WITHERS, ROD (1946-1988)

"First Creek" (1979)
mixed media
25 x 20cm
signed lower right
*Ray Hughes Collection
*private collection, Sydney
 
Withers was a prominent Australian Abstract Expressionist. He studied painting at the Prahran Technical college in 1963 to 1964 and at the National Gallery School from 1965 to 1967. He painted in London during 1970 to 1971 before returning to live and work in Carlton. His first one man exhibition was in 1969 and he exhibited regularly across Australia for twenty years. He was a painting tutor at CAE courses in Melbourne for several years and traveled to North West Queensland and Northern Territory in 1985 with Roy Churcher as artists conducting art workshops for Aboriginal children at schools and on missions. He died tragically in a skiing accident in 1988. His work is represented in the Australian National Gallery, Queensland Art Gallery and regional and institutional collections. This work comes from the personal collection of important dealer & collector Ray Hughes, and was exhibited in his Brisbane gallery in 1979.