2012: Richard Lewer

The 2012 limited edition artwork is by internationally acclaimed artist Richard Lewer, who has created 78 unique, hand painted works, each of which represent a Tarot card.

Comprising all of the cards in the Tarot deck these works continue Lewer’s investigations into the extremes of human behaviour. In each of the 78 works, Lewer employs his distinctive expressive painting style to engage us in the battle between good and evil, darkness and light, all seen through his viscerally humorous lens.

In creating the series, Richard Lewer referred to a number of historical precedents including the 15th Century Visconti-Sforza deck, one of the earliest surviving examples of tarot imagery.  Here, Lewer found common ground between narratives that have been central to his oeuvre and in imagery that for centuries has been used to reveal the self and divine the future.

Lewer is one of Australasia’s most eminent painters whose work has been shown extensively throughout Australia, New Zealand and internationally. His work features in significant national collections such as the Art Gallery of South Australia, the National Gallery of Victoria and the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. He has had significant solo exhibitions surveying his practice at Monash University Museum of Art and at the Waikato Museum, New Zealand, as well as showing in a number of important group exhibitions at The Museum of Contemporary Art, Heide Museum of Modern Art and the Perth Institute of Contemporary Art.

Work courtesy of Richard Lewer, Fehily Contemporary, Melbourne and Hugo Michell Gallery, Adelaide

Special thanks to Kerryn Wilson, All Panel Paints Fremantle, St Lukes Artist Colourmen, C. Tech Engineering, Fremantle Arts Centre, Famous Visual Services

The 2012 Edition has been supported by Yanni Florence.
The work has been generously donated by Richard Lewer, Fehily Contemporary, Melbourne and Hugo Michell Gallery, Adelaide.

Photo credit: Bo Wong