Stieg Persson

Born Melbourne, Australia 1959
Lives and works in Melbourne, Australia

Stieg Persson has been exhibiting for over three decades with a practice that investigates the possibilities of what painting can do. His early paintings are characterised by a monochromatic palette and flow of mark from arabesque to calligraphy and text, while later works have leaned more towards the abstracted. Persson also incorporates appropriated imagery, Rococo influences and graffiti that he documents in Melbourne. In melding these elements, Persson investigates the free interplay between abstraction and figuration. 

Recent exhibitions include Stieg Persson: Polyphonic, Ian Potter Museum of Art (2018); The National: New Australian Art, Museum of Contemporary Art (2017); Painting, More Painting – Chapter 2, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art (2016); The Fragonard Room, Anna Schwartz Gallery (2014); Theatre of the World, La Maison Rouge, Paris (2013); Melbourne Now, National Gallery of Victoria (2013); Mix Tape 1980s Appropriation, Subculture, Critical Style, National Gallery of Victoria (2013).

Persson’s work is represented in all major Australian collections including the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne; Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney; Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth; National Gallery of Australia, Canberra; Auckland Art Gallery, Auckland and Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. In 2003 he won the inaugural Arthur Guy Memorial Painting Prize, Bendigo Art Gallery, Bendigo.

CV

Bibliography

Artist website