An Art Exhibition by Rex Press is now on display at Condobolin District Hospital.
Rex’s artwork (Rex Press: A Retrospective Collection) can be seen from December 2024 until March 2025.
The official opening was held on Tuesday, 26 November, and was unveiled by local artist Karen Tooth. She wrote and recited a poem for Rex, which was a testament to the strong bonds that Rex has within the arts and wider community in Condobolin.
The following was printed on the Arts OutWest Facebook Page:
“Rex was raised and still lives on Micabil in Condobolin, where his family has farmed since the 1890s.
“My father, Roley, was a jockey, horse breeder and an untrained bush vet. My mother Dorothy was a poet, writer, horse breeder and grazier. It was her love of history that rubbed off on me from an early age,” says Rex who became a field officer for the historical society, which runs the town’s museum in the main street.
“For over 50 years, Rex has had an association with the Condobolin Community Centre and working with the Arts and Crafts Society. His coordinating, curating and hanging skills have been much sort after for many art exhibitions within the region, including the Lachlan Shire Art and the Condobolin Art Prizes.
“Rex has been involved with the local Condobolin Show society for more than 40 years. His services as a Fine Arts judge have seen him travelling to events all over the Central West including as art judge at Lake Cargelligo art shows for 28 years.
“This exhibition is retrospective collection of Rex’s artworks. Rex recalls his first art beginning with drawing lots of landscapes – at school and even on the school bus! Recalling that his mother gave him an oil painting kit for Christmas in 1968, it wasn’t until 1973 that Rex joined the Arts and Crafts Society and started painting ‘en plein air’ scenes of the Lachlan River at Gum Bend and old houses on Boona Road.
“One trip to visit Reg Campbell’s gallery at Sunny Corner near Bathurst, inspired him even further to pursue landscape painting. He attended a Summer School at Mitchell College in 1986. Rex branched out into mixed media which he has been pursuing ever since. A lot of his work involves collage in some way. Rex likes to work in a variety of medium including oils, acrylics, pastels, oil pastels, charcoal, inks, watercolour, gouache and collage.”
Make sure you take the time to visit the Rex Press Exhibition while it is on display.