Robert Ashton (photographer)

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Robert Ashton (1950) is an Australian photographer and photojournalist.

Early life and education[edit]

Robert Ashton was born on August 11, 1950, in Melbourne. He studied Photography at Prahran College 1969-71 and graduated with a Diploma of Visual Arts and Design.

Career[edit]

In the early 1970s, Robert Ashton shared house with Carol Jerrems and Ian Macrae in Mozart Street, St Kilda,[1] their artist associates being Ingeborg Tyssen, Paul Cox and Bill Heimerman, and Ashton's cousin Rennie Ellis with whom he shared a studio[2] in Greville Street, Prahran. From 1974 to 1981,[3] Ashton was assistant director at Ellis's Brummels Gallery in Toorak Road, South Yarra,[4][5] where he also exhibited.[6]

Photography curator Judy Annear notes that;

"Robert Ashton's work is typical of the highly personalised documentary photographs that began to emerge in the 1970s."[7]

His subject matter includes urban indigenous, life and incidents in inner suburbia in Melbourne,[8] particularly Fitzroy.[9][10] Writer and musician Mark Gillespie, who had become involved in a new publishing venture, Outback Press, with Fred Milgrom Colin Talbot and Morry Schwartz, commissioned Ashton for the book Into the Hollow Mountain. Its images,[11] of "kids on the prowl, the old Salvo street bands, the Koorie clans, the card joint kaphenois",[12] were first shown at Brummels in a exhibition of that title in 1974, and when re-exhibited forty years later at Colour Factory, "serve as a rare documentation of day-to-day Melbourne and glimpse into an era that, while not actually all that distant, is most definitely a thing of the past."[13]

Ashton has published several other books, of portraits and close-up, abstracted landscape, and exhibited widely in Australia. His photograph Bernard Diving[14] featured in the 1988 exhibition, and on the cover its catalogue, The Thousand Mile Stare, a survey of Australian photography published by the Victorian Centre for Photography.[15]

In pursuing the best quality output for his imagery, Ashton adopted, and currently uses, hand-built large format cameras and advanced printing techniques including photogravure and the Collodion process.[16]

He lives on Victoria's Surf Coast, and imagery of the ocean and landscape is a consistent interest.

Exhibitions[edit]

Solo[edit]

  • 1973 Faces and Places, Brummels Gallery, Melbourne
  • 1974 Into the Hollow Mountains: A Portrait of Fitzroy, Brummels Gallery[17]
  • 1976 Between Light and Dark, Australian Centre for Photography, Sydney
  • 1976 Between Light and Dark, Brummels Gallery, Melbourne
  • 1979 Adventures in Paradise? Church Street Photographic Centre, Melbourne[18]
  • 1987 Adventures in Paradise?, Australian Centre for Photography, Sydney.[19]
  • 1990 Photogravure Images, United Artists Gallery, Melbourne.
  • 1993 What are you Doing? What are you Saying?, Luba Bilu Gallery, Melbourne
  • 2000 Hidden Things, Qdos Gallery, Lorne
  • 2001 Life Sanctuary, Patricia Autore Gallery, Melbourne
  • 2003 Different Dreams-Same Reality, Patricia Autore Gallery, Melbourne
  • 2005 Evidence, Little Malop Gallery, Geelong
  • 2006 Visual Instinct, Libby Edwards Gallery - Melbourne
  • 2007 Recognition, Pigment Gallery, Prague
  • 2009 Snapshots from the edge, Qdos Gallery, Lorne
  • 2009 Photographs from the edge, Monash Gallery of Art
  • 2012 Postmortem, Edmund Pearce Gallery, Melbourne
  • 2013 Interior/Exterior, Edmund Pearce Gallery, Melbourne
  • 2014 Into The Hollow Mountains, Colour Factory Gallery, Melbourne[20][10]
  • 2014 Interior/Exterior + Postmortem gravures, Black Eye Gallery, Sydney[21]
  • 2015 Thin Air, Qdos Gallery, Lorne
  • 2015, 6 Aug - 29 Aug; Thin Air, Colour Factory Gallery, 409-429 Gore St, Fitzroy[22]
  • 2021, 3–25 Apr, Bush Theatre, Qdos Gallery, Lorne

Group[edit]

  • 1982 Ray Hughes Gallery, Brisbane.
  • 1988 The Thousand Mile Stare, Victorian Centre for Photography[15]
  • 1988 Artery Gallery, Geelong.
  • 1990 Qdos Gallery, Lorne. 1990
  • 1991 Special . . . It's Been Used Before, Luba Bilu Gallery.
  • 1991 Survey - A Regional Review, Geelong Art Gallery.
  • 1998 Waterproof, Centro Cultural de Belem, Lisbon Portugal.[23]
  • 2003 Australian Photographic Portrait Prize, Art Gallery of NSW.
  • 2007 Ulrich and Schubert Photography award, Gold Coast City Art Gallery
  • 2007 Bowness Photography prize, Monash Gallery of Art.[24]
  • 2010 Bowness Photography prize 2010, Monash Gallery of Art.
  • 2011 Ulrich and Schubert Photography award, Gold Coast City Art Gallery.
  • 2020, 31 October 2020 – 7 February 2021 Bowness Photography prize 2020, Monash Gallery of Art.

