gallery and Broken Hill Regional Gallery, NSW
2018
Interiors Orange Regional Art Gallery, Orange, NSW
100 Years on King Street Gallery on William
National Art: Part One National Art School, Sydney
The Art of Friendship Lane Cove, Sydney
Jamberoo Mountain Road Shoalhaven Regional Art Gallery, NSW
Salient Melbourne Australian Club, Melbourne
Salient: Contemporary artists at the Western Front New England Regional Art Museum, Bathurst Regional Art Gallery, Muswellbrook Regional Arts Centre,
Bank Art Museum Moree, Tweed Regional Gallery, Anzac Memorial Gallery, Hyde Park Sydney, NSW
2017
Hadley’s Art Prize Hadley’s Orient Hotel, Hobart, Tas
Artist Profile Australasian Painters Orange Regional Gallery, Orange, NSW
The Hill End Table Art Food Fire, Bathurst Regional Art Gallery, Bathurst, NSW
Nine Lives – A Cat’s Tale Heiser Gallery, Brisbane
2016
Paint my Place Coffs Harbour Regional Gallery, Coffs Harbour, NSW
The Wynne Prize Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
Animals Gallery 81, Sydney
Phantom Exhibition Toowoomba Regional Art Gallery, Qld
2015
The Wynne Prize Art Gallery of New South Wales
Your Friend the Enemy (Gallipoli centenary exhibition) Drill Hall Gallery, ANU, Canberra; S.H. Ervin Gallery Sydney; Goulburn Regional Art Gallery, NSW; Bathurst Regional Art Gallery NSW
The Tattersall’s Club Landscape Art Prize Tattersall’s Club, Brisbane
The Art of Shakespeare Sydney Opera House, Commissioned by Bell Shakespeare Company
Outback Art Prize Broken Hill Regional Art Gallery, Broken Hill, NSW
This is the End… with Guy Maestri and Ben Quilty Bathurst Regional Art Gallery, NSW
2014
Blow Ins Broken Hill Regional Art Gallery, Broken Hill, NSW
2012
Australia Day Exhibition Tim Olsen Gallery, Sydney
2006
Melbourne Art Fair, Royal Exhibition Building, Melbourne, Vic
Kedumba Drawing Award Kedumba Gallery, Blue Mountains Grammar School, NSW
Melbourne Art Fair Royal Exhibition Building, Melbourne, Vic
2000
Brett Whiteley Travelling Art Scholarship, Sydney
Kings School Art Prize The King’s School, Sydney
1999
Brett Whiteley Travelling Art Scholarship, Sydney
Alberts Music
Art Gallery of New South Wales
Anzac Memorial Sydney
APRA Australia
Artbank
Bank Art Museum, Moree NSW
Bathurst Regional Art Gallery, Bathurst, NSW
Broken Hill Regional Gallery, Broken Hill, NSW
Campbelltown Regional Art Gallery, NSW
Coffs Harbour Regional Gallery, Coffs Harbour, NSW
Glasshouse Regional Gallery, Port Macquarie, NSW
Manly Art Gallery and Museum
Macquarie Bank, Australia
National War Memorial, Canberra
Neil Balnaves Collection
Newcastle Regional Art Gallery, NSW
Nock Art Foundation, Hong Kong
Orange Regional Gallery, Orange, NSW
Parliament House, Canberra, ACT
Pat Corrigan Collection
Penrith Regional Gallery & The Lewers Bequest, Penrith, NSW
Shoalhaven Regional Gallery, Shoalhaven, NSW
The Union Club, Sydney
The Kings School, Parramatta, Sydney
The best art shows to see in Sydney this weekend by John McDonald
The Sydney Morning Herald
23 March 2023
Exhibition review: Luke Sciberras, Side of the Sky by Gina Fairley
ArtsHub Online Publication
26 July 2022
The Western Advocate
17 June 2022
Lithgow Mercury Online Publication
17 June 2022
Spectrum, Sydney Morning Herald
October 2019
The Western Front 100 years on: Contemporary artists take stock by Brad Manera
The Financial Review
24-25 March 2018
Art of gold: Hill End, NSW by Naomi Russo
Australian Geographic - National Geographic Magazine
17 January 2017
How heart flu changed the way Luke Sciberras paints by Jill Margo
The Financial Review
22 August 2016
