MAC to host an exhibition of Australian arts icon Wes Walters

Published on 03 December 2018

Mildura Arts Centre is set to host an exhibition featuring the works of Mildura-born artist and Australian arts trailblazer Wes Walters.

Born in Mildura in 1928, Wes was nationally recognised for his multi-disciplinary approach to art, mastering an amazing variety of art forms including graphic design, portrait painting, sculpting, draughtsman, printmaking, abstract expressionist and landscape.

Councillor for Arts and Culture Jason Modica said Wes’s multi-faceted approach to art in the post-war era flew in the face of convention.

“Early in the post-war era, many artists took a more specialised approach, concentrating on a very small number of art forms,” Cr Modica said.

“Wes bucked this trend, revelling in the full range of visual and artistic ideas to use the discipline he felt best suited his subject or project.

“His approach was subsequently seen as the precursor to the multi-disciplinary practice now taken by countless modern artists.”

Cr Modica said Wes would also be fondly remembered locally for his iconic performance art piece of Reg Etherington, when he painted a live portrait of him on stage in 1977.

Wes’s works will be featured in an upcoming exhibition at MAC, fittingly titled ‘the art of the pre-cursor’.

The exhibition is a collaborative effort between MAC, curator Dr Domenico de Clario and Wes’s son, Ren Walters, and opens on Friday 7 December, running through until Sunday 3 March.

Cr Modica said the collaborators set out to reflect the “rhythm of thinking and making” that Wes displayed throughout his career.

The retrospective exhibition will feature more than 100 works from public and private collections, as well as the artist’s estate.

Exhibition Opening by Rebecca Coates, Director, Shepparton Art Museum

5.30pm, Friday 7 December

In Conversation with Domenico de Clario, David Thomas and Ren Walters

11am, Saturday 8 December

Floor Talk

11am, Saturday 19 January

There will also be a parallel exhibition, 'Wes Walters: the art of the pre–cursor (the studio)' at museum of innocence Mildura.

Please contact Helen Piscioneri at Mildura Arts Centre at helen.piscioneri@mildura.vic.gov.au or on (03) 5018 8330 for more information