Curriculum Vitae

Wes Placek

Photo by Klaudia Budzyn, 2017

1947 Born in West Germany
1950 Arrived in Australia

EDUCATION

1966-67 Studied painting at Preston Technical College
1968 Studied painting at RMIT
1970 Completed Teacher Training at Melbourne Teachers College
1973-74 Studied painting at Preston Institute of Technology
1974 Awarded Diploma of Art from Preston Institute of Technology
1978-79 Founded Artists Space Gallery, Melbourne
1993-94 Studied Monash University, Gippsland, Master of Arts (By Research)
1995 Awarded Master of Arts (Visual Arts), Monash University

TRAVEL

1975 USA - Los Angeles, New York; England, Poland, East Germany
1980 USA, Poland, Yugoslavia, Austria
1984 USA
1999 Poland and Germany

AWARDS

1973 Australia Council Visual Arts Board Grant
1974 Georges Invitation Art Prize
1975 Australia Council Visual Arts Board Overseas Travel Grant
1994 Print Council of Australia Print Commission
Print Aquisition Award, Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery
1997 Annual T-Shirt Design Prize, Noosa Regional Gallery

ONE MAN EXHIBITIONS

1971 Pinacotheca Gallery, Melbourne, First one-person exhibition
1972 Pinacotheca Gallery, Melbourne
1973 Pinacotheca Gallery, Melbourne
1976 Hawthorn City Art Gallery, Melbourne
1977 Hawthorn City Art Gallery, Melbourne
1978 Gallery de Tastes, Melbourne, Paintings
Adelaide Fine Art & Graphics, Adelaide, Paintings
1980 Church Street Photographic Centre, Melbourne, Photographs
1981 Pitspace, Preston Institute of Technology, Melbourne, Painting/Sculpture and Photographs
1982 The Developed Image, Adelaide, Photographs
1984 Artists Space, Melbourne, Paintings 1970-80
Artists Space, Dog Series Paintings, Melbourne
Manuka Gallery, ACT, Canberra, Painting
1985 70 Arden Street, Melbourne, Paintings/Drawings
The Developed Image, Adelaide, Photographs
1986 Artists Space, “Still Life Photography”, Melbourne
1988 Artists Space Gallery, Melbourne, Paintings
1989 Artists Space, “Works from the Kitchen”, Photographs
1990 Artists Space, “Recent Paintings”
Switchback Gallery, Monash University College, Gippsland, Photographs
1991 Artists Space Gallery, Melbourne, “Paintings and Drawings”
Priebe Annex Gallery, Ray Spicer/Wes Placek: “Contrasting Styles in Photography”, University of Wisconsin Oskosh LaTrobe University College of Northern Victoria, Photographs and Paintings
1992 David Ellis Fine Art, Melbourne, “Seeing the Landscape” Paintings
1993 Australian Print Workshop, Melbourne, “Etchings”
1994 Lyall Burton Gallery, “Recent Paintings”
1995 Yume Ya Gallery Melbourne, “Recent Paintings and Prints”
1996 “Collection in Context”, Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery
“Red, Yellow and Blue, Still-Life”, Painted Photographs, Viscom 9 Gallery, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Department of Visual Communication
1997 “Urban Patinas”, Paintings, Drawings and Prints, Smyrnios Gallery Australia, Melbourne
1998 Works from the Studio, “Forays into Landscape” & “Domestic Configurations”, Preview Gallery, Melbourne
“Apertures”, Paintings - The Oxford Street Series, 1994-1998, Preview Gallery, Melbourne
1999 “Urban Scrawl” - Photographic Images of Lodz, Poland and Frankfurt, Germany
2004 “Recent Paintings”, Watson Place Gallery, Melbourne
2008 "Recent Paintings - A Painters Journey" Place Gallery, Melbourne
2012 “Totemics – Recent Paintings”, Place Gallery, Melbourne

