B. 1973

Ben Quilty is among Australia’s most esteemed contemporary artists. His frank, expressive portraits, still lives and landscapes interrogate mortality, masculinity and most often, Australianness. In 2011, the Australian War Memorial commissioned Quilty as an official war artist in Afghanistan to interpret the experiences of those serving. That year he also won the Archibald Prize and in 2012 was appointed a trustee to the Art Gallery of New South Wales Trust.

Whether in lines or his quintessentially thick impasto, Quilty’s intuitive style continues to strike to the core, excavating the full spectrum of human feeling.