Jon Cattapan (born 1956) is an Australian visual artist best known for his abstract oil paintings of cityscapes, his service as the 63rd Australian war artist and his work as a professor of visual art at the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb nor ...

in the Faculty of Fine Arts and Music at the

Victorian College of the Arts The Victorian College of the Arts (VCA) is the arts school at the University of Melbourne in Australia. It is part of the university's Faculty of Fine Arts and Music. It is located near the Melbourne city centre on the Southbank campus of the ...

. Cattapan's artworks are held in several major galleries and collections, including the

National Gallery of Victoria The National Gallery of Victoria, popularly known as the NGV, is an art museum in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1861, it is Australia's oldest and most visited art museum. The NGV houses an encyclopedic art collection across two ...

, the

Art Gallery of New South Wales The Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW), founded as the New South Wales Academy of Art in 1872 and known as the National Art Gallery of New South Wales between 1883 and 1958, is located in The Domain, Sydney, Australia. It is the most importa ...

Queensland Art Gallery The Queensland Art Gallery (QAG) is an art museum located in South Bank, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. The gallery is part of QAGOMA. It complements the Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) building, situated only away. The Queensland Art Galler ...

, and the

National Gallery of Australia The National Gallery of Australia (NGA), formerly the Australian National Gallery, is the national art museum of Australia as well as one of the largest art museums in Australia, holding more than 166,000 works of art. Located in Canberra in th ...

Early life and education

Childhood and early adulthood

Jon Cattapan was born in 1956 in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

to Italian parents. Cattapan's family emigrated from Castelfranco in the

Veneto Veneto (, ; vec, Vèneto ) or Venetia is one of the 20 regions of Italy. Its population is about five million, ranking fourth in Italy. The region's capital is Venice while the biggest city is Verona. Veneto was part of the Roman Empire unt ...

region of Italy after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. Cattapan was first taught to draw aged six by an older cousin on a trip to Italy. Cattapan's family initially lived in the inner city suburb of

Carlton Carlton may refer to: People * Carlton (name), a list of those with the given name or surname * Carlton (singer), English soul singer Carlton McCarthy * Carlton, a pen name used by Joseph Caldwell (1773–1835), American educator, Presbyterian ...

, known as Melbourne's

Little Italy Little Italy is a general name for an ethnic enclave populated primarily by Italians or people of Italian ancestry, usually in an urban neighborhood. The concept of "Little Italy" holds many different aspects of the Italian culture. There are s ...

, before moving to the suburb of Highett where Cattapan spent the majority of his childhood and young adult life.

Tertiary education

Cattapan initially studied

computer science Computer science is the study of computation, automation, and information. Computer science spans theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, information theory, and automation) to Applied science, practical discipli ...

for a year at

RMIT RMIT University, officially the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology,, section 4(b) is a public research university in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1887 by Francis Ormond, RMIT began as a night school offering classes in art, scienc ...

before instead deciding to pursue art and enrolling in a

Bachelor of Fine Arts A Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) is a standard undergraduate degree for students for pursuing a professional education in the visual, fine or performing arts. It is also called Bachelor of Visual Arts (BVA) in some cases. Background The Bachelor ...

in painting at RMIT. He graduated from RMIT in 1977. Cattapan went on to complete a

Masters of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

by research in 1992 at

Monash University Monash University () is a public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Named for prominent World War I general Sir John Monash, it was founded in 1958 and is the second oldest university in the state. The university has a ...

Career

Early career (1977–1989)

Cattapan had his first group exhibition ''Crisis Drawings'' in 1978 with artist Peter Ellis at the RMIT faculty gallery and his first solo exhibition ''Paintings, Constructions and Works on Paper'' at

Realities Gallery Realities Gallery was a Melbourne gallery which showed work of Australian art of the western and indigenous traditions, and Pacific and international art. It operated from 1971 to 1992. History Ross Street 1971–75 In 1970 Danish-born Marian ...

in 1983. Cattapan initially intended to complete postgraduate study in filmmaking after transferring from computer science to RMIT's School of Art however has stated this never happened "because I got right into the painting".

Time in America (1989–1991)

From 1989 until 1991 Cattapan lived in the United States of America having a residencies at the Australia Council's Greene Street studio in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

and at

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

Columbus Columbus is a Latinized version of the Italian surname "''Colombo''". It most commonly refers to: * Christopher Columbus (1451-1506), the Italian explorer * Columbus, Ohio, capital of the U.S. state of Ohio Columbus may also refer to: Places ...

, Ohio. Chris McCauliffe has stated that "Cattapan's time in New York was a turning point, both personally and professionally" and further described Cattapan's work at this time as "disjointed and emotional". An exhibition of Cattapan's work made between 1990 and 1991 titled ''365 Days'' was shown in 1992 at Realities gallery in Toorak, Melbourne and Bellas gallery in

Fortitude Valley Fortitude Valley (often called "The Valley" by local residents) is an inner suburb of the City of Brisbane, the state capital of Queensland, Australia. In the , Fortitude Valley had a population of 9,708 people. The suburb features two pedestr ...

