End Game One

Australian Galleries

Glenmore Road and Roylston Street, Paddington

17 March–5 April 2009

Showing at both Australian Galleries’ Sydney locations, End Game One is a sombre occasion. It brings together a survey of the 18-year professional career of Australian painter Fred Cress who is in the advanced stages of cancer. The exhibition is being shown under the assumption that it will be the last to be held during his lifetime. Through his allegorical paintings the exhibition explores not only the urbane, but also the frailty of humanity — a tragicomic wash of untamed desire, greed, lust and envy. Born in India and educated in England, Cress relocated to Australia in 1961. An Archibald Prize (1988) winner and Member of the Order of Australia (2003), his work is represented in every major Australian collection, including Canberra’s National Gallery of Australia and Parliament House art collections along with all state gallery collections.

www.australiangalleries.com.au

Fred Cress, The Avenue, 2008, acrylic on canvas, 150 x 250cm. Courtesy the artist and Australian Galleries, Sydney. Photograph by Victoria Fernandez.