In four decades Rick Amor has experienced all the highs and lows of the artist's life. Now sought after and collected throughout the nation, he has also known the hardships of a struggling young painter trying to have his voice heard. Political idealism saw him earn a living as a cartoonist and illustrator after years producing paintings under a patronage arrangement of almost medieval rigour. Justly recognised as one of Australia's foremost artists, Amor is also a master draughtsman, printmaker and sculptor. His