Ross Tamlin

Ross Tamlin was born in Aukland, New Zealand in 1958. He began a Fine Arts Certificate course at TAFE NSW Meadowbank in Meadowbank, Australia, and in Brisbane he completed a graphic arts course before returning to Sydney.

His signature corrugated iron paintings combine traditional art genres including still-life and landscape along with graphic art. Influenced by the De Stijl movement, these paintings represent a synthesis of art and function. Incorporating the aesthetics of modern industrial technique, the corrugation in his photorealistic compositions is a visual illusion created by layers of paint and varnish.

Color, along with industrial imagery and objects, are central in Tamlin’s work. He is particularly interested in the traditional appropriation of found objects in modern art. His compositions are a contemporary examination of industrial materials in which he reconstructs their purpose and function to reveal new relationships between the object and viewer. He works primarily in bright colors combined with primary hues overlaid with text and glazing to produce his version of a landscape. He reworks the traditional idea of landscape painting by incorporating text and familiar places names in a modern interpretation.