ReDot Fine Art Gallery is honoured to present, Talking to a Stranger, a joint solo exhibition of recent paintings by Australian artist, Todd Hunter, as we enter the next chapter of the galleries development, the introduction of non-Indigenous Australian contemporary art to the Singaporean art collectors market.

Strictly speaking, Todd is neither a figurative nor an abstract painter. As he explains “I take the colours and shapes of the natural world and push them through a blender of imagination and memory.” He prefers the viewer to reach their own conclusion as to the meaning, relying on their personal cognition and memory to evoke a response, a recognition that goes beyond the mere representation.

Todd is a solitary man when at work, spending many hours alone in his studio, surrounded by an enormous CD collection and accompanied only by his music which, chosen almost subconsciously, has an enormous influence on his work. As has been noted in the past, there is a synergy between the exuberant, frenetic brushwork of Todd and his predilection for lyrical music especially Bob Dylan, Nick Cave and Tom Waits. All of his works take their title from the music that Todd loves and listens to. The music, the artistic output all embody the emotions and the events that are surrounding his life at the time he is in his studio; be that his atelier in Sydney or his remote studio in the Australian bush in Northern NSW. Each work a window into the soul of the artist life, abstract, engaging and sufficient removed to allow personal interpretation.

As art curator, Natalie King noted in 2010, Todd reminds us “of the fleshy curves of Peter Paul Rubens, the vulgar gestures of Willem de Kooning and Francis Bacons tortured figures.” Todd has an intimate knowledge of these great painters having studied art history and trained at the Julian Ashton Art School in Sydney after completing a visual arts degree at Griffith University in Brisbane.

The current body of canvas and boards, Todd’s first ever showing in Singapore, consists of 11 gems that are a significant departure from his recognised colourful oeuvres. Predominately imbued in black and white with a hint at a tinge of colour, the works retain all the classical techniques Todd employs in his work and the frenetic intensity is still clearly evident but the viewer is left to ponder and consider the changing dynamics of Todd’s world, surrounding landscape and how perhaps all this is struggling to positioning itself within his art.

Todd is one of Australia’s most exciting and promising contemporary abstract painters and has already been acknowledged with several award classification and collection acquisitions.

The exhibition begins on Wednesday 3rd August and runs until Sunday 28th August 2016. It will be attended in person by Todd Hunter for the official opening on Wednesday 17th August 2016 at 6:30pm.