Known for his abstract paintings, artist Ross Laurie was born in Walcha, located in the northern tablelands of NSW in 1961. Laurie studied Visual Art at Sydney College of the Arts in 1982. In 1984 and 1985 the artist travelled to London to complete a Foundation Course at St Martin’s School of Arts, and then continued his studies at Newcastle Polytechnic (now Northumbria University, UK).
Upon returning to Australia, Laurie relocated to Melbourne in 1985 and graduated from a course in painting at the Victorian College Prahan in 1986. Laurie returned to Walcha in 1990, where he currently lives and practices.
Laurie has won the inaugural Norville Prize for Landscape Painting, the COFA Print Award at the Paddington Art Prize and the Kings School Art Prize. He has also been selected as a finalist in the Dobell Drawing Biennial and the Wynne Prize, both at the Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney. Notably, Laurie’s work has been selected for the Salon des Refuses ten times between 1995 and 2019.
The artist’s work can be found in numerous state and corporate collections such as Artbank, AGNSW, National Gallery of Australia, New England Regional Art Museum, Tamworth Regional Gallery, the Laverty Collection Sydney, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Macquarie Bank Collection and NRMA Sydney.
Ross Laurie’s 2020 solo exhibition at King Street Gallery ‘engaged the drought and it did so deeply. Many of the paintings in “Dry at Walcha” were suffused with the glow of pink light. But it was the arid stain of ash rather than nostalgia or eros that made these works glower’ (Anna Johnson, 2022). Lauries last major body of work and solo exhibition ‘After Storms And Rain’ 2022 ‘found a harder, brighter palette but also bolder geometric forms’ (Anna Johnson, 2022).
“It might be accurate to say that my work echoes the structure of the land. The verticals in tree forms. Multiple horizons. Forms and shapes embedded from childhood memories. I don’t draw in order to paint. If I do draw I’m after a way to help me see. There is no scaffolding.” (Ross Laurie, 2022)
Ross Laurie joined King Street Gallery in 2014. He lives and works on his family farm, Rams Gully, in Walcha NSW.
A film by Maria Stoljar from 'Talking with Painters'. Salient, Contemporary artists at the Western Front is a travelling exhibition in NSW, 2018–2020. In 2017 twelve leading Australian artists visited the First World War battlefields of the Western Front, a century after the conflict that claimed so many lives. This exhibition brings together the works they created in response to the experience. For more information visit the website www.salientwesternfront.com
Ross Laurie paints in the field at Fowlers Gap, in Far West NSW. The vast landscape and distant horizons gave Ross something very different to work with than the familiar rural landscape around his Walcha sheep property. In this video Ross sets up at the high point of the top tanks, looking west across the Barrier Ranges. Film by Sean O'Brien
2024
Moonlight-Daylight King Street Gallery on William, Sydney
2023
Ross Laurie: Mountains to Sea MAGMA Galleries, Melbourne
2022
After Storms And Rain King Street Gallery on William
2020
Dry at Walcha King Street Gallery on William
2018
New paintings and works on paper King Street Gallery on William
2016
New paintings and works on paper King Street Gallery on William
2014
New paintings King Street Gallery on William
2011
Paintings and works on paper Scott Livesey Gallery, Melbourne
Paintings Damien Minton Gallery, Sydney
2010
Paintings and works on paper Damien Minton Gallery
2009
Damien Minton Gallery
Moree Plains Regional Gallery
2008
Damien Minton Gallery
2007
Damien Minton Gallery
2006
Damien Minton Gallery
2005
Damien Minton Gallery
Wrestles with Landscape, New England Regional Art Museum
2002
Damien Minton Gallery, Newcastle
1999
Coventry Gallery, Sydney
1998
Old School Gallery, Walcha
1997
Coventry Gallery
1996
Coventry Gallery
1995
Coventry Gallery
1994
Coventry Gallery
1993
William Mora Galleries, Melbourne
1992
New England Art Museum
1991
Tamworth City Gallery
William Mora Galleries, Melbourne
Ben Grady Gallery, Canberra
1990
Linden Gallery, Melbourne
1988
Girgis and Klym Gallery, Melbourne
1981
Tamworth City Gallery
2024
Homegrown Wynne New England Regional Art Museum (NERAM), Armidale, NSW
2021
Gorge Country New England Regional Art Museum (NERAM)
The Big Picture Show King Street Gallery on William, Sydney, NSW
2019
Inside/Outside King Street Gallery on William
Abstract 19’ King Street Gallery on William
2018
Salient Australia Club Melbourne, Melbourne, Vic
Salon des Refusès S.H. Ervin Gallery, Sydney, NSW
2018/2019
Salient – the Western Front centennial commemoration NERAM, NSW; Bathurst Regional Art Gallery, NSW; Anzac Memorial Art Gallery, Sydney, NSW; Muswellbrook Regional Arts Centre, NSW; Tweed Regional Gallery, NSW
2017
Salon des Refusès S.H. Ervin Gallery
2016
The Wynne Prize Art Gallery New South Wales (AGNSW)
Salon des Refusès S.H. Ervin Gallery, Mornington Peninsula Regional Art Gallery, Vic
Paint my Place Coffs Harbour Regional Gallery, NSW
2015
Paddington Art Prize [winner]
The Piano has been Drinking [Not Me] Maitland Regional Art Gallery, NSW
Salon des Refusès S.H. Ervin Gallery
2014
Drawing out: Dobell Prize for Drawing Art Gallery NSW
2013
Walcha: City of Art Walcha Gallery of Art, NSW
Last but not Least King Street Gallery on William
NSW Parliament Plein Air Painting Prize Parliament House, Sydney, NSW
Packsaddle NERAM, Armidale
Salon des Refusès S.H. Ervin Gallery
2012-14
In Two Art S.H. Ervin Gallery, travelling
2012
Not the Way Home: 13 Artists Paint the Desert S.H. Ervin Gallery, Sydney, and touring nationally
Melbourne Art Fair with Damien Minton Gallery and Artist Profile stands
Salon des Refusès S.H. Ervin Gallery
Big Picture Show King Street on William Gallery
Landscape Show Defiance Gallery, Sydney
Five Bells Damien Minton Gallery
Dobell Prize for Drawing AGNSW
2011
Salon des Refusès S.H. Ervin Gallery
Works on Paper Award Hazelhurst Regional Gallery, Gymea
2010
Dobell Prize for Drawing AGNSW
Melbourne Art Fair 2010
2009
Works on Paper Award Hazelhurst Regional Gallery, Gymea
New England Views NERAM, Armidale, NSW
Same Place, Many Views Defiance Gallery, Sydney
Salon des Refusès S.H. Ervin Gallery
2008
Melbourne Art Fair, Damien Minton Gallery
Paddington Art Prize (winner of the COFA Print Award)
2008
North South East West Damien Minton Gallery
2007
Salon des Refusès S.H. Ervin Gallery
2006
Salon des Refusès S.H. Ervin Gallery
Regional Encounters Tamworth City Gallery
Walcha – City of Art Gallery Karlovy Vary, Ostrov, Czech Republic
Same Place Different Views Defiance Gallery, Sydney
2005
The Year in Art S.H. Ervin Gallery
(Going) Out There Ivan Dougherty Gallery, COFA, UNSW
Country Energy Art Prize Coffs Harbour Regional Gallery and NSW Parliament House
2004
England Picture NERAM, Armidale, NSW
Hazelhurst Work on Paper Award Hazelhurst Regional Gallery, Gymea
2003
Surface Memories Tamworth City Gallery
Country Energy Art Prize NERAM, Armidale, NSW
Walcha – City of Art New Contemporaries Gallery, Sydney
2000
Melbourne Art Fair Bryan Hooper Gallery, Sydney
1999
Coventry Diary Coventry Gallery, Sydney
1998
Salon des Refusès S.H. Ervin Gallery
1995
Salon des Refusès S.H. Ervin Gallery
1991
Syme Dodson Gallery, Sydney
1989
Drawings William Mora Galleries, Melbourne
1988
New Art Melbourne Ivan Dougherty, Sydney
Gallery Artists Girgis and Klym Gallery, Melbourne
Moet and Chandon Touring Exhibition
1987
Moet and Chandon Touring Exhibition
1982
New England Artists Tamworth City Gallery
Artbank
Australia National Gallery
Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW)
Benalla Regional Gallery
Coffs Harbour Regional Gallery, NSW
Gaden Ridgeway
Laverty Collection, Sydney
La Trobe University, Melbourne
Macquarie Bank, Australia
Maitland Regional Gallery, Maitland, NSW
Newcastle Regional Art Gallery
New England Regional Art Gallery
Muswellbrook Regional Arts Centre
NRMA, Sydney
State Bank Vic
Tamworth Regional Gallery, Tamworth, NSW
The Western Front 100 years on: contemporary artists take stock by Brad Manera
Australian Financial review
2018
Walcha-based landscape painter Ross Laurie's WWI paintings showing at NERAM by Nicholas Fuller
Armidale Express Online
2 April 2018
Salon des Refuses 2017: the art that didn't make the Archibald Prize cut by John McDonald
Sydney Morning Herald, Spectrum
4 August 2017
Sydney Morning Herald, Spectrum
14 November 2015
Salon des Refusés 2015 & Stars + Stripes by John McDonald
Sydney Morning Herald, Spectrum
8 August 2015
