CONTEMPORARY FIGURATIVE PAINTINGS by
RICHARD BAXTER
1981 - 1984

These works from the age of 15 to 18 begin with my very first painting, although I have been drawing since the age of 3.
I began painting in complete ignorance of the history and world of art, and even greater naivety of the contemporary art world.
Fortunately from the age of 17, I was tutored by Alexander Brun, who had a vast and passionate knowledge of the masters
and who expanded my vision and inspiration enormously. Yet still I was stubborn and naive, and living in a small country town,
not born into an artistic family, I remained ignorant of the contemporary art developments going on around me for many years to come.
This artistic isolation proved both beneficial and a hindrance, as on the one hand it allowed me to develop a strange and unique
style and vision, but it also kept me apart from many exciting and fresh ideas, and my work was consequently living in the past, and
limited, as I explored and tried to assimilate the history of art, year by year. Gradually over the years, this long study, combined with my
personal visions and expanding awareness of contemporary art, has evolved into the work of the present.
Although these early works are naive and uneducated, they are not without passion and intensity; qualities I had in abundance.
They also already show many aspects of my work and personality, which are still showing in current work.

click on an image to enlarge.
red dots indicate painting has sold

house in storm NFS
My first painting, aged 15. 1981 		Ghost gum .
1981 		outback homestead .
1981
Swan Reach Post Office .
1983 		old school building .
1983 		waikerie railyard .
1983
backyard .
1983 		Waikerie Silos .
1983 		Men going to church .
1984. (unfinished)
portrait of alan smith .
1984 (unfinished) 		ball and building .
1984 		Ghostgas .
1984.

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CONTEMPORARY FIGURATIVE PAINTINGS