Geoff Todd

Geoff Todd (born 1950 in Chelsea, Victoria) is an Australian artist and social commentator and has a contemporary figurative style in drawing, painting and sculpture. Geoff Todd works between studios in Winnellie, NT, and Ararat, Victoria.

Geoff Todd

AM
Studio Shot of Geoff Todd in front of 'FAITH' Ink drawings 2016/ 2017
Born1950 (age 72–73)
Chelsea, Victoria, Australia
NationalityAustralian
StyleContemporary figurative style in Drawing, Painting and Sculpture
Websitegeofftodd.com

Early life and education

Geoff Todd grew up on a small dairy farm in Gippsland, Victoria.[1][2]

Geoff Todd worked as an art teacher in several Victorian State Technical schools during the 1970s and 1980s. While teaching at Monterey Secondary College in 1980, he took a half-year residency at the Victorian College of the Arts in Melbourne before heading to Maningrida in Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia in 1984, where he served as a craft adviser.[3] Following his departure from Maningrida in 1987, Todd worked as an Art Lecturer at Batchelor Institute in Rum Jungle, Northern Territory, before becoming a part-time Sculpture Lecturer at Charles Darwin University, also in the Northern Territory.

Exhibitions

Todd began his career as an artist in the mid-1970s. He gained recognition for his "Book Sculptures," which were first exhibited at Powell Street Gallery in Melbourne in 1978 and later showcased in Australia and the UK. In 1984, he presented an exhibition of "Dictionary Paintings" at Christine Abraham's Gallery, incorporating silk screen, etching, wood block prints, and collage to reproduce well-known magazines, children's storybooks, and an illustrated dictionary.[4]

Throughout his career, Todd has executed public commissions, including the facades of the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory and the Northern Territory Parliament House in 1994.[5][6] His artistic contributions have extended to Indonesia, where his work is held in various museums' permanent collections in different cities. Some of his pieces have been acquired by the Northern Territory Museums and Art Galleries' permanent collection.[7][8]

In 1999, Todd held an exhibition at Benteng Vredeberg (The Dutch Fort) in Yogyakarta, Java, which was inaugurated by Prince Prabukusomo, the younger brother of the current Sultan Hamengkubuwono X of Yogyakarta. This exhibition garnered positive responses, establishing Todd as a respected artist both in Indonesia and Australia."[9]

His figurative work reveals intimate, personal and sometimes erotic connections with his subjects, while pursuing broader themes. "In a career spanning over forty years Geoff Todd's practice has consistently expressed his commitment to social justice and activism, while also reflecting his responses to wider political issues ranging from the so-called 'Bali Nine' arrests in 2005, to September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.[10] Figurative art led Todd to translate three-dimensional form into two-dimensional drawing and painting. About his portrait of Judas Iscariot, the American author Susan Gubar writes "Todd's image emphasizes guilt, remorse, a conviction about one's own worthlessness. Less a demon, more a monk or mendicant, a hopeless Judas atoning in desolate silence clarifies how it feels to be John's son of perdition, an anathema."[11][12] in 2017, The Darwin gallery, Framed, featured Todd's work for their closing exhibition after thirty years . The solo show along with the book, "Reflections" revealed thirty years of the artist's work and his thought processes.[13][14]

In 2019, he was recognized as a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in the Australia Day Honours for his "significant service to the visual arts as an artist and sculptor."[15]

Other work

Book design & illustration
  • Barnaby, Jane, Mountain Cattlemen, Oxford University Press, Melbourne 1982. [designer] ISBN 0195544013
  • Barnett, Gillian, The Inside Hedge Story, Oxford University Press, Melbourne 1981. [illustrator] ISBN 0195543068
  • Dowling, Carolyn & McCracken, Noelle, The Book of Melbourne, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1983,
  • [designer & illustrator] p. 9-10, 14-19, 28-32, 69 ISBN 0195543491
  • Epstein, June, When Tracey Came For Christmas, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1982. [illustrator] ISBN 0195543629
  • McCracken, Noelle & Taylor, Brent, The Truck Driver, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1983. [designer] ISBN 019554384X
  • What Rubbish!, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1982, [designer] ISBN 0195543823
  • Zable, Arnold, Clown Boy, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1982. [designer] ISBN 0195543777
  • The River Man, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1982. [designer] ISBN 0195543831
  • Lindsey, Tim & Pausacker, Helen (Eds) Religion, Law and Intolerance in Indonesia, Routledge, Oxford, 2016 ISBN 9781138100879
  • Lindsey Tim & Nicholson, Penelope, Drugs Law and Legal Practice in South East Asia: Indonesia, Singapore and Vietnam, Hart Publishing, Oxford 2015 ISBN 9781782258315
  • Murphy, Brian, Gangelhoff, Puffin Books, Ringwood, 1986. [Illustrator] ISBN 0140504761

Publications & catalogues
  • Carmon, Odelia & Todd, Geoff D, I Came Down To Earth, Saray Publishing, Sydney, 2001 ISBN 0957941706
  • Città di Firenze, Biennale Internazionale Dell'Arte Contemporanea, Settima Edizione 2009,p. 578-579 florence biennale past editions
  • Christies, Australian, International & Contemporary Paintings, Christies Australia, South Yarra, 2005, p. 172
  • Germaine, Max, Artists and Galleries of Australia, Third Edition (Revised and enlarged), Craftsman House, Roseville, (1984) 1990, Vol. 2, p. 677 -78. ISBN 9768097027
  • Gubar, Susan, Juda: A Biography, W.W. Norton & Co, New York, 2009, p. 252, 254-55. ISBN 0393064832
  • Healy, Jacqueline, " Geoff Todd: War Heroes, Portraits of Victoria Cross Winners & A Protest in Blood", Bundoora Homestead Gallery, Bundoora, 2001
  • Levitt, Stewart A, & Todd, Geoff D, (with Carmon, Odelia & Overby II, Rodney) Psalms For The Secular: A Collaboration Between Stewart Levitt and Geoff Todd,
  • Saray Publishing, Sydney, 2005, ISBN 0646452304
  • Lindsey, Tim & Hines, Toby (Eds) Looking North- The Art of Geoff Todd: Outsider, Maverick, Humanist, Zebu Press, Hawthorn East, 2005 ISBN 0-9756775-0-0
  • Lucas, Janette (Ed) Geoff Todd: Beautiful Beasts, Sprout Creative, Darwin 2016 ISBN 9780992573485[16]
  • McCulloch, Alan (Ed.) "MPAC 10th Anniversary Exhibition"' Mornington Peninsula Arts Centre Mornington, Victoria, 1979, p. 10. http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/32484891?selectedversion=NBD41760748
  • McCulloch, Alan, (w/McCulloch, Susan) The Encyclopaedia of Australian Art, (Revised & Updated), Allen & Urwin, (1968) 1994, p. 702 https://www.allenandunwin.com/browse/books/general-books/visual-arts/Encyclopedia-of-Australian-Art-Alan-Sue-McCulloch-9781863733151
  • McCulloch, Alan, McCulloch, Susan & McCulloch Childs, Emily (Eds) The New McCulloch's Encyclopaedia of Australian Art, Australian Art Editions/The Miegunyah Press, Fourth Edition, (1968) 2006, p,957 http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/9035129
  • McCullough, Thomas G (Ed.) The First Australian Sculpture Triennial, La Trobe University/ Danforth Press, Melbourne, 1981, p. 164 & 272 http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/21213706?selectedversion=NBD2595661
  • Mendham, Dawn about/Territory_picture_show_30_September_26_November "Territory Picture Show", Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, (MAGNT), Fannie Bay, Northern Territory, 1995. [unpaginated]
  • Mendham, Dawn & West, Margie, Contemporary Territory, Museum & Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin, 1994, p. 52-55. Contemporary Territory (MAGNT) 1994
  • Murray, Daena, The Sound Of The Sky, Museum & Art Gallery of the Northern Territory/Charles Darwin University Press, 2006, p. 135-36, 145,150 "The Sound Of The Sky: The Northern Territory in Australian Art", Museum & Art Gallery The Sound Of The Sky (MAGNT)/Charles Darwin University Press 2006
  • Office of the Administrator Northern Territory, 1999, Northern Territory Chronicle 1974-1998, ISBN 1876248238
  • Perkins, Hetty (Ed.) Crossing Country- The Alchemy of Western Arnhem Land, Art Gallery of New South Wales Publications, Sydney, 2004, p. 179. ISBN 073476359X Crossing Country- The Alchemy of Western Arnhem Land, 2004[17]
  • Todd, Geoff, 3. / Geoff Todd, Zebu Press, 2006 http://trove.nla.gov.au/version/30338806
  • Todd, Geoff, Artful Drawing from the Nude, OTH Gallery Publication, 2009 ISBN 9780646507897
  • Todd, Geoff, Reflections, Published by Sprout Creative, 2017 ISBN 978-1-925503-09-8

Television

Rebgetz, Louisa, "Territory Artist's Playful Exhibition", ABC, "7:30 Report", Darwin,15 June 2012 [5.19 duration] [18]

References
  1. Lindsey, Tim; Hines, Toby (2004). Looking North: The Art of Geoff Todd : Outsider, Maverick & Humanist. Zebu Press. ISBN 0-9756775-0-0.
  2. Lindsey, Tim; Hines, Toby (2004). Looking North: The Art of Geoff Todd : Outsider, Maverick & Humanist. Zebu Press. ISBN 0-9756775-0-0.
  3. Crossing Country- The Alchemy of Western Arnhem Land, Art Gallery of New South Wales Publications
  4. The Australian, 31/08/1978
  5. Northern Territory Chronicle 1974-1998
  6. Looking North. The Art of Geoff Todd
  7. "It's a pop life: Leo Sayer launches Geoff Todd's pop art exhibition - ABC (none) - Australian Broadcasting Corporation". www.abc.net.au. Retrieved 23 October 2023.
  8. Walton, Inga (September 2013). "Melburnin September 2013". Trouble Mag. Retrieved 23 October 2023.
  9. "Past Editions".
  10. Walton, Inga, "War Paint: Protest & Social Activism in the works of Geoff Todd", in Art Monthly Australia Issue 264, October, 2013, p. 25-29
  11. Todd, Geoff, Artful Drawing from the Nude, OTH Gallery Publication, 2009 ISBN 9780646507897
  12. Gubar, Susan, Judas: A Biography, W.W. Norton & Co, New York, 2009, p. 252, 254-55. ISBN 0393064832
  13. "Trouble November 2013 by Trouble Magazine - Issuu". issuu.com. 1 November 2013. Retrieved 23 October 2023.
  14. Maddox, Elicia Murray and Garry (13 May 2008). "Well hung painting causes a stir". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 23 October 2023.
  15. "Geoffrey David Todd". honours.pmc.gov.au. Retrieved 27 January 2019.
  16. "Geoff Todd |Beautiful Beasts". Artist Profile. 2 March 2016. Retrieved 23 October 2023.
  17. Altman, Jon C.; Perkins, Hetti; Art Gallery of New South Wales (2004). Crossing country : the alchemy of western Arnhem Land art. Sydney: Art Gallery of New South Wales. ISBN 073476359X.
  18. "Stories". Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
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