Stewart MacFarlane



Stewart Angus MacFarlane (born November 1953, Adelaide, South Australia), is an Australian figurative painter. His style is a pared-down realism (with expressionistic touches) combined with a surreality of lighting and perspective. He often, though not always, places a female or male nude in a situation of erotic enigma. He paints the Australian scene representative of Western society as a whole.

Career
When aged 16 he enrolled at the South Australian School of Art, where he was influenced by the Adelaide painters, David Dridan and David Dallwitz. He gained a Diploma of Fine Arts (Painting) in 1974. The next year he travelled to America where he had group and solo exhibitions, as well as pursuing his other love, music. In 1977 he graduated with a Bachelor in Fine Arts (Painting) from the School of Visual Arts, New York City. He was a studio assistant of Alex Katz, Chuck Close, and Janet Fish. Since returning to Australia in 1983, MacFarlane has earned his living as a professional painter, exhibiting several times a year, either in Australia or internationally.

MacFarlane is also a musician. His band, "Stew Lane and The Untouchables", performed and recorded in New York City from 1979 to 1981. The Album, Harder Than Wax was released by AZ International, France, in 1980. The band's independent release, "U.N.Rap Song" (Private Ear Records, 1980) was acknowledged by Freddy Fresh as one of the earliest rap records and one of the first examples of a group, outside the hip-hop genre, to incorporate rap into their music.