King Street Gallery on William

Guy Warren’s career encompasses over 70 years of consistently exhibiting across Australia, including several major retrospectives. Amongst other sources, his work has been strongly influenced by American abstract expressionism, in both literal and neo-expressionist styles. His works frequently contain images of the human figure and its relationship to landscape, and often refer to the rainforest at Jamberoo, south of Sydney.

Warren was born in 1921 in the regional NSW city of Goulburn. At the age of 15 he was an evening student at the J.S.Watkins Art School in Sydney but at 21 enlisted in the army to serve in New Guinea. After the war, Guy studied at the National Art School in Sydney under the Commonwealth Rehabilitation Training Scheme before travelling with his wife to London, where he remained for eight years working, studying, visiting major art galleries and painting. He studied part-time at the Chelsea School of Art, the London School of Art and the Central School of Arts and Crafts.

Winning the Flotta Lauro Travelling Art Scholarship in 1967 took him back to London, and a grant from the British Council allowed him to investigate art and architecture schools in the UK and USA. On his return to Australia, he taught briefly at the Department of Industrial Design at the University of New South Wales; lectured at the Faculty of Architecture, University of Sydney; and became the inaugural director of the University’s Tin Sheds. In 1976 Warren was appointed principal lecturer and head of painting at the new Sydney College of the Arts. From 1992 to 2002 he was the Director of the University of Wollongong Art Collection.

Among many other prizes, Guy was the recipient of the AGNSW Trustees’ Watercolour Award (Wynne Prize Exhibition) in 1980, the Archibald Prize for portraiture in 1985 and the Bronze Medal at the 4th International Triennale of Drawing in Poland in 1988. He was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in 1999, and then the Australia Medal (AM) in 2013 for his contribution to the Arts. He holds an Honorary Doctorate of Creative Arts from the University of Wollongong and an Honorary Doctorate of Visual Arts from the University of Sydney.

In 1994 Guy carried out a sky drawing at 14,000 feet over Sydney Harbour using an image which frequently appears in his paintings and drawings, based on the Icarus legend. This was later repeated over Armidale and Bondi.

In February 2024, The Rocky Hill War Memorial and Museum will exhibit a never before seen collection of drawings and photographs taken by Guy Warren during his military service in Bougainville, Papua New Guinea, during WW2.

Guy’s works are represented internationally as well as in the collections of the National Gallery, Canberra, the Australian War Museum, Canberra, every Australian state art gallery, the British Museum and the Contemporary Art Society Collection, London, the National Library, Beijing, China, the Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taiwan, the United Overseas Bank, Singapore, the Westpac Collection, New York, and the Deal Collection, Dallas, USA. Examples of his work are also in the collections of most Australian regional art galleries.

King Street Gallery has represented Guy Warren since 2017. Guy lives and works in Sydney.

Exhibitions

Films

Like an Old Movie: Guy Warren at 102

Cinematographer: Michael Bradfield Sound technician: Keith Music: Jonathan Holowell 2023

Artist Guy Warren is busier than ever at 100 years of age, ABC TV & iview

'From the Mountain to the Sky': An Interview with artist Guy Warren 2021

On Friday 16 April 2021, the National Art School was proud to launch its new Drawing Gallery with an exhibition of works by NAS Alumnus, Fellow and esteemed artist, Guy Warren AM.

Artist Guy Warren talks with Maria Stoljar in his studio 2021

Maria Stoljar interviewed artist Guy Warren in his Sydney studio for episode 107 of the Talking with Painters podcast.

In Conversation with Ham Darroch and Guy Warren: FLOWLINE, CMAG

Canberra Museum and Art Gallery hosts exhibition FLOWLINE, the visual history of the development of Abstraction in modern Australia.

Guy Warren interview with Richard Morecroft April 2020

Guy Warren in Conversation with Peter Pinson

An excerpt of an interview with Australian artist, Guy Warren. For the full interview, go to the Cultural Conversations web site, http://www.cultconv.com.

