A LITTLE ABOUT ME....

My name is Aidan Weichard, I live in West Gippsland, Victoria. My art is my passion, my outlet and quite simply my way of displaying my appreciation for beautiful animals, people and landscapes. I have been creating art as an emerging artist for the past 5 years but have been intrigued by art my whole life. My studio is situated amongst the things I love to paint, my beautiful animals and the Gippsland region all at my door step which constantly inspires me. I use bold and bright colours to create portraits of animals and people as well as landscapes. I believe colour reflects and emphasises either a characteristic, personality or emotion that animals, people and places generate within us. I use the light in an image to create tonal colour contrasts, some subtle and others more obvious with the intent of building depth and perspective. Keeping the majority of my artworks fluid and abstracted contrasted against hints of detail in crucial components such as the eyes, forces imaginative reconstruction to see a piece in its entirety. I work in varied mediums from oil, acrylic, enamel, charcoal and spray paint. Using mixed media dramatizes and accentuates elements unique to the subject matter. My message is simple, ‘mindful reflection of this amazing place and the incredible things within it’….

MY JOURNEY

After completing school, University and having worked professionally for several years I never felt completely comfortable with my career. I found myself spending all my spare time creating to counter the constant unsatisfied feeling. About 6 years ago I created a few large pieces after being inspired by an exhibition I attended and sold a one of them to a friend. The feeling of creating something and selling it, knowing it was destined for a wall in someone’s home to be admired was exhilarating. It set me off into a frenzy of creativity on a large scale and made me realise that creating art professionally was what I had been craving. Since then I have steadily been creating more and more art every year for the past 6 years, selling my work to collectors all over the world. I had been working as an artist part-time until very recently, I quite my day job and have now started 2019 as a full-time artist with the hope of building a plethora of new works that I hope to exhibit in the near future.

MY INSPIRATION

I find inspiration in many things but none greater than animals, more specifically my two Australian Shepherd pups Disney and Faloo, who are a daily reminder of why I am drawn to the animal kingdom. Their affection and loyalty amazes me every day. I find brilliance like this in all animals and have such an admiration for the unique markings and unmistakeable characteristics of every species that I paint. Just being in the presence of animals has a dramatic proven positive physiological and psychological effect on us and my art tries to explore this using colour and texture.
The Gippsland region where I live is a stunning area, the gentle rolling hills and beaches inspire me endlessly. I feel so fortunate to have this all within arm’s reach. Recreating these landscapes with abstracted colour and limited boundaries is a joy.
The effect of mixing two or more colours is what gets me up in the morning and inspires me to put paint to canvas. Deep rutted oil blends or smooth, flowing mixes create the depth and persona that I apply to my paintings. In nature we see this naturally occurring time and time again which is ever present in the animal kingdom and our vast rugged landscape. 

ARTIST CV

Solo Exhibitions
2020 "Memory Scape", Metro Gallery, Melbourne 
2019 "A Vibrant Perspective", Milk Factory Gallery, Bowral, NSW

Group Exhibitions
2019 "The Other Art Fair", The Facility, Melbourne
2018 "Contemporary Art Award", Pakenham Art Show 
2017 "Contemporary Art Award", Pakenham Art Show 
2015 “Colours of Melbourne”, Waterfront Gallery, Melbourne
2015 “Magus 600”, Off the Kerb Gallery, Melbourne 
2015 “Art for Change”, JCP Studios, Melbourne

Collections
Private collections, Brisbane QLD, Melbourne VIC, Perth WA, Canberra ACT and NSW

Bibliography
Aleksandra Bliszcykz, “YGAP’s Art for Change Exhibition”, Couturing, July 6, 2015