David Usher

A brief history

My work is focused on the relationship between environment/landscape and the act of painting. My practice represents a personal metaphor for life experiences. Memories of places, travelling through the landscape and all the adventures along the way translate into a point of departure for paintings of the Australian landscape. 

I am actively engaged in disrupting a literal understanding of the landscape, seeking to translate my encounters into both familiar and unfamiliar shapes and forms that generate a level of visual tension between sky and ground, the literal and the imagined. I invite the viewer to rethink their respective understanding of the environment and potentially redirect their ideas toward new possibilities of what ‘landscape’ might be.

This is defined by not only the importance of place to a personal narrative but also the connections that exist through memory and family to specific sites that I have known during my lifetime.

The Australian landscape is significant as an environment where I have found solitude and a sense of belonging. It is the space in which I can pause, problem-solve, and ultimately re-interpret these experiences through working with clay, mark-making, and painting on a variety of surfaces.

Exhibitions

2022 Shapeshifters… exhibition with Gary Abkin and Peter Berner, Lethbridge Gallery, Brisbane

2022 The Landscape was the Occasion… exhibition with Naomi White, M2 Gallery, Surry Hills, Sydney

2022 A Walk Amongst the Trees… Group exhibition at USQ New B Block Gallery

2021 The Places We Go… Trio exhibition with Naomi White and Leisl Baker, Brisbane

2021 When the Night Comes… Solo Exhibition (curated by Alexandra Lawson) LASSO Gallery

2020/21Satellites… Group exhibition of ALG artists. Alexandra Lawson Gallery, TWBA.

2020/21 Gathering in the Light Collaborative Exhibition with Stephen Spurrier, TRAG, Toowoomba

2020   What if the Sky (Doesn’t fall on us) Group exhibition with Naomi White and Leisl Baker, Brisbane

2020   The Afternoon Mile, solo exhibition, Dunkeld House, Toowoomba, Qld

2020   Boiling Point, group exhibition at Third Quarter Gallery, Brisbane, Qld

2020   Sics Degrees, group exhibition at Umbrella Gallery. Townsville, Qld

2019   Fresh Crop, group exhibition at The Silo’s Gallery Space, Mills Precinct, Toowoomba, Qld

2019   Shadow Lands, group exhibition at Gataker’s Exhibition Space, Maryborough, Qld

2018   In League with the Highway, Toowoomba Regional Gallery (Solo show)

2018   Tricksters, USQ Gallery (Group show)

2018   As Above, Crow’s Nest Regional Gallery (Group Show)

2018   Bodega – More Fun, (with Ian McCallum) RVCA Corner Gallery, Melbourne

2018   Portals and Parables, (with Catherine Parker) Airspace Projects, Sydney

2017   Green Paintings in July, (Solo show) Alexandra Lawson Gallery, Toowoomba

2017   Disco Show, (Group show) Raygun Lab, Toowoomba

2016   Fastplant (Group show) Kontraband Studios, Toowoomba

2016   Bodega - A Fun Place, (collaboration with Ian McCallum) Alexandra Lawson Gallery

2016   The Phantom Show (Group show) Toowoomba Regional Gallery, Toowoomba

2016   Above and Below (Group show) Graydon Gallery, Brisbane

2015   Crawling Through a Summer Night… (Solo show) No Comply Gallery, Toowoomba

2015   Hold Still My Darling Condamine (Solo show) Dogwood Crossing Gallery, Miles

2015   Versus (Group show), No Comply Gallery, Toowoomba

2014   I See a Darkness… (Group show), Graydon Gallery, New Farm, Brisbane

2014   Habitat, (Group show), Dogwood Crossing Gallery, Qld

2014   Places we leave behind…., (Solo show), No Comply, Toowoomba

2014   Group the Children… (‘Endless Waking’) Gallery LA, (Group show) Brisbane, Australia

2014   First and Last, MARS art space, (Group show) Toowoomba

2014   Fastplant Skateboard, (Group show), No Comply Gallery, Toowoomba

2013   Wanderlust (Group show), Landscapes St Vincent’s Hospital, Toowoomba

2013   Soul Kitchen– (Solo show), Raygun Lab, Toowoomba

2012   Bombing the Lotus…, (with Stephen Spurrier) Raygun Lab, Toowoomba

2012   Harlaxton Quarries, (from the Blue Mountains Hotel)’ series… (Solo show)  Red Door Gallery, USQ, Toowoomba

2012   Art Journal Project – (Group show), Made Gallery, ‘Block Work’ Gallery, Toowoomba

2011   Wunder Kampf (This is Big Head), USQ Gallery. Toowoomba, Australia

2011   Into the Realms of Madness, Made Gallery, Toowoomba, Australia

2011   Stations of The Cross, St Ives Uniting Church, Sydney, Australia

2011   Some Things Change, Others Stay the Same, USQ Gallery, Toowoomba, Australia

2010   On the Larapinta 2010, Doggett St Gallery, Newstead, Brisbane, Australia

2010   You Do Bad Things To Me….Attic Gallery Space, Toowoomba, Australia

2009   Doggett St Studio Christmas Show, Doggett St, Brisbane, Australia

2009   Currumbin Valley Suite, Doggett St, Brisbane, Australia

2009   Switching Lanes, USQ Gallery, Toowoomba, Australia

2008   On the Heysen Trail, part II, Doggett St gallery, Brisbane, Australia

2008   On the Heysen Trail, S.H.Ervin Gallery, Sydney, Australia

2007   Tasmania, in the Company of Some Major Blow-ins….Doggett St Gallery, Brisbane, Aust.

2007    Devils in Paradise part II, Damien Minton Gallery, Sydney, Australia

2007   Devils in Paradise, Dick Bett Gallery, Hobart, Tasmania

2006   Robot Fetish, Doggett St. Gallery, Brisbane, Australia

2005   Moreness, Doggett St Gallery, Brisbane, Australia

2004   I’m All Ears… , Doggett St Gallery, Brisbane, Australia

2003   Tricks of the Night (Fear, Love and Madness) Doggett St Gallery, Brisbane, Australia

2002   The Brown Town Paintings, Doggett St Gallery, Brisbane, Australia

2001    Death (the Last Taboo), Australian Museum, Sydney, Australia

2001    Out of the Stock-room: Selected Works 1992-2001, Doggett St Gallery

2001    Hillsborough and Dromore (The House Paddocks), Doggett St Gallery

2000   A Briso goes to Burleigh, Doggett St. Gallery, Brisbane, Australia

2000   The Horns of Plenty, Doggett St Gallery, Brisbane, Australia

1999    Elephant Rock and Other Seascapes part II, Doggett St Gallery, Brisbane, Australia

1999    Elephant rock and Other Seascapes, Museum of Brisbane, Brisbane, Australia

 

Public Collections:

 Queensland Art Gallery

 QUT Collection

 QPA Collection

 Museum of Brisbane Collection

 Artbank

 

Currently we have no editions available.

Commission Enquiry

Commission Message

If you have seen an artwork by this artist but it’s sold or you would like something similar in a different size, you are welcome to email us an enquiry and we will start the process of commissioning an artwork.