Guy Warren interviewed by Richard Morecroft at the Shoalhaven Regional Art Gallery 2018

Richard Morecroft interviews Guy Warren on his exhibition 'River Rainforest Rock' at the Shoalhaven Regional Gallery, Nowra.

Guy Warren on "Flugelman with Wingman" 2017

Interview from 17 May 2017 for the Bert Flugelman 'Wry ARTificer' exhibition. Panizzi Gallery, UOW Library. Building 16, Northfields Ave, Wollongong

Guy Warren's interview on Lloyd Rees 2016

Sydney artist Guy Warren was a longtime friend and colleague of artist Lloyd Rees. Hear his memories and insights into one of Sydney’s most beloved artists. Filmed as part of the exhibition Lloyd Rees: Painting with Pencil 1930-36, held at the Museum of Sydney 12 December 2015 – 10 April 2016.

Guy Warren AM - Painter and printmaker 2016

Acclaimed painter and printmaker Guy Warren AM believes that creativity is in everyone – it’s just a matter of thinking outside the box and trying something different. Honorary Doctor of Creative Arts, UOW 1998

Scott Bevan speaks with Guy Warren 2011

Australian artist Guy Warren talks about turning 90 and how his World War II service in PNG led to a meeting with David Attenborough.

Portrait of Guy Warren 2016

ABC Earshot GUESTS Guy Warren Artist, Sydney; John McDonald Art Critic, Sydney Morning Herald Sydney; Deborah Hart Senior Curator, National Gallery of Australia Canberra; Barry Pearce Curator, Guy Warren's exhibition at S.H. Ervin Gallery, 'Genesis of a Painter' Sydney

Guy Warren Part 2: Archibald Portrait Prize winner... 🎨 and so much more.

Guy Warren Part 1: The Making of an Australian Artist

Solo Exhibitions [selected]

2024
Drawings from Bougainville, Rocky Hill War Memorial & Museum, Goulburn, NSW

Drawings from Bougainville, ANZAC Memorial Hyde Park, Sydney

2023
Guy Warren at 102 King Street Gallery on William, Sydney

2022
101 King Street Gallery on William

2021
The 100th year King Street Gallery on William
From The Mountain To The Sky: Guy Warren Drawings National Art School, Sydney
Paintings and Paper Gallery Lane Cove and Creative Studios, Sydney

2020
New work + King Street Gallery on William

2019
Forward & back King Street Gallery on William

2018
River, Rock, Rainforest Shoalhaven Regional Gallery, Nowra, NSW

2017
Works on paper from the artist’s studio King Street Gallery on William

2016
Genesis of a painter: Guy warren at 95 National Trust S.H. Ervin Gallery, Sydney

2015
Dust of Memory Olsen Irwin Gallery, Sydney

2012
Work from the Dry Country Rex Irwin Galleries, Sydney

2009
Rex Irwin Galleries

2008
BMG Galleries, Adelaide, SA
United Galleries, Perth, WA

2007
Annandale Galleries, Sydney
BMG Galleries

2006
Annandale Galleries

2005
Axia Modern Art, Melbourne

2004
Australia Art Resources, Sydney
Solander Galleries, ACT

2003
Annandale Galleries
Axia Modern Art

2003-04
Presence and Landscape – Guy Warren in Retrospect: Retrospective exhibition covering 60 years of art practice (A Mosman Art Gallery exhibition touring 6 regional art galleries, NSW)

2002
University of Wollongong – Retrospective exhibition of watercolours

2001
A Painters Journey, Retrospective exhibition, Cairns Regional Art Gallery, Qld

2000
Annandale Galleries
Solander Galleries.

1997
Annandale Galleries

1994
Warren carried out a series of ‘sky drawings’ above Sydney Harbour, using an aeroplane (Cessna 183), cloudless sky, vapour, sun and wind, at 14,000 ft.
Repeated above Armidale Regional Gallery and in 2005, above the Ocean at Bondi NSW

1994
Solander Galleries

1992
BMG Fine Arts, Adelaide
Von Bertouch Galleries, Newcastle

1991
Macquarie Galleries, Sydney.

1989-92
Person, Place and Process – A survey of the work of Guy Warren, a travelling exhibition to six major regional galleries, NSW.

