"To have reached full maturity as an artist during the early twenty-first century, a period he describes as baroque in its celebration of false sentiment and mass spectacle, may not have been Michael Buzacott's first choice. He is a critic of the time he inhabits, and there is a desire to rattle the cage, perhaps even some disquiet regarding the society of his fellow human beings in certain works in this exhibition. But the baroque spirit is not entirely anathema to him, for it delights in invention. In Buzacott's disruption of the classical view of the body, his wielding of the caricaturists' scalpel, we have a vision of the human subject that belongs utterly to this moment even as he reaches outwards for the puzzle-pieces of a different future."
JOE FROST, Roy Jackson + Michael Buzacott, Heads and Figures, 2016 MICHAEL BUZACOTT - SELECTED BIOGRAPHY 1950 Born Sydney Lives and works in Sydney 1969-73 Studied at the National Art School, Sydney 1974-75 Lecturer National Art School, Sydney 1976-77 Lecturer South Australian School of Art, Adelaide 1977-78 Lecturer Mitchell College, Bathurst 1979-96 Lecturer National Art School, Sydney 1997-2008 Lecturer Sydney Gallery School, TAFE AWARDS 2015 Manning Regional Gallery, Naked and Nude Manning Art Prize, Non-acquisitive 3D Award of Excellence 1979 Received Visual Arts Board Grant 1978 Attended 10th International Sculpture Conference, Toronto, Canada 1975 Received Visual Arts Board Grant 1973 International Design Conference, Kyoto, Japan COLLECTIONS Cook University, Queensland Visual Arts Board The Australian Council Artbank Australian National University, Canberra Gold Coast Regional Art Gallery Private Collections in Sydney and Adelaide PUBLISHED/REPRODUCED 2022 Art Almanac, March 2020 Art Almanac, November 2005 Art Almanac, December 2005 Seriousart.org 2004 Art & Australia, Vol 41,No 3,Autumn Page 443 2002 SMH, Spotlight, Jonathan Pearlman, August 16 2001 SMH, Courtney Kidd, May 25 1995 The Sydney Review, J Delaruelle, June 1995 SMH,J McDonald, May 20 1993 The Sydney Review, J Delaruelle, September 1992 The Sydney Review, J Delaruelle, September 1987 SMH,J McDonald, July 1986 Art Network, J Delaruelle, Summer/Autumn 1985 SMH,J McDonald, September 23 1985 The Australian, E Lynn, September 23 1984 Art and Australia, H Nicholson, Winter Edition 1983 Follow Me, Oct 1980 Australian Sculpture, K Scarlett, Nelson 1978 Adelaide Advertiser, D Dolan, June 1977 Adelaide News, I Hocking, February 23 1977 The Australian, P Ward, February 23 1977 Adelaide Advertiser, D Dolan, February 23 1976 SMH, N Borlaise, April 29 1976 New Directions in Australian Sculpture, Architecture Australia, H Nicholson, Aug/Sept 1975 SMH, D Thomas, May 10 SOLO EXHIBITIONS *2023 Australian Galleries, Paddington Sydney (Planned for June 2023) 2022 ARC, ARO Gallery, Sydney (28th March 2022 to 11th April 2022) 2021 ARO Gallery, Sydney (Cancelled due to Covid 19) 2019 Personnel, Defiance Gallery, Sydney 2015 Survey Exhibition, The Drill Hall Gallery, ANU, Canberra 2015 Defiance Gallery, Sydney 2014 Webs, Defiance Gallery, Sydney 2013 Defiance Gallery, Sydney 2012 Defiance Gallery, Sydney 2005 CHASE Contemporary & tribal arts 2004 A-Space on Cleveland, Sydney 2002 A-Space on Cleveland, Sydney 2001 A-Space on Cleveland, Sydney 1995 Mary Place Gallery, Sydney 1993 10 Taylor Street at Palmer, Sydney 1992 10 Taylor Street at Palmer, Sydney 1988 Irving Sculpture Gallery, Sydney 1985 Irving Sculpture Gallery, Sydney 1983 Irving Sculpture Gallery, Sydney 1982 Irving Sculpture Gallery, Sydney 1977 Contemporary Art Society, Adelaide SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS 2018 Group Exhibition Mary Place, Defiance Gallery, Sydney 2018 Group Show, Defiance Gallery, Sydney 2018 Defiance at Mary Place, Painting and Sculpture, Defiance Gallery Sydney 2017 Strings, Defiance Gallery, Sydney 2016 Roy Jackson and Michael Buzacott, Heads and Figures, Defiance Gallery, Sydney 2016 Step up to the Plate, Defiance Gallery, Sydney 2016 Sydney Sculpture, Defiance Gallery, Sydney 2015 The Defiance Gallery 20th Anniversary Exhibition, Defiance Gallery, Sydney 2014 The Meaning of (still) Life, Defiance Gallery, Sydney 2014 Sculpture-Off the Wall, Defiance Gallery, Sydney 2011 Mini Majors The 16th Annual 6x6x6 inch Miniature Sculpture Show, Defiance Gallery, Sydney 2009 Annandale Galleries 2009 Landscape Gallery@28 Woollahra 2007 Bis and Little, A-Space on Cleveland, Sydney 2007 Related Duties, See St Gallery, Meadowbank 2006 Pocket Sculptures, A-Space on Cleveland, Sydney 2005 A Rum Business, See t Gallery, Meadowbank 2004 Sculpture, Wollombi Cultural Centre 2003 5 SCULPTORS,A-Space on Cleveland, Sydney 2003 Love Your Work, Muse Gallery, Sydney 2003 Drawing, Muse Gallery, Sydney 2003 Casting Shadows, The Palm House, Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney 1999 Still Life at King Street Gallery, Newtown, in conjunction with Defiance Gallery, Enmore 1999 Little Gems (10th Birthday exhibition) on TAP Gallery, Sydney 1999 Marks &Matter, Tin Sheds, Sydney Laying Turf,265 Trafalgar Street, Annandale 8661 1997 M-B-K One, Meadowbank TAFE Art School staff exhibition at Bondi Pavilion, Sydney 1994 On. Your Mark, drawing exhibition by the staff of the National Art School, Sydney Modern Australian Masters at Charles Nodrum, Sydney 1990 Tough Time at Jan Taylor Gallery, Sydney 1988 Gallery 460 Sculpture Park '88, Gosford 1987 3rd Australian Sculpture Triennial, Heidi Park and Art Gallery, Melbourne 1987 Painters and Sculptors, The Museum Art, Saitama, Japan 1987 Painters and Sculptors, Diversity in Contemporary Australian Art at the Queensland Art Gallery 1986 Sculpture in the Public Eye at Denison Building, North Sydney 1986 Sculpture in Situ ·at Irving Sculpture Gallery 1985 Solander Gallery, Canberra 1984 The Sculpture Garden, Paddington 1984 Sculpture Seminar, Canberra CAE 1982 Abstract Australian Sculpture: A Continuing Tradition at Irving Sculpture Gallery, Sydney 1982 Mildura Sculpture Triennial, Mildura 1982 Table Sculpture at Irving Sculpture Gallery, Sydney 1979 Seminar Exhibition at East Sydney Technical College, Darlinghurst 1979 Installation of Sculpture at Gallery A, Sydney 1978 Contemporary Art Society, Adelaide 1976 Gallery A, Sydney 1975 Artist's Choice Exhibition at Gallery A, Sydney 1975 Australia'75 Canberra 1975 Sculpture Society, Sydney |
"I want to keep the traditional genres open and active. Portraiture, still-life, landscape, figure and historical subjects ...I regard as aspects of my life, coming from life ...History and tradition are there to keep me afloat and connected."
MICHAEL BUZACOTT, Drill Hall Exhibition, 2015 |