Patrick Carroll

In 2019 the art world mourned the loss of the devoted landscape maverick Patrick Carroll. The painter who called himself a “contemporary realist” was born in Bathurst NSW in 1949. Carroll’s life as a full-time painter began after a successful exhibition in 1974 and went on to fill every corner of his life: spiritually and literally. Awarded numerous art prizes his following was international and his style was singular. Patrick Carroll’s mantra was, “Life is Enough”. Life and art intertwined, his work chased the light, danced with the line and posited gutsy unpredictable colour in dynamic compositions. And while he was known for making fast, determined marks to anchor a scene he was never an artist to finish a painting quickly. Some say, in creative terms, he “enjoyed a challenge”, his discipline, a self-imposed creative journey: each encounter with the work, a new opportunity to get to the heart of the painting. Carroll tackled urban scenes, water and earth with vigour, yet his soul seemed to revel in solitary beauty.