1989
Manning Regional Art Gallery, Taree, NSW
Macquarie Galleries

1987
Macquarie Galleries

1986
Macquarie Galleries

1984
Quentin Galleries, Perth, WA

1983
Stuart Gerstmann Galleries, Melbourne
Recent Works from New York, Gallery A, Sydney

1982
Gallery A

1981
Von Bertouch Galleries

1980
Gallery A. (2 exhibitions)

1977
Guy Warren – Survey, 1955-77; Newcastle Regional Art Gallery; Paddington Town Hall Art Centre, Sydney

1976
Bonython Galleries, Sydney; Powell Street Gallery, Melbourne; Greenhill Galleries, Adelaide

1974
Skinner Galleries, Perth, WA
Ray Hughes Gallery, Brisbane, Qld

1973
Bonython Galleries
Llewellyn Gallery, Adelaide

1970
Skinner Galleries
Johnstone Gallery, Brisbane
Macquarie Galleries, ACT

1969
Skinner Galleries

1968
De Marco Galleries, Edinburgh, UK
South Yarra Gallery, Melbourne, Vic

1987
Gallery A

1966
White Studio Galleries, Adelaide
Skinner Galleries
Macquarie Galleries

1965
Macquarie Galleries
Von Bertouch Galleries

1963
Von Bertouch Galleries

1960
Blaxland Galleries, Sydney, NSW1959
Obelisk Gallery, London, UK.

Group Exhibitions [selected]

2021
The Big Picture Show King Street Gallery on William Sydney
Hills and Wings Wollongong University Art Gallery, NSW

2020
Canberra Museum & Art Gallery, Canberra, ACT
Salon des Refuses, SH Ervin Gallery, Sydney

2019
Conversations with Alice Gallery Lane Cove + Creative Studios, Sydney

2018
The Art of Friendship Gallery Lane Cove + Creative Studios
Jamberoo Mountain Road Shoalhaven Regional Gallery, Nowra, NSW

2016
Luminous – Australian Watercolours 1900-2000 National Gallery of Victoria

2015
Nicholas Thompson Gallery, Melbourne

2014              
Across the Water
China-Australia Modern Masters of Watercolour, Quanhua, China
Shenzhen Fine Art Museum, Shenzhen, China; Juniper Hall, Sydney

2013
Not the Way Home – 13 Artists Paint the Desert New England Regional Art Museum, NSW & S.H. Ervin Gallery, Sydney
Stella Downer Gallery, Sydney
Buratti Fine Art, Perth, WA

2012
Tradition and Transformation: Taiwan-Australia Watercolour Exhibition, Taichung, China; Mosman Art Gallery

2011
Taiwan International Watercolour Exhibition, Robeson Gallery, Pennsylvania
Carolton Cultural Art Centre, Georgia, USA
Chung-shan National Art Gallery, Taipei

2011
An approach to the Landscape (Francella, Murphy and Warren, Axia Modern Art, Melbourne, Vic

2010
Wattle, Rose and Thistle: The Finest Water-colourists of Australia England and Scotland, At the Wollongong Regional Art Gallery, Sydney NSW; Wagner gallery, Sydney, NSW; Bankside Gallery, London, UK

2010
Australian Masters Solander Galleries, ACT

2009
Heads Rex Irwin Galleries, Sydney, NSW

2008              
Important Drawings Prints and Ceramics
 Rex Irwin Galleries.

2008
Lines of Fire: Armed Forces to Art School National Art School, Sydney (NAS), NSW

2005
Moist – Australian Watercolours ANG, Canberra; Important Works on Paper and Sculpture, Rex Irwin Gallery

2003
Beneath the Monsoon Artspace, Mackay, Qld, also featured in a number of other regional galleries in Queensland

2002
Australian Watercolour Institute Mosman regional Gallery, Sydney.

2001
Australian Masters Solander Galleries; A Century of Collecting 1901-2001, Dougherty Gallery, Sydney and toured regionally within NSW; The Studio Tradition, Manly Regional Art Gallery and Museum, Sydney; An Approach to the Landscape, Axia Modern Art, Melbourne, Vic

