Brett Whiteley (1939-1992)

In 1981 Whiteley moved to a studio in Reiby Place, Circular Key. In October that year he held an exhibition of sculptures, prints (including an impression of Light Globe), paintings and drawings at the studio on the subject of the nude, a recurring subject throughout his career and source of fascination and inspiration. Of the show, Barry Pearce stated 'The catalogue contained a credo by the artist which today's politically correct society may find objectionable, but it is fascinating to see how the images in the exhibition balanced on the boundary between overt male desire and misogyny. … Many of the [works], however, challenged, the notion of sensuality with extreme distortion which hovered just this side of the grotesque … The dark side: it was an inescapable part of the equation of Whiteley's life to the end.' (B. Pearce, Brett Whiteley: Art & Life, Sydney, 1995, pp.37-38)