Robert Jacks

Robert Jacks is recognised as one of Australia's most significant and accomplished abstract artists. His art, like the man himself, is elegant, sophisticated and gregarious. Jacks studied sculpture and painting at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology ad held his first critically acclaimed solo exhibition in 1966. Soon after, he moved to New York to participate in the conceptually oriented minimalist art movement that had taken root there.

Jacks has always remained true to his early love of abstraction and strikingly simplified geometric forms, evident in the cool minimalism of his work. But, as David Thomas points out in his Foreword, "If Jacks is to be described as an abstract artist, one must come to terms with the frequent figurative refrences in his paintings." Ever present too, is Jacks's love of music, paticularly jazz. He is an uncompromising individualist interested in the modern, and his technique and skill are uniquely and unquestionably his own."
Ken McGregor - "Past Unfolded, Robert Jacks" 2001

"Having invented a language of forms that suits his needs, he is continually refining, adjusting his manner of expression. Jacks has often been called a Romantic, even though his work is vigorously abstract, and has been closely aligned with minimalism and colour - field painting"
John Macdonald, Sydney Morning Herald, Saturday March 15, 1997

1961-62 Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology
1958-60 Prahran Technical College, Melbourne

Solo Exhibitions
2007
Hill Smith Gallery, Adelaide
Anna Schartz Gallery, Melbourne
2006
Robert Jacks, Working in Multiple Dimensions, McClelland Gallery, Langwarrin
2005
On Paper, Bendigo Art Gallery, Victoria
2004
The Living and the Dead, James Joyce of the Dead, Dublin
2003
Metro 5, Melbourne
Port Jackson Press, Melbourne
Ian Potter Gallery, Melbourne University
Tim Olsen Gallery, Sydney
2002
A Reason to be Cheerful, Bendigo Art Gallery, Bendigo
2000
Flags and other Abstractions, Tim Olsen Gallery, Sydney
1998
Ramp, Herring Island Gallery, Herring Island
Environmental Sculpture Park, Melbourne
Olsen Carr Art Dealers, Sydney
1997
Sketches of Spain, Olsen Carr Art Dealers, Sydney
1996
Sketches of Spain, Robert Lindsay Gallery, Melbourne
Robert Jacks, From the Studio, Castlemaine
State Festival, Castlemaine
1995
Robert Lindsay Gallery, Melbourne
1994
Bellas Gallery, Brisbane
Bendigo Art Gallery, Bendigo, Victoria
LaTrobe Regional Gallery, Morwell, Victoria
Robert Jacks: Harmonice Mundi - Works from the 1970s and 1990s
1993
Castlemaine Art Gallery, Castlemaine, Victoria
Bellas Gallery, Brisbane
1991
Robert Jacks - Works from New York 1969 -1978, Deutscher Fine Art
1990
Robert Jacks - On Paper 1958 - 1990, The Ian Potter Gallery, The University
1989
Australian Galleries, Melbourne
1987
Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney
Australian Galleries, Melbourne
1986
Gallery 52, Perth
Arts Gallery Auckland, New Zealand
1985
Realities Gallery, Melbourne
Anima Gallery, Adelaide
1984
Realities Gallery, Melbourne
Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney
ACCA, Melbourne
1983
Gallery 52, Perth
Realities Gallery, Melbourne
Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney
1982
Ray Hughes Gallery, Brisbane
Realities Gallery, Melbourne
Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney
1981
David Reid Gallery, Sydney
Realities Gallery, Melbourne
1980
David Reid Gallery, Sydney
Art Projects, Melbourne
Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane
1979
Arts Projects, Melbourne
Rex Irwin Gallery, Sydney
Ray Hughes Gallery, Brisbane
1978
Ray Hughes Gallery, Brisbane
The University Gallery, University of Melbourne
1977
Works on Paper Gallery, Sydney
ACT, Toronto, Canada
1975
South Yarra Gallery, Melbourne
1973
South Yarra Gallery, Melbourne
Bonython Gallery, Sydney
A Space, Toronto, Canada
1972
A Space, Toronto, Canada
1971
New York Cultural Centre, New York
Whitney Museum Artists Resource Centre, New York
1969
Pollock Gallery, Toronto, Canada
South Yarra Gallery, Melbourne
Clune Gallery, Sydney
1967
South Yarra Gallery, Melbourne
1966
Gallery A, Melbourne

