If you would like information on Wolfgang's latest exhibitions please visit Painting with Wolfie.
Wolfgang John, reputedly Australia’s most successful
textile designer, moved to Birdsville in 1993 to set up the Blue Poles art
gallery and paint the desert he loves.
Wolfgang usually works in water colour. His work is vibrant and daring, reflecting the untamed beauty of the
Simpson Desert and Channel Country.
Wolfgang began to paint when
he was five years old and has never stopped, ‘Painting is my life.
I love painting. Painting is everything.’
At fourteen, after winning a highly-prized
apprenticeship at a textile company in Gronau, Germany, Wolfgang began to sell
paintings through Kanzio Gallery. He took up a textile job in Lorrach, in the south of Germany where he worked in textile until 1959. Not far from the Black Forest, Wolfgang took every opportunity to explore and paint this mysterious part of Germany. To avoid being conscripted into the army he chose to emigrate to Australia and set up
his own textile design company, Beatrice Designs in Sydney.
Wolfgang created a new home textile market,
producing designs that were unmatched in selling power, ‘They just accepted
that turn me on and I make money". Wolfgang’s
distributors sold millions of metres of fabric, displacing sales of imported
material.
Meanwhile, Wolfgang spent every spare moment
in the bush. Hiking in the summer
and skiing in the winter, he painted what he saw, creating a series of Snowy
mountains exhibitions. He spent
days at a time in the sea, sailing and diving. Before waterproof equipment became available, he lost many a camera to
saltwater, as he experimented with underwater photography.
In 1977, Wolfgang won a “best new
artist” award from Lloyd Rees for his painting of the Olgas. During the 80's Wolfgang spent his spare time between central Australia and the high country spanning N.S.W. and Victoria. Exhibitions at the Old Bakery Gallery in Lane Cove, Sydney, followed most of these adventures.
After an exhibition in Münster, Germany, 1986 with his sister, Karin, Wolfgang held the first of his regional exhibitions in Birdsville. Over the
next ten years, he continued to exhibit there and in Garradunga, far north
Queensland.
In 1999 Wolfgang released the first of his print range, adding to it every year since. 2002 saw a return to the Birdsville Hotel with an exhibition coinciding with the Great Australian Outback Cattle Drive. This was followed by his solo exhibition "My Desert Voice" in Yandina on the Sunshine Coast in 2003 and another joint exhibition at the Garradunga Hotel in far north QLD 2004. The beginning of 2005 saw another Cattle Drive leave Birdsville, and another joint exhibition, this time at the Birdsville Town Hall and featuring artists from all over western QLD and northern SA. In July Wolfgang held a commemorative exhibition at the Cordillo Downs Woolshed in SA.
2006 saw the launch of his first Sydney solo exhibition in 20 years. "The Places I Go", saw a huge crowd turn out on Friday March 31 with over 300 people in attendance. The exhibition was held at the Washhouse Gallery, Rozelle, Sydney, and ran until Easter.
In February 2007, with Wolfgang holidaying on the N.S.W. south coast, unable to return to Birdsville due to extensive flooding, he held an impromtu exhibition titled "Beach, Rocks and Beyond" in Narooma N.S.W.. It consisted of work from the local area, the high country and some desert art. Later in the year he ran his first art class, in Quilpie, giving him the chance to share his more than 50 years of experience working with watercolour.
2008 sees Wolfgang preparing two exhibitions. The first will be held at Quilpie QLD in May, opening on the 23rd. Details to follow. The second will take place at the Malalla Hotel, South Australia (just outside Adelaide) in August.
Wolfgang has a permanent display at the Blue Poles Gallery in Birdsville. You can view/purchase his work from the Blue Poles Gallery right now. If you're interested, come and see just what's Wolfgang up to.
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