Richard Claremont (born 3 May 1965) is a Wollongong-based Australian painter. His style is expressionistic and related to impressionism. Claremont worked for the Australia Post from 1988 to 2017 and made sketches while delivering mail. He became known as 'the painting postie' in media.
Early life and education Claremont was born on 3 May 1965 in Sydney. He attended Glenaeon Rudolf Steiner School. While at school he worked at Sydney's Artflow Graphics studio but decided to study Visual Arts instead of Graphic Design and entered Sydney College of the Arts where he studied from 1983 to 1985. Claremont displayed his works in a group exhibition of 4 painters from the College in 1985, earning a positive review from The Sydney Morning Herald's art critic John McDonald.
Between 1985 and 1987 he travelled throughout Europe, the Middle East and North America, staying in Canada for two years.
Art career In 1988, Claremont returned to Australia and started working for Australia Post as a postman serving City of Shellharbour area. What started as a summer job, became his main occupation for almost thirty years. Claremont found inspiration on the city streets, making sketches while delivering mail. In 2015 he won ANL Maritime Art Prize awarded by The Mission to Seafarers. Claremont's works are on permanent display at Bluescope Visitors Centre at Port Kembla. He was also one of Australia's contemporary artists featured at Donald Keys' Art Heads series of portraits.
Awards Year Award Result 2015 ANL Maritime Art Prize 2013 Mosman Art Prize finalist 2015 NSW Parliament Plein Air Painting Prize finalist 2016 NSW Parliament Plein Air Painting Prize finalist 2017 NSW Parliament Plein Air Painting Prize finalist
Exhibitions Year Exhibition Gallery City Country 1985 Four Artists from Sydney College of the Arts Australian Visual Arts Gallery Darlinghurst Australia 1993 Balloon Over Kenya James Harvey Gallery Balmain Australia 1995 Steeltown First Draft Sydney Australia 1998 Broken Hill And Beyond Project Contemporary Artspace Wollongong Australia 2013 Gion Salerno Gallery Sydney Australia 2014 Autumn Exhibition (group show) Bradman Centre Art Gallery Bowral Australia 2015 Remembered Landscapes Depot Gallery Sydney Australia 2015 Group show Galerie Mona Lisa Paris France 2015 Close to Home Clifton School of Arts Clifton Australia 2016 Asia Contemporary Art Show Conrad Hong Kong Hong Kong China 2017 Secret Sydney Aro Gallery Sydney Australia 2018 Bright New Day Brightspace Gallery Melbourne Australia 2019 Terra Flora Brightspace Gallery Melbourne Australia
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