Group Exhibitions
2007
Australian Drawing, John Buckley Gallery, Melbourne
2006
Neo Minimalism and some Antecedents, John Buckley Gallery, Melbourne
2005
Pitch Your Own Tent, Monash University Museum of Melbourne
2004
Barnardo's, The National Gallery, Melbourne
2002
Towards Colour, McClelland Gallery, Langwarrin, Victoria
2000
Significant Contemporary Artists, Smyrnious Gallery, Melbourne
1999
A Letter to Picasso: The Stamp in Contemporary Art, National Philatelic Centre and Archives, Melbourne
1998
A Decade of Contemporary Australian Printmaking, Metropolitan Museum of Seoul, Korea
Australian Contemporary Art Fair 6, Royal Exhibition Building, Melbourne
Sketches of Spain, Philip Bacon Gallery, Brisbane
1995
The Situation Now: A Survey of Local Non-Objective Art, University Art
The Festival, The Foundry and the Artist, Melbourne International Festival
Deakin University Art Collection, Geelong Art Gallery Geelong
1993
From the Lithographer's Workshop, Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney
1992
Contemporary Australian Drawing, Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney
Re-View, Gore Street Gallery, Melbourne
1990
Central Street, Charles Nordrum Gallery, Melbourne
1989
Interior Views, Victorian Regional Galleries
1987
Surface and Reflection, Art Gallery Of NSW, Sydney
Painters and Sculptors - Diversity in Contemporary Australian Art, Contemporary Australian Art, The Museum of Modern Art, Japan
Selected Contemporary Drawings, Heide Park and Art Gallery, Melbourne
Voyage of Discovery, The Crescent Gallery, Dallas Texas
1986
Colour and Transparency, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
A Resistant Spirit, Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney and Realities Gallery, Melbourne
1985
The Subject of Painting, Art Gallery of NSW
Victoria: Views of Contemporary Artists, Benalla, Victoria
1984
The Field Now, Heide Park and Art Gallery Melbourne
1983
Wynne Watercolour Prize, Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney
Sydney Opera House, Tenth Anniversary, Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney
The Mosaic, The Grid, Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney
Recent Australian Painting: A survey of the 70s and 80s, Art Gallery of SA, Adelaide
Twelve Australian Painters, Art Gallery of WA, Perth
Continuum 83, The First Exhibition of Australian Contemporary Art in Australian Abstract Art, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology
A Melbourne Mood: Cool Contemporary Art, Australian National Gallery, Canberra
1981
Australian Perspecta, Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney
1978
Four New York Painters: Fundamental Minimalism, Institute of Modern Art
1977
University Art Collections, Grey Gallery, New York
1974
Third Annual Contemporary Reflections, the Aldrich Muserum of Contemporary Art, Connecticut, USA
1973
Recent Australian Art, Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney
1972
Large Works on Paper, Reese Palley Gallery, New York
1968
The Field, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, tour to Art Gallery of Canadian Artists '68, Art Gallery of Toronto, Canada
1963/4/5
New Generation, Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne
1962
Contemporary Art Society Annual, Argus Gallery, Melbourne

Commissions
1998 Ramp, Herring Island Environmental Sculpture Park, Parkes, Victoria
1995 Benalla Art Gallery, Benalla, Victoria
Gallery Park and Rose Garden - sculpture cast at Meridan Foundry, Melbourne
St Leonard's Apartments, St Kilda, Melbourne - steel screens for four stairwells
1993 Heide Park and Art Gallery, Melbourne - rugs for reception area
1992 Matsushita Corporation, Chifley Tower, Sydney - two large paintings
Swanston Walk, Melbourne - brass inlayed into bluestone pavement
1988 Woodside Offshore Petroleum - rug for foyer
1986 State Bank, Sydney, lift lobby, floors 35 and 36 - marble floor

Collections
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra; New Parliament House, Canberra, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne; Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney; Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide; Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth; Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane; Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Hobart; National Art Gallery Wellington, New Zealand; Centre for Contemporary Art, Hamilton, New Zealand; New York University, New York City; Wesleyan University, Connecticut; Artbank, Sydney; Reserve Bank of Australia, Sydney; Sony Corporation, New York; BHP Corporation, Melbourne; UNESCO, Sydney; University of Melbourne; Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology; University of Queensland, Brisbane; Albury Regional Art Gallery; Australian Club, Melbourne; Ballarat Fine Art Gallery; Bendigo Art Gallery, Victoria; Burnie Art Gallery, Victoria; British Museum, London; Castlemaine Art Gallery, Victoria; Centre for Contemporary Art, Hamilton, New Zealand; Darwin Community College; Geelong Art Gallery; The Holmes a Court Collection, Heytesbury; La Trobe University, Bundoora; Monash Medical Centre, Victoria; Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney; Museum of New Zealand, Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington, New Zealand; National Gallery of Australia, Canberra; National Gallery of Victoria; New York University; Newcastle Regional Gallery, NSW; Parliament House Art Collection, Canberra; Perc Tucker Regional Gallery, Townsville; Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane; Reserve Bank of Australia, Sydney; RMIT University, Melbourne; Shepparton Art Gallery, Victoria; Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Hobart; Toowoomba Community College, University of Melbourne; University of Queensland; University of Western Australia; Wadsworth Athenaeum, Connecticut; Wesleyan University, Connecticut; Wollongong City Art Gallery, NSW.