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

1971 Pinacotheca Gallery
1972 Pinacotheca Gallery
1973 Georges Invitation Art Prize, Georges Gallery, Melbourne
1974 Chapman Powell Street Gallery, ‘3+3+1+3’, Melbourne
Georges Invitation Art Prize, Georges Gallery, Melbourne
1976 National Gallery of Victoria, Some Recent Acquisitions
Manawatu Art Gallery, New Zealand
Print Council of Australia 1976 Exhibition Hawthorn City Art Gallery
1977 Manawatu Art Gallery, New Zealand
A Show of Hands Exhibition Uniart Gallery, Elblag, Poland
“Exhibition in the Circle” University of Waterloo Art Gallery
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada LaTrobe University Union Arts Festival
1979 Port Melbourne Galleries
1980 Centre Documentacia d’Art Actual, Barcelona, Spain
1981 “First Australian Sculpture Triennial”, PIT & LaTrobe University
Albury Art Gallery, Works on Paper
Australian Photography in Switzerland, Internationale
Photographiefoerderung, Berne, Switzerland
Church Street Photographic Centre, Melbourne
Final Retrospective Exhibition 1977-1981
1982 Gryphon Gallery “Personal Directions”, Prints and Photographs
Preston to Phillip, A Survey (10 years of art education) Reconnaissance Gallery, Melbourne
1985 Sculpture ‘85. World Trade Centre, Melbourne
1987 “Five Artists”, Artists Space, Melbourne
“Urban Structures”, Artists Space, Melbourne
“Images of Australia”, Photography, Monash Gallery of Art
1988 “The Thousand Mile Stare”, A Photographic Exhibition, Australian for Contemporary Art, Melbourne
1989 “Still-Life: Photography”, Artists Space Gallery, Melbourne
1990 Artists Space, Kodak “Five Visions” Photography
“Australian Photography” Monash Gallery of Art
1992 David Ellis Fine Art, Melbourne, “Gallery Artists”
Third Australian Contemporary Art Fair, Melbourne
David Ellis Fine Art
1993 “Works on Paper International Fair”, Powerhouse Museum, Sydney Australian Print Workshop
1994 “Unified Diversity, Print Commission”, Print Council of Australia, Australian Print Workshop, Access Studio, Fitzroy, Melbourne The Tin Sheds, University of Sydney
Noreen Graham Galleries, Brisbane
Biennial Prints Acquisitive Exhibition”, Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery
1995 “12th Biennial Spring Festival of Drawing”, Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery
1996 “NONOBJECT”, Yume Ya Gallery Melbourne “BOX”, Craft Victoria, Melbourne
“XIII EDIZIONE PREMIO INTERNAZIONALE BIELLA”, Italia “Buildings and Boulevards”, Photography, Monash Gallery of Art
1997 “THE EMBELLISHED EGG”, Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery
“National T-Shirt Design Award”, Noosa Regional Gallery, Qld
1998 “National T-Shirt Design Award”, Noosa Regional Gallery, Qld
The Fleurieu Biennale 1998. The Fleurieu Prize for Australian Landscape, McLaren Vale, Fleurieu Peninsula, South Australia
1999 “20 Photographers”, Melbourne Arts Club, Melbourne
2004 “Works on Paper”, Watson Place Gallery, Melbourne
2008 “Portraits of Artists, Place Gallery, Melbourne
2009 POST. A Group Exhibition, Place Gallery, Melbourne
2012 “Photographic Abstractions”, Monash Gallery of Art, Melbourne
2013-14 “Still Life”, Art Gallery of New South Wales

BIBLIOGRAPHY

“Some Recent Acquisitions 1975/76 Catalogue”, National Gallery of Victoria, Jennie Boddington
The National Gallery Society of Victoria “Bulletin”, August 1978, “Auschwitz Photographs”, Jennie Boddington
“Directory of Australian Printmakers, 1976” Print Council of Australia
“Artists and Galleries of Australia and New Zealand”, Max Germaine, Lansdowne Editions, 1979
Interview with Tom McCullough, June 1981, “Line as Space Exhibition”, Preston Institute of Technology Art Gallery, Pitspace (unpublished)
“The First Australian Sculpture Triennial Catalogue”, 1981. Published by: First Australian Sculpture Triennial Committee, 1981 Building and Architecture (South Australia), Volume 9, June 1982 “Encyclopaedia of Austalian Art”, 1984, Alan McCulloch “Sculpture 85 - The Book”, published by: Sculpture 85 Inc., April 1985, Melbourne
“Thousand Mile Stare Exhibition Catalogue”, Victorian Centre for Photography, 1988
“Wes Placek, Paintings”, Artists Space Gallery, Melbourne, August 1988. Catalogue Introduction, Janina Green.
Agenda, No. 5, June 19, 1989, “Still on the Subject of Life” Angela Borg
“Still Life Photography”, Artbeat, No.137, April 12, 1989, Scott Brown.
Agenda No.5, August 1989, “Words from the Kitchen”, Wes Placek’s Paintings and Photographs, Alex Selenitsch Catalogue Notes, Wes Placek Exhibition, Switchback Gallery, September 1990, Beatrice Faust
Catalogue Notes, Wes Placek Exhibition, Artists Space Gallery Melbourne, April 1991, John Jenkins
Catalogue Notes, 1991, Wes Placek, Paintings and Photographs, 1985 to 1990, Patrizia Mania
Catalogue Notes, 1991, Wes Placek, Paintings, “Seeing the Landscape: Trees/rocks/mounds, bushes (hats)”, David Ellis Gallery, Melbourne, June 1992, Alex Selenitsch
Overland 130, Autumn 1993, Drawings
Overland 131, Winter 1993, Drawings
Wes Placek “Etchings”, Imprint. Volume 28, Number 4, 1993, Alex Selenitsch
Overland 135, Winter 1994, Paintings and Etching
Overland 136, Spring 1994, Etching
Overland 137, Summer 1994, Etching
“Encyclopaedia of Australian Art”, Alan McCullloch and Susan McCulloch, Allen and Unwin, 1994
Overland 138, Autumn 1995, Etching
Overland 139, Winter 1995, Etching
Overland 140, Spring 1995
Overland 140, Spring 1995, Etching
Overland 142, Autumn 1996, Etching
Catalogue Notes, Wes Placek, “The Community of Vessels”, Collection in Context Exhibition, Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery Inc. 1995, Alex Selenitsch
“BOX”, Catalogue Notes, Craft Victoria, 1996, Suzie Attiwill Australian Printmakers in the 1990’s. Artist Printmakers: 1990 to 1995, Sasha Grishin. Published by Craftsman House 1996. Overland 149, Summer 1997, Drawing
Overland 151, Winter 1998, Drawing
Overland 152, Spring 1998, Drawing
Catalogue Notes, Wes Placek, Paintings, “Apertures”, Preview Gallery Melbourne, 1998, Suzie Attiwill
“Australian Identity – Struggle and Transformation in Australian Literature”, Yasue Arimitsu, University of Tokyo Press, 2003 Review: Wes Placek, artshub.com.au/Australian Arts Workers, 21 May 2008, CAP
WES PLACEK@PLACE 2008, Alex Selenitsch, 8 April 2008
“POST. An art excursion.” Place Gallery, Richmond, September, 2009
“Death of digital printmaking?”, Imprint, No.4, Volume 45, Summer, 2010, Professor Sasha Grishin AM, FAHA
Catalogue Notes, Wes Placek, “Circles”, Place Gallery, Richmond, March 2012, Alex Selenitsch
Catalogue Notes, “Photographic Abstractions”, Monash Gallery of Art, August 2012, Stella Loftus-Hills and Stephen Zagala

