Through the Mirage – Roger Drennan Paintings

Roger Drennan’s series of landscapes –Through the Mirage, painted in the southern and central Flinders Ranges.

Roger Drennan has been a lifelong artist, with early training by renowned artist and printmaker Charles Bannon, winning the Athelney Prize for Art in 1960. Roger’s highly collectable works have been featured in mixed and solo exhibitions around Australia (including the highly regarded Bonython and Greenhill Galleries, in addition to local galleries and venues).

Roger was born in Port Augusta and has lived his whole life in the region, making a living in many industries and professions due to his diverse skills and resourcefulness. His early years growing up in Horrock’s Pass and working as a stockman led to a deep love of the Flinders Ranges and outback scenes. The rugged wilderness of these environments are a favourite subject matter for his vibrantly toned and textured acrylic paintings.

Roger is a local character who is known for his skills in horsemanship, bush lore and creativity. He has been involved in horse trail riding tours, motor cycle adventuring through the Flinders Ranges and Simpson desert; he has travelled to inaccessible landscapes all around Australia which continue to inspire his paintings. Roger’s artworks present unique perspectives of the arid inland landscape, balancing structures and textures with an aerial fisheye viewpoint.

Besides working on the land, Roger has also worked on the Commonwealth railways, Truck transport, and in more recent years has turned his expertise to driver and rider training. Drawing on this wealth of knowledge, Roger has expanded his painting repertoire in his current works to include unique scenes and perspectives of transport and industry, and nostalgic visions of the traditional stockman’s life.

Roger’s strong awareness of landscape forms has been influenced through experience as an all-round earth moving plant operator, harnessing his three dimensional thinking creatively in large scale landscape sculpting. Roger’s artwork also draws on his background in Stock and Station overseeing, and as a horse breaker handler farrier and wild horse runner. His experience of life on the land is frequently a visual theme and a story element represented in his paintings, and his creative works also include leatherwork and environmentally connected design.

image is detail from Spring Kiss – Roger Drennan