Richard Claremont is an Illawarra artist who
was born in 1965 in Sydney. Much of his current art
practice can be traced back to his education at a
Rudolf Steiner School, which placed a great emphasis
on creativity and the development of the child. There
were lessons about the Norse myths, ancient
civilisations and old folk tales. It was a rich
environment that developed a love of drawing with
crayons and painting in watercolour. Richard also
discovered a love of mechanical things. “I would
draw endless conveyor belts and pie-making
machines with little attendants – there was something
about factory automation which appealed to me, the
idea that we were all somehow tiny cogs in a huge
machine”.
By the time Richard reached high school, his
interest in art and English language seemed to be
pointing him in the direction of graphic design and
advertising. In 1980 he worked at Artflow Graphics
in Sydney where he had the opportunity to create by
hand some press-ready artwork. At this time it
seemed to him that the only way to make a career
from art was to work at a commercial art studio.
However, in 1982 when Richard completed his
HSC, he made the decision to study Visual Arts
instead of Graphic Design, and from 1983-1985 he
completed a degree at Sydney College of the Arts,
majoring in painting. His work from this time is semiabstract, continuing the theme of mythology and
man‟s complex relationship to the world.
Combined with a subsequent life of travel, his art
draws on the theme of cultural identity and how this
is perceived from the perspective of an outsider.
Working quickly and freely, Richard is equally