DAVID LARWILL

Born in Ballarat in 1956, Larwill studied at Prahran College of Advanced Education and the Preston Institute of Technology, before founding Roar with Mark Schaller in 1979, originally in a studio in Green Street, Prahran, before moving to Brunswick Street, Fitzroy, in 1982.  Larwill has subsequently emerged as one of Australia's most distinctive contemporary artists.

His style of populating his paintings with stylised human figures and animals, his use of child-like forms, and the occasional inclusion of slogans, give his work a naive quality that sometimes seems simplistic.

However, he evokes an extraordinary range of feelings, moods and expressions through his artworks.

Inspired by several visits to Arnhem Land and Central Australia, as well as to Morocco, Europe and New York, Larwill brings a primal strength to his painting

With his health failing since undergoing surgery recently, he was determined to make one last road trip to Central Australia, before meeting up with his wife, Fiona, and sons James and Henry in Alice Springs. Transported in a Winnebago modified for his medical needs, he made it to Coober Pedy, where he died in his sleep on the 19th June 2011. He was 54.