Rick Amor (b. 1948, Frankston, Victoria) is one of Australia’s most prominent figurative painters and a highly regarded printmaker and sculptor. Amor lives and works in Melbourne. His supreme grasp of tonality allows him to masterfully manipulate light and transport the viewer into his images. Filled with light and shadow, Amor’s brooding and nostalgic works are captivating upon first glance, yet necessitate time and contemplation to truly appreciate the artist’s control of his chosen mediums.
In 1965 Amor completed a Certificate of Art at the Caulfield Institute of Technology, and from 1966 to 1968 studied at the National Gallery School, Melbourne where he received an Associate Diploma of Painting. He has been the recipient of several Australia Council studio residencies, which have allowed him to work in locations such as London, New York and Barcelona. In 1999, the Australian War Memorial appointed him as the official war artist to East Timor, the first such appointment since the Vietnam War.
Amor has held over 60 solo exhibitions since first exhibiting in 1974, with annual exhibitions at private galleries around Australia. A major survey exhibition of his paintings was curated by McClelland Gallery in 1990 and toured various regional galleries in Victoria and South Australia. In 1993 an exhibition mounted by Bendigo Art Gallery toured Victoria and Tasmania, presenting his work as a printmaker and graphic artist. An important exhibition of Amor’s bronze sculpture was undertaken by Benalla Art Gallery in 2002, including many maquettes never previously exhibited. In 2005, Robert Lindsay curated Rick Amor: Standing in the Shadows, the second major survey of Amor’s work to be presented at McClelland Gallery+Sculpture Park. In March 2008, Heide Museum of Modern Art presented Rick Amor: A Single Mind, a triumphant survey of Rick’s paintings and works on paper from 1968 – 2008.
Gary Catalano’s biography The Solitary Watcher: Rick Amorand his Art, was published by The Miegunyah Press in 2001; and in 2008, The Beagle Press published Gavin Fry’s richly illustrated monograph, Rick Amor.
“Rick Amor has, over the past five decades, produced an extensive and consistent body of work, much of which is beautifully crafted, psychologically incisive, but has generally remained under the radar of the glitzy art world.” Sasha Grishin, 2018.
Rick Amor is held in all major Australian public collections as well private collections nationally and overseas.
Image: Rick Amor, Study for ‘The dining room at night’, 2023, oil on canvas, 56 x 46 cm
