As one of Australia’s acclaimed landscape painters, Philip Wolfhagen continues to create deeply evocative, beautiful and soothing works. His much anticipated first solo exhibition at Karen Woodbury Gallery will be a strong representation of his current practice of superb traditional landscape painting. The exhibition will comprise of a body of picturesque oil and beeswax paintings. In this new work, bush scrub, leafy tree branches and paddocks are set on a background of various horizon lines as natural light is explored. Wolfhagen’s paintings examine themes of memory, change and continuity through everyday observations. A personal interpretation of the natural world is depicted as scenes are painted based on familiar moods and emotional responses. The ‘feeling’ of place and awe associated with breathtaking scenes dominates his creative investigations.
Born in 1963, Australia, Philip Wolfhagen currently lives and works in Tasmania, Australia. In 1987 he graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts at the University of Tasmania, Hobart. Following this he also competed a Diploma of Visual Arts at the University of Sydney, Sydney. Wolfhagen has held in excess of 25 solo exhibitions that include: Noctiluca, Bett Gallery, Hobart; The Inner Edge, Sherman Galleries, Sydney; Night Beacons, Christine Abrahams Gallery, Melbourne; Luminary Traces, Bett Gallery, Hobart; Vapour Trails, The Australian Embassy, Washington DC, USA and New Deliriums, Christine Abrahams Gallery, Melbourne.
He has also participated in numerous group exhibitions including: Curious Colony: A twenty first century Wunderkammer, Newcastle Region Art Gallery, NSW (2010); Time and Place: Selected works from the TarraWarra Museum of Art collection, TarraWarra Museum of Art, Victoria (2008); Contemporaneous; Australian Contemporary Painting 1, Wangaratta Exhibitions Gallery, Wangaratta, Victoria (2008). Wonderful World, The Anne & Gordon Samstag Museum of Art, Adelaide (2007); Archibald, Wynne & Sulman Prize, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney (2007-09); From an Island South, Asia Link Touring Exhibition; Lahore, Pakistan; Kuala Lumpur; Bangkok (2006/07); Australia and Constable, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra (2006); Senses of Place: Art in Tasmania, 1970-2005, Plimsoll Gallery and Hobart (2006); Rhapsody 21C: Tasmanian Contemporary Art, Academy Gallery, University of Tasmania (2005).
Among his various awards and achievements, Philip was the Winner of the Wynne Prize, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney (2007) and the Redlands Westpac Art Prize, Sydney (2001). Philip has also been awarded the Centenary Medal, for contribution made to the Arts (2001) and a VACB Project Grant from the Australia Council (1996 & 1993).
His work is widely admired and features in many major public collections that include: National Gallery of Australia, Canberra; Parliament House Art Collection, Canberra; Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide; Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney; National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne; TarraWarra Museum of Art, Healesville; Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, Launceston; Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Hobart; Campbelltown City Bicentennial Art Gallery, NSW; Devonport Gallery & Arts Centre, TAS; Newcastle Region Art Gallery, Newcastle; University of Tasmania, Hobart; University of Technology, Sydney and Muzeum Narodowe Warsawie, Poland.
