Patrick Carroll was for many the archetypal artist: creative, energetic, always questioning, quirky, entertaining and immensely hardworking.For nearly five decades he pursued his calling as a painter, for he knew from an early age that there was just one career for him, that of the creative artist. He understood from the start that it would require diligence, hard work and dedication and, that if he kept his mind focussed and active, he could make a success of that journey through life. Patrick called himself an experimental realist, an artist who was always pushing the boundaries of expression while staying within an art form that was accessible and appealing within the highly competitive world of Australian art.
"The Journey of the painter is unique. It is born of a need that almost excludes choice. A deceptively simple act, seen by many as a hobby, it is in fact a process that demands absolute compliance from the participant, with no guarantee of material success or spiritual reward. At best, (if the gods concur) there is the experience of pure ecstasy – it's as if Dionysius himself entered the studio and executed the creation and with the avarice of inflated ego, the painter claims that ownership by deceit, but the joy is uncontainable. A masterpiece has been made and its maker a self-proclaimed genius. At worst the act of painting is a painful procedure and sends the creator into desperate feelings of self-doubt, bordering on despair. Ego submits to paranoia and intellectual vision surrenders to blindness; the genius becomes a clown and the studio grows cold and the isolation seems unbearable – the muse is elsewhere." Patrick Carroll
By:
Gavin Fry ISBN:9780648952893 ISBN 10: 0648952894 Publication Date:01 May 2025 Format:Hardback Publisher's Status: Active