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

. In the corresponding exhibition catalogue Cattapan's artworks are described; "brief moments in a modern metropolis are captured in small detail only to be displaced amongst a melange of information... there is constant movement across the boundaries of figuration and abstraction".

Return to Australia and rise in prominence (1991–2008)

After returning from America, Cattapan completed several major works including ''The Melbourne Panels'' and ''Possible Histories''. Cattapan also states that during this period he undertook several overseas

artist residencies Artist-in-residence, or artist residencies, encompass a wide spectrum of artistic programs which involve a collaboration between artists and hosting organisations, institutions, or communities. They are programs which provide artists with space a ...

including a residency as a visiting artist at

Hongik University Hongik University (, colloquially ''Hongdae'') is a private university in Seoul, South Korea. Founded by an activist in 1946, the university is located in Mapo-gu district of central Seoul, South Korea with a second campus(branch campus) in S ...

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

, a residency in

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

at the Venice printmaking studio.

Service as the 63rd Australian war artist (2008)

In 2008, Cattapan served as Australia's 63rd war artist, being deployed to

Timor-Leste East Timor (), also known as Timor-Leste (), officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is an island country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the exclave of Oecusse on the island's north-weste ...

on a

peacekeeping Peacekeeping comprises activities intended to create conditions that favour lasting peace. Research generally finds that peacekeeping reduces civilian and battlefield deaths, as well as reduces the risk of renewed warfare. Within the United N ...

mission with the

Australian Army The Australian Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of Australia, a part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force. The Army is commanded by the Chief of Army (Austral ...

. Cattapan has described his title as a war artist as overly dramatic given the relative stability of Timor-Leste however has also stated that he feels privileged to have been a war artist and that "the experience opened up a very rich and meaningful artistic journey for me". In 2009, the

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

aired a documentary following Cattapan's journey to Timor-Leste and the subsequent influence on his artistic process.

Post Timor-Leste (2008–present)

Cattapan was the recipient of the Bulgari Art Award in 2013. The award, a partnership between Bulgari and the

, was bestowed upon Cattapan for his artwork titled ''Imagine a Raft (Hard Rubbish 4 + 5)''. As part of the award, the gallery purchased the artwork for $50,000 AUD and Cattapan was awarded and additional $30,000 AUD to travel to Italy to complete an artist's residency, which he intended to complete in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

and

. Still influenced by his time as a war artist, Cattapan collaborated with fellow war artists Charles Green and Lyndell Brown on collaborative shows such as ''Spook Country''. Dan Rule of ''

The Age ''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria (Australia), Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Austral ...

'' described these collaborations overall as discussing and resonating with the repercussions of conflict, especially the notion of accountability in relation to conflict occurring overseas. In 2016 Cattapan was selected to feature in the

Melbourne Art Trams The Melbourne Art Trams is a major public art project in Melbourne, Australia. It is a revival and re-imagining of the ''Transporting Art'' project which ran from 1978 to 1993 and saw 36 painted W-class trams rolled out across the Melbourne net ...

project. As part of the project a Melbourne tram was wrapped in an artistic design of Cattapan's. Cattapan was the subject of the 2016

Archibald Prize The Archibald Prize is an Australian portraiture art prize for painting, generally seen as the most prestigious portrait prize in Australia. It was first awarded in 1921 after the receipt of a bequest from J. F. Archibald, J. F. Archib ...

finalist Benjamin Aitken's work ''Portrait of my mentor (Jon Cattapan and self)''. Aitken stated that Cattapan had "become something of a mentor" and that the two artists have a "unique relationship" given their difference in tertiary education. The two artists subsequently collaborated in 2018 on a series of ten paintings entitled ''Circling'' which exhibited at the La Trobe Art Institute he exhibits with Station Gallery in Melbourne, Dominik Mersch Gallery in Sydney and Milani Gallery in

Career as an academic

Cattapan started his academic career as a lecturer in painting, drawing and

printmaking Printmaking is the process of creating artworks by printing, normally on paper, but also on fabric, wood, metal, and other surfaces. "Traditional printmaking" normally covers only the process of creating prints using a hand processed techniq ...

at his Alma mater, RMIT, in 1982, before becoming a lecturer in painting in 1987 and leaving the university in 1989. Between 1992 and 1994 Cattapan was lecturer in foundation studies at the

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public research university located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton encompasses seven teaching and research colleges, in addition to several national academies and ...

before becoming a senior lecturer at the Victorian College of the Arts. Cattapan became an

associate professor Associate professor is an academic title with two principal meanings: in the North American system and that of the ''Commonwealth system''. Overview In the ''North American system'', used in the United States and many other countries, it is a ...

at the Victorian College of the Arts in 2007 and is currently a professor in visual art within the University of Melbourne's Faculty of Fine Art and Music at the Victorian College of the Arts after the two institutions merged in 2007. Cattapan also previously held the position of director at the Victorian College of the Arts.

Influences

Cattapan has credited his high school art teacher Ralph Farmer as helping him to initially find his path as an artist and as encouraging him to switch to the RMIT school of Art stating Farmer "turned me onto what a life in art could look like". For several years after graduating RMIT Cattapan's works were described as being typical to the what

art historian Art history is the study of aesthetic objects and visual expression in historical and stylistic context. Traditionally, the discipline of art history emphasized painting, drawing, sculpture, architecture, ceramics and decorative arts; yet today ...