Collections[edit]

Publications[edit]

  • Ashton, Robert; Gillespie, Mark (1974), Into the hollow mountains, Outback Press, ISBN 978-0-86888-006-8
  • Park, Andy; Smolan, Rick (1981), A day in the life of Australia, A Day in the life of Australia Pty Ltd, ISBN 978-0-9594244-0-9[27]
  • Smolan, Rick; Park, Andy; O'Loughlin, Peter (1983), A day in the life of Victoria, DITLA, ISBN 978-0-9594244-3-0
  • Bennett, David; Agee, Joyce; Victorian Centre for Photography (1988), The thousand mile stare : a photographic exhibition, The Victorian Centre for Photography Inc, ISBN 978-0-7316-2054-8
  • Crombie, Isobel; Byron, Sandra; National Gallery of Victoria (1990), Twenty contemporary Australian photographers : from the Hallmark Cards Australian Photographic Collection, National Gallery of Victoria, ISBN 978-0-7241-0142-9
  • Ashton, Robert; Day, Gregory (2003), Trace, Merrijig Word & Sound Co, ISBN 978-1-74066-109-6
  • Blackmore, Paul; Malouf, David, 1934-; Juan Davila collection (1999), Australians : responses to the land, St Martin Press, ISBN 978-0-646-37815-2{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)[28]
  • Calado, Jorge; Centro Cultural de Belém (Lisbon, Portugal); 100 Days Festival ((1998 : Lisbon, Portugal)) (1998), Waterproof : water in photography since 1852 ([Hardcover ed.] ed.), Edition Stemmle, ISBN 978-3-908161-26-4{{citation}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  • Crombie, Isobel; Blainey, Geoffrey, 1930-; National Gallery of Victoria (1992), Sites of the imagination : contemporary photographers view Melbourne and its people (English language ed.), National Gallery of Victoria, ISBN 978-0-7241-0161-0{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)

References[edit]

  1. ^ King, Natalie; Jerrems, Carol; Heide Museum of Modern Art (Bulleen, Vic.) (2010). Up close: Carol Jerrems with Larry Clark, Nan Goldin and William Yang. Melbourne: Heide Museum of Modern Art. ISBN 978-1-86395-501-0. OCLC 759868741.
  2. ^ "Quiet cameraman won access to the heart of working-class enclave". 15 August 2014.
  3. ^ "Robert Ashton". www.mga.org.au. Retrieved 25 January 2020.
  4. ^ "Brummels". www.rennieellis.com.au. Retrieved 25 January 2020.
  5. ^ Ashton, R. (2004). Rennie Ellis, 1940-2003:[Obituary.]. Photofile, (70), 64.
  6. ^ Creative Camera, February 1974, Coo Press, London, 321, 375.
  7. ^ Art Gallery of New South Wales; Annear, Judy (2007), Photography : Art Gallery of New South Wales Collection, Art Gallery of New South Wales, ISBN 978-1-74174-006-6
  8. ^ Smith, A. (2014). Photography: A portrait of Fitzroy in 1974. Arena Magazine (Fitzroy, Vic), (132), 50.
  9. ^ Munro, Craig (ed); Sheahan-Bright, Robyn (ed); University of Queensland (2006), Paper empires : a history of the book in Australia 1946-2005, ISBN 978-0-7022-3559-7 {{citation}}: |author1= has generic name (help)
  10. ^ a b "Colour Factory Gallery Exhibitions - Australian Photography". www.australianphotography.com. Retrieved 25 January 2020.
  11. ^ "Robert Ashton: Into the hollow mountains, Fitzroy in 1974". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 27 January 2020.
  12. ^ PORTAL, ART NEWS. "Into the Hollow Mountains - A portrait of Fitzroy in 1974". www.artnewsportal.com. Retrieved 27 January 2020.
  13. ^ "Robert Ashton: Into the Hollow Mountains". Open Journal. 9 December 2014. Retrieved 27 January 2020.
  14. ^ "Works | NGV | View Work".
  15. ^ a b Bennett, David; Agee, Joyce; Victorian Centre for Photography (1988), The thousand mile stare : a photographic exhibition, The Victorian Centre for Photography Inc, ISBN 978-0-7316-2054-8
  16. ^ "Robert Ashton | Qdos Arts Digital Large Format Landscape Photographer". Qdos Arts. Retrieved 30 January 2020.
  17. ^ Ashton, Robert; Gillespie, Mark (1974), Into the hollow mountains, Outback Press, ISBN 978-0-86888-006-8
  18. ^ Tony Perry, 'The big titles mystery,' The Age, Thursday 12 July 1979, p.2
  19. ^ Listing, The Sydney Morning Herald, Saturday, 18 Aug 1979, p.16
  20. ^ "Robert Ashton". Retrieved 25 January 2020.
  21. ^ "Black Eye Gallery". blackeyegallery.com.au. Retrieved 25 January 2020.
  22. ^ "Thin Air by Robert Ashton - Capture magazine". www.capturemag.com.au. Retrieved 25 January 2020.
  23. ^ Calado, Jorge; Centro Cultural de Belém (Lisbon, Portugal); 100 Days Festival ((1998 : Lisbon, Portugal)) (1998), Waterproof : water in photography since 1852 ([Hardcover ed.] ed.), Edition Stemmle, ISBN 978-3-908161-26-4{{citation}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  24. ^ Monash Gallery of Art (2007), William and Winifred Bowness photography prize 2007, Monash Gallery of Art, retrieved 25 January 2020
  25. ^ Hallmark Cards, Inc; Hallmark Photographic Collection; Hallmark Art Collection (2000), 2000 acquisitions : the Hallmark Art Collection, the Hallmark Photographic Collection, Hallmark Cards, Inc, retrieved 25 January 2020
  26. ^ "Robert ASHTON | Artists | NGV". www.ngv.vic.gov.au. Retrieved 25 January 2020.
  27. ^ Peter Weiniger, Limelight The Age, Wednesday 31 August 1994, p.28
  28. ^ irismagazine (14 May 2015). "Land Abound". Iris Magazine. Retrieved 25 January 2020.
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