SELECTED NEWSPAPER ARTICLES

Alan Warren: “Carvings with Vitality”, The Sun, June 1971
Prize for the Whole Community”, The Herald, March 1974
“New Exhibitions”, Wes Placek, Paintings, The Herald, 18 May 1978
Alan McCulloch: New Exhibitions, Wes Placek, Paintings, The Herald, June 1971
Memory Holloway: “Assault on the Eyes with Changing Hues”, The Age, 18 October 1972
Rodney Milgate: “Paintings that Transcend Technique”, The Australian, 21 October 1972
Jeffrey Makin: “Starters Promise Bright Future”, The Sun, March 1973
Patrick McCaughey: “Abstract School Surpasses Itself”, The Age, 14 November 1973
“Georges Prize Short on Style, Substance”, The Age, February 1974
Bernard Boles: “A Slow Plod to Pick a Georges Winner”, Nation, 8 April 1974
Jeffrey Makin: The Georges Prize 1974, The Sun, February. 1974
Maureen Gilchrist: “Achievement, but in patches”, The Age, 30 May 1974
Mary Eagle: “Show maps out new style”, The Age, 17 May 1978
David Dolan: “Efforts not Fruitful”, Adelaide Advertiser, 9 August 1978
Ronald Millar: “Personal Directions”, (Prints & Photographs), The Herald, 8 April 1982
Neville Weston “So Nearly Artless”, Adelaide Advertiser, 2 June 1982
Sonia Barron: “Lighthearted Hat Show”, The Canberra Times, 1 October 1984
Janina Green: “Subtle New Artwork over the Road from Silos”, The Melbourne Times, 17 June 1987
Linda Hicks: “Thought Provoking “Approach to History”, The Herald, 23 December 1987
Beatrice Faust: “Wide Range in Black and White”, The Age, 7 March 1989
Exhibitions with a Touch of the Unusual”, The Age, 6 July 1989
Campbell Thomson: “Hats off to the Cameramen”, The Herald, 23 March 1989
“Focus on Art Images”, The Herald, 11 July 1989
Robert Hollingworth: “Art Photos Relying Less on the Camera Itself”, Geelong Advertiser, 12 July 1990
Charles Radnay: “Hats off to Placek’s Deceptive Imagery”, 23 July 1990 Geelong Advertiser
Robert Rooney: “A Select Short List”, The Australian, 9-10 April 1994
Robert Nelson: “Mix of Visual, Culinary Art”, The Age 22 March 1995
“Imprints of Talent: a Modern Look”, The Age, 24 January 1996

REPRESENTED

Australian National Gallery, Canberra
Mildura Arts Centre
Polish Art Foundation, Melbourne
National Gallery of Victoria
Darwin Community College
Commonwealth Art Bank
Kodak Australia
University of Wisconsin, Oskosh
Latrobe University College, Northern Victoria
Monash University College, Gippsland
Print Council of Australia
Canson Australia Pty Ltd
Latrobe Regional Art Gallery
State Library of Victoria
Toowoomba Regional Art Gallery
Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery
Deakin University
Monash Gallery of Art
Australian Print Workshop, Melbourne
Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Dept of Visual Communication
Heide Museum of Modern Art
Art Gallery of New South Wales
Riddoch Art Gallery, South Australia