Chris McAuliffe termed a "consistent accent" of RMIT graduates. Cattapan was interviewed in 2016 on James Ballard's novel ''

The Drowned World ''The Drowned World'' is a 1962 science fiction novel by British writer J. G. Ballard. The novel depicts a post-apocalyptic future in which global warming caused by heightened solar radiation has rendered much of the Earth's surface uninhabit ...

'' stating that after first reading it he understood it as "a very prescient book" which "has stayed with me". Cattapan elaborated that he interpreted a strong sense of instability in ''The Drowned World'' stating that in the book "everything is on the verge of sliding away". Cattapan's series of work ''The City Submerged'' can be linked to his interpretation of ''The Drowned World'' through the series' watery washes and the its focus on

dystopia A dystopia (from Ancient Greek δυσ- "bad, hard" and τόπος "place"; alternatively cacotopiaCacotopia (from κακός ''kakos'' "bad") was the term used by Jeremy Bentham in his 1818 Plan of Parliamentary Reform (Works, vol. 3, p. 493). ...

Artistic style

Early painting and prints

In the late 1970s Cattapan became involved with the punk rock scene in St Kilda. As Cattapan notes:

You had one café that everyone went to. The Galleon, upstairs in
Acland Street Acland Street is a street in the Melbourne suburb of St Kilda, which enjoys great popularity as a recreational area, mainly due to its many restaurants and its proximity to the entertainment areas along St Kilda beach Acland Street runs o ...
. And if you went there, you'd be guaranteed to bump into half a dozen people from different sorts of art forms. So by osmosis, I suppose, you started to take on other people's ideas and predilections.

This involvement with the punk rock scene led Cattapan to begin to explore notions of geographical and social territories. McAuliffe has also noted that the punk rock scene legitimized Cattapan's more raw and emotional early style. Connections have been drawn between Cattapan's early works, with their exploration of night-life and prostitution in St Kilda, and the work of artist Albert Tucker who explored similar themes in his ''Images of Modern Evil series'', also in St Kilda.

Cityscapes and the urban landscape

Cattapan's work has been described as taking on a data-scape style and as a crossover between data-visualisation and the visual landscape and he has been noted for his interest in the post-modern city. Artist and critic John Conomos is quoted in the ''

Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper i ...

'' as saying "His swirling atmospherics suggest the romanticism of Turner's landscapes and Whistler's nocturnes". Several of Cattapan's notable city-scape works are held in the collections of major Australian galleries including ''Possible Histories'' which is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Australia and ''The Melbourne Panels'', held in the collection of the National Gallery of Victoria

War art and night vision

During his deployment as the 63rd Australian war artist, Cattapan began to experiment with night-vision equipment. In his words:

Using an amalgam of local and global environments to test ways of picturing gatherings or mapping territories has been at the heart of my practice. In Timor-Leste, that was brought to bear through the lens of the night-vision monocle I was given.

The use of night-vision equipment was a continuation of Cattapan's previous interest in the nocturnal and in the use of digital technologies in his work process. Cattapan's work during and after his deployment conveyed notions of surrealism and voyeurism. By using mono-print Drawings in conjunction with digital photographs, Cattapan's ''Carbon group'' create an imaginative retelling of events that he witnessed in Timor-Leste. Cattapan also states that it was his intention to depict the Australian army's relations with the local Timorese people.

Post-war art style

In 2014, art critic Sasha Grishin described Cattapan's work as "accessible, but simultaneously also mysterious and hinting at a different level of existence". Grishin has also noted Cattapan's interest in information systems and surveillance technology.After returning from Timor-Leste, Cattapan began to experiment with dripping paint in the background of his works. Eyeline magazine interpreted this as a reaction to the instability of the 21st century and offered multiple different suggestions of the purpose and meaning of this change in technique.

Awards

* 1996:

John McCaughey Memorial Art Prize The John McCaughey Prize, also known as the John McCaughey Memorial Art Prize, McCaughey Prize, McCaughey Art Prize or McCaughey Art Award, is an Australian art prize awarded to an artist or artists, under which the National Gallery of Victoria ...

, NGV * 2013: Bulgari Art Award

Major collections

Cattapan's work is held in a large number of public collections, including: *

Parliament House, Canberra Parliament House, also referred to as Capital Hill or simply Parliament, is the meeting place of the Parliament of Australia, and the seat of the legislative branch of the Australian Government. Located in Canberra, the Parliament building is ...

Museum of Contemporary Art Australia The Museum of Contemporary Art Australia (MCA), located on George Street in Sydney's The Rocks neighbourhood, is solely dedicated to exhibiting, interpreting, and collecting contemporary art, from across Australia and around the world. It is ...

Heide Museum of Modern Art The Heide Museum of Modern Art, also known as Heide, is an art museum in Bulleen, a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Established in 1981, the museum houses modern and contemporary art across three distinct exhibition buildings and is set ...