Garry Shead, b 1942
Garry Shead was born in Sydney in 1942. Shead studied at the National Art School from 1961 to 1962. He worked as a scenic artist and then a film editor at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation from 1963 to 1968 as well as editing an arts paper and drawing cartoons.
In 1993, Shead completed a series of paintings based on D.H. Lawrence’s book Kangaroo, that emerged after he came across letters by D.H. Lawrence on an expedition to the Sepik Highlands in Papua New Guinea in 1968.
Shead was awarded the Archibald Prize in 1993 for his portrait of artist Tom Thompson. In 1995, he turned his humorous and satirical eye to Australia’s relationship with Queen Elizabeth II.
His work is represented in the National Gallery of Australia, all state galleries, many regional galleries and numerous private and corporate collections, both nationally and internationally.