Richard Cornish Explained

Richard R Cornish (born 1942) is an Australian art theoretician and practitioner. He is an artist, writer, poet, teacher and left-wing political activist. He has won many prizes for his art and draughtsmanship and was a student at the National Art School.

His art works span the period from 1955 until today showing the influence of modernism, Mexican social realism and Asian multiculturalism. His artwork and writing covers themes such as the protest against the Vietnam War, the emergence of the women's liberation movement, questions of social injustice, economic crisis and ecology. Cornish has had nine solo Exhibitions and 30 group exhibitions and illustrated for the national folk magazine Stringy Bark and Greenhide, worked as graphic designer, designed book and record covers, created set designs for stage productions and worked in fabric printing. Cornish was asked to submit visual images for the Sydney Olympics with 12 other Australian artists.

Recently, Richard has finished several written texts on China A novel about a travel /adventure to a wedding in China in Harbin. He had also written an art and cultural text titled ‘When Worlds Collapse’ on how artistic culture experiences extreme alienation during crisis such as occurred in the 16thC Italy. He has finished a manuscript on ‘On Artistic and Cultural Creativity and its Counter Worlds’ and how it all works in the arts throughout history. He has started a three volume Memoir of his own life and the people and events that he has experienced in his life. His own artistic production has increased and is concerned with militant multiculturalism and artistic universality and the possibilities of a new Marxist based humanism.

Publications

Art novels

• The Woman Lilith^[1]
• The Seven Remonstrations of the Chinese Jester Dong–Fang Shuo^[2]

Plays

• The Girls in Our Town^[3]
• The Jester of Ch’u is a radio play that was written for ABC's Ian Reid Competition,^[4]
• Coriolanus and Co Go Wacko^[5]

Published poetry

• Upon Tiananmen Square Poem in World Anthology ‘Earth Against Heaven' Five Islands Press, 1990
• ‘A Small Feat Cooked for my New Lover’ Suzhou, China, June 1993
• ‘Beloved Ilsa’
• ‘The Liquid Mirror’^[6]
• Green Apples of Ornans, 1991
• ‘An Australian Artist Confronts Chinese Ghosts’ Poems–Seven Sardonic Senryu's Chiaroscuro, May 1987
• A Suite of Haiku Poems, June 1987

Art exhibitions

Solo exhibitions

• Cell Block Theatre, National Art School, East Sydney 1967^[7]
• Against the Wind-One Blade of Grass’^[8] Oct 1969^{[9] [10]}
• Retrospective ‘Ricordanza’ exhibition Flinders University S.A. 1980
• ‘Cornish and Marko Koludrovic’,^[11] Tamworth March/April 1990
• ‘Across Cultural Lines; Towards New Identities ’ Multicultural Exhibition,^[12]

Group exhibitions

• ‘Modern Art’ selected works from Sydney's Public Schools, Inner Sydney 1955. Organised by Ken Reinhardt and Keith Molde^[13]
• Students Exhibition 1965, Newcastle School of Art and Design
• NTC student show, City Art Gallery
• 1966 Mattara Art Exhibition, Civic Park, Newcastle 1965/66,^[14] NSW 1964/65
• May Day Art Exhibitions,^[15]
• The Realist Group Art Exhibition, (touring Australia) Newcastle City Art Gallery, Newcastle, June 1968 Perth Prize for Drawing Perth, WA 1969 National Art School, End of the Year show-East Sydney 1966/67,^[16] National Art School,^[17]
• Travelling Scholarship (Won by Brett Whiteley) Art Gallery of NSW 1966 Le Gay Breton Prize for Painting,^{[18] [19]}
• Ashfield Art Prize, Ashfield 1967/67.
• Artist for Labour,^[20]
• Art Sale for ALP Von Bertough's Art Gallery, Cooks Hill, Newcastle 1975 7th^[21]
• Collector Choice Art Exhibitions, Von Bertough Art Gallery, Newcastle 1977, 78, 79
• Sulman Prize Art Gallery of NSW 1975 Newcastle May Day Prize for Political Cartoons, Newcastle Workers Club 1983/4
• Little Treasures, Big Pleasures,^[22] 1991/2^[23]
• Expression Session,^[24]
• Jacaranda Acquisitive Drawing Award, Grafton Regional Gallery, 1996
• Living treasures Art Exhibition.^[25]
• Portraits of Senator Ian Cohen 1999/2000, School of Arts Art Gallery Nimbin.

Private collections

Locations

• Australia
• Israel
• India
• Russia
  • Denmark Great Britain
• Canberra War Museum, Canberra, Protest Paintings Against Vietnam War
• Flinders University Art Collection, South Australia
• Drawings in the National Art School Collection

Further reading

• World Encyclopedia of Art, ‘Allemeines Kunstlerlexikon’ Leipzig.
• ‘Who's Who’ in Australian Art’
• Australian Encyclopedia of Art, vol 1,2 ed 1982.
• Directory of Australian Authors’, National Book Council, 1982
• 'Concise Dictionary of Australian Artists’. Comp Gwenda Robb, Elaine Smith ed.Robert Smith, Melbourne Uni Press,1993
• ’Who's Who of Australian Writers’ 1st ed Thorpe Pub, Victoria 2nd ed, 1995.
• ‘Cornish and Mark Koludrovic'.^[26]
• ‘Artist Honoured by Recognition'^[27]
• ‘Humanist Finds High Romance'.^[28]

External links

• www.richardcornishartist.com

Notes and References

1. Cleo Magazine, Winter issue, Feb 1975
2. ANU Library 1988
3. Newcastle Uni Library, 1974
4. ABC 1995
5. Queensland Premiers competition, 2011
6. International Library of Poetry 1997
7. National Art School, East Sydney 1966
8. Mathew Flinders Theatre Foyer Flinders Uni SA
9. Von Bertough's Gallery, Newcastle 1974
10. Brooke Moore Gallery, Bathurst 1975
11. Tamworth City Gallery
12. Grafton Regional Gallery, NSW 1997
13. Newcastle City Art Gallery
14. Dora Creek Workers Club Art Exhibition, Dora Creek
15. Newcastle Workers Club, years 1966, 67, 68
16. Cell Block Theatre
17. National Art School, East Sydney 1967
18. Art Gallery of NSW 1967
19. David Jones Print Exhibition David Jones Gallery, Sydney 1967
20. Paddington Town Hall, Sydney 1975
21. Taree Art Exhibition Taree, NSW 1983
22. Lismore Regional Art Gallery
23. Southern Cross Staff Exhibitions, Access Gallery, Uni Campus 1990/91
24. Art Exhibition Kempsey 1995
25. Lismore Regional Art Gallery
26. Felicity Fenner, Periphery Issue No 3 May 1990
27. Adele Twomey, Northern Daily Leader, Tamworth 2 November 1990
28. Christine Ross, Newcastle Morning Herald, 20 October 1974 etc