2000
Twenty-Six Important Painters, Solander Galleries, Canberra; Annandale Galleries

1999
Australian Paper Art Awards, Interstate touring exhibition

1999-2001
Icarus A travelling exhibition around ten regional art galleries within three States of Australia

1999
Silver, 25th Anniversary Exhibition, Ivan Dougherty Gallery, UNSW, Sydney

1998
Out of Australia Australian Contemporary Painting, Shanghai/Hong Kong.

1997
Dobell Drawing Prize AGNSW
LandMarks – contemporary Visions of the Australian Landscape, Campbelltown City Bicentennial Art Gallery.

1996
Archibald Prize AGNSW
Dobell Drawing Prize AGNSW
Flagging the Republic Sherman Goodhope Galleries, Sydney, NSW

1995
6th International Drawing Prize Triennale, Poland
Dobell Drawing Prize AGNSW
Sulman Prize AGNSW
Asia and Oceanic Influence, Ivan Dougherty Gallery
Australian Watercolours – 1880s to 1900s, AGNSW

1994
Drawing on Inspiration, Ivan Dougherty Gallery. In addition to this exhibition, a ‘sky drawing’ was carried out: The Fall of Icarus, using a light plane and vapour trails at 14,000 ft

1993
Identities: Art from Australia, Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taiwan and Wollongong City Art Gallery, Wollongong, NSW

1992
Contemporary Australian Drawings from the Collection, AGNSW
The Goulburn Region – 6 Artists interpretations, Goulburn Regional Art Gallery

1991
5th International Drawing Triennale, Poland

1989
Prints and Australia, Australian National Gallery, ACT
Twentieth Century Australian Watercolours, AGNSW
Modern Australian Paintings, Charles Nodrum Gallery, Melbourne, Vic

1988
Contemporary views of New England, Regional Art Museums of Armidale and Tamworth, NSW
The Illawarra and Environs – A pictorial survey, Wollongong City Art Gallery
The Artist and Lane Cove, Artarmon Galleries, Sydney
4th International Drawing Triennale, Poland
Drawings in Australia – Drawings, Watercolours and Pastels from the 1770s to the 1980s, Australian National Gallery, Canberra

1987
Painters’ Visions Chicago International Art Expositions, Chicago, USA

1986
Painters’ Visions Macquarie Galleries

1985
Salute to Lloyd Rees Macquarie Galleries
The Drawn Image, Penrith and Armidale Regional Galleries, NSW
Macquarie Galleries, NSW
Perspecta Exhibition, Sydney
Archibald Prize AGNSW
The Sulman Art Prize AGNSW

1985
Archibald Prize AGNSW

1984
Paperchase Christchurch, NZ
Present Day Australian Drawing Freemantle Arts Centre, Freemantle, WA

1983
Attitudes to Drawing Ivan Dougherty Gallery

1982
Recent Australian Works on Paper AGNSW, Sydney
Australian Drawings in the Newcastle Region Art Gallery, Newcastle NSW

1981
2nd International Drawing Triennale Poland
Tasmania visited Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Hobart, and Launceston Art Gallery, Tas

1980
Australian contemporary Paperworks: Drawn and Quartered Adelaide Festival Exhibition, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide
Wynne Prize AGNSW
Works on Paper Shepparton Art Gallery, Vic

1978
Contemporary Australian Drawing, Western Australian Art Gallery, Perth, WA

1977
Australian Colourists, Western Australian Institute of Technology, Perth, WA; Landscape and Image – Contemporary Australian Painting, Jakarta, Bandung, and Jogjakarta, Indonesia.

1975
Australian Pavilion Expo Okinawa, Japan
Fifty Years of the Macquarie Galleries – the 5th decade, 1965-75, Macquarie Galleries

1974
Fifty Years of the National Art School Bonython Galleries, Sydney
Georges Invitation Purchase Prize Melbourne, Vic
Darnell de Grunchy Purchase Prize Brisbane, Qld

1972
Australian Paintings and Tapestries of the Last 20 years, London, UK and Sydney.

1967
Perth Festival Invitation Prize Exhibition, Perth
Australian Pavilion Exp ’67, Montreal, Canada

1966
Recent Australian Painting Los Angeles and San Francisco, USA
Aspects of Australian Painting Auckland, NZ

1964
Australian Print Survey, (Australia wide travelling exhibition)

1961
Pan Pacific Artists’ Exhibition, Tokyo, Japan
Sao Paulo Biennale, Brazil (A Contemporary Art Society of NSW exhibition)

1960
Three Australian Artists Bear Lane Gallery, Oxford, UK

1959
London group, London, UK

1955-57
Australian Artists’ Association exhibitions, Imperial Institute Gallery, London, UK

 

Collections

Araluen Art Centre, Alice Springs, NT
Artbank, Australia
Art Gallery of New South Wales
Art Gallery of South Australia
Art Gallery of Tasmania
Art Gallery of Western Australia
Allens Arthur Robinson, Sydney, NSW
Australian National University, Canberra, ACT
Bathurst Regional Art Gallery, Bathurst, NSW
Bendigo Art Gallery, Bendigo, Vic
The British Museum, London, UK
Burnie Regional Art Gallery, Burnie, Tas
BHP Collection, Melbourne, Vic
Cairns Art Gallery, Qld
Canberra Museum Art Gallery, Canberra
Contemporary Art Society, London, UK
Churchlands College of Advanced Education, Perth
College of Advanced Education, Canberra, ACT
Curtin University, Perth, WA
The Deal Collection, Dallas, USA
The Darnell Collection, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Qld
Grafton Regional Gallery, Grafton, NSW
James Cook University, Townsville, Qld
The Kedumba Collection of Contemporary Australian Drawing, Orange Regional Gallery, NSW
Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW
Manly Art Gallery & Museum, Sydney, NSW
Mosman Art Gallery, Mosman, NSW
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, ACT
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Vic
National Library, Beijing, China
Newcastle Art Gallery, Newcastle, NSW
Parliament House, Canberra, ACT
Qantas, Australia
Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, Qld
Queensland State Library, Brisbane, Qld
The Royal Australian Institute of Architects, Canberra
The Stein Collection, University of Western Australia, Perth, WA
Shepparton Art Museum, Shepparton, Vic
Sheraton on the Park, Sydney, NSW
The Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taipei, Taiwan
Toowoomba Regional Art Gallery, Toowoomba, Qld
The University of New England, Armidale, NSW
The University of Wollongong, Wollongong,
The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW
The United Overseas Bank, Singapore
Union Club, Sydney, NSW
Westpac, New York, USA
Wollongong Art Gallery, Wollongong, NSW

The 100th year 2021

View exhibition catalogue

Guy Warren: River Rainforest Rock 2019

View Catalogue here

 

Forward & back 2019

Jamberoo Mountain Road 2018

Works on paper 2018

Archibald Prize 2021 by John McDonald

The Sydney Morning Herald

15 June 2021

Peter Wegner Portrait of Guy Warren at 100

Art Gallery of NSW

June 2021

Guy Warren by Tracey Clement

Art Guide Australia

15 April 2021

Guy Warren interviewed by Eloise Füss

The Mix ABC Documentary and podcast

February 15, 2020

Landscape of the 100-year life by Mathew Smith

Professional Planner Online

21 March 2019

Guy Warren by John McDonald

John McDonald Blog

February 2, 2018

Guy Warren by John McDonald

Sydney Morning Herald, Spectrum

January 27-28, 2018

Guy Warren: nonagenarian painter with no limits by John McDonald

Sydney Morning Herald, Spectrum

26 April 2016

Guy Warren by Steve Lopes

Artist Profile Magazine

Issue 34, 2015