Andrew Antoniou

A PLACE BEYOND ~ A Solo Exhibition
GRAINGER GALLERY

17 Sept - 4 October ~ Grainger Gallery

“The many great gardens of the world, of literature and poetry, of painting and music, of religion and architecture, all make the point as clear as possible: The soul cannot thrive in the absence of a garden. “
Thomas Moore, The Re-Enchantment of Everyday Life, 1996

Gardens have always been a part of the narrative within my work.
In this exhibition I want to delve into this magical subject and how it has shaped my vision . Gardens have been ,throughout my life, a place where creativity, play, enchantment, work and solace have all been, at different times, players in natures theatre. Once again in my life cancer has refocused my vision towards the questions of death and transformation. Gardens embody this dynamic, the heart of which is regeneration and the changing of the seasons. The garden, with all its beauty and disorder, has once again provided a place of retreat ,reflection and comfort.

Gardens have for me, been a powerful metaphor where growth speaks of that beyond the material world. Divination and ritual have always been deeply embedded in gardening practice to evoke the beings of the other world responsible for good harvest, divine beauty and spaces where these influences can come together with the everyday. In history the garden metaphor was there at the beginning with the paradise that was Eden and its story of temptation and banishment. It was there in the Garden of Gethsemene, a place of betrayal and tragedy.

It was there at The Hanging gardens of Babylon. A place of monumental and palatial beauty, one of the seven wonders of the world, a paradise recreated.
It is In the garden that we create a place that outlives us and continues to grow beyond our time. It is a partnership with nature where we work as equals and wonder at the changes that we have made together and, at times, to learn from the unexpected designs which nature has kept secret.
These images are gardens that are of the imaginal world that hold strands of memory and observation, familiarity and wonder.


Painter and printmaker Andrew Antoniou completed a Bachelor of Fine Art at the Winchester School of Art and a Master of Art at the Central School of Art, London in 1974. Antoniou has held 7 solo exhibitions with Australian Galleries since 2006 and has exhibited internationally in the United States at Davidson Galleries in Seattle from 1987 – 2001. He has held solo exhibitions at Wollongong, Muswellbrook, Goulburn, Tweed River, Shoalhaven, Orange and Maitland Regional Galleries, and became a member of the Royal Society of Etchers in London in 2001.

Andrew Antoniou has been a Finalist in various major prizes including The Dobell Drawing Prize, AGNSW; the Jacaranda Drawing Prize, Grafton Regional Gallery; The National Works On Paper Prize, Victoria; the Adelaide Perry Drawing Prize, Sydney; the Hutchins Drawing Prize, Hobart; the Swan Hill Drawing Prize, Victoria and the Banyule Works On Paper Prize, Victoria. Antoniou was awarded the Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery Prize in 1988, the Warringah Art Prize in 1994 and the Fremantle Arts Centre Print Award in 1998. He won the Tyree Tycan Drawing Prize in 2005 and the Swan Hill Drawing Prize in 2014. He was Awarded an Australian Print Council Commission in 2004 and 2014 and was acquired by the Ketumba Drawing Collection in 2012.

Andrew Antoniou has taught at most universities and art schools in NSW over 30 years including National Art School, Sydney College of the Arts, COFA, Canberra School of Art, Newcastle University, Woollongong University, University of Western Sydney. His work is represented in the collections of the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra; the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney; the Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery, Victoria and the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford in the UK.