Julian Oates

Born in 1991, Julian Oates is an Aboriginal artist from Mountain River, south of Hobart (Tasmania). Descendant of Chief Mannalargenna (circa 1770-1835), a great warrior and leader of the Ben Lomond clan (Plangermaireener), he comes from a family of artists.

He was deeply inspired by his father, Leigh Oates, whom he listened to tell the legends of his people while painting his canvases.

It was in 2009 that Julian Oates developed his own style of painting combining references to the aboriginal arts of Tasmania, the central desert, Arnhem Land but also to Western contemporary art in order to transcribe on the canvas his experiences, his culture and in turn pass on its traditional knowledge to future generations.

If the more than 200 canvases which constitute his work to date all have a title, only a few of them are accompanied by an explanatory text, because the artist wants his audience to in turn create a new work by watching his paintings.

The stories he tells through these come from the depths of his subconscious; Unlike his Aboriginal peers, he never has a predetermined subject in mind when he embarks on the creation of a new painting: it is born of the creative process.