John Bloomfield lived in the USA and Canada before settling in Sydney, Australia, in the 1960s. He studied as a painter at the National Art School from 1969 to 1973 under the inaugural Basil and Muriel Hooper Scholarship awarded by the Art Gallery of New South Wales. Other painting awards he has received include the Archibald Prize for portraiture in 1975, which was controversially withdrawn; the Perth Portrait Prize in 1979; and the Moya Dyring Studio, Cité International des Arts, Paris, France, awarded by the Art Gallery of NSW.
He has taught painting and drawing in Sydney’s major educational institutions, including the University of Sydney, the Catholic University, the University of Western Sydney and the College of Fine Arts at the University of New South Wales (1985-1995). Since 1996 he has held the position of Senior Lecturer, Head of Painting at the National Art School, Sydney.
Bloomfield was invited to join the steering committee to select the curator for the 2002 Sydney Biennale. He has exhibited regularly since 1972 in solo and group exhibitions at the Philip Bacon Gallery in Fortitude Valley, and Robin Gibson Gallery and Rex Irwin Art Dealer in Sydney, as well as public galleries and museums Australia wide.
His paintings are represented in numerous private, corporate and university collections and a number of state and regional galleries, among them the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Art Gallery of South Australia, Rockhampton Regional Art Gallery in Queensland, Darwin Art Gallery and Museum in the Northern Territory, and the Drill Hall Gallery, Canberra, ACT.
- Writers:
- John Bloomfield
- Date written:
- 2011
- Last updated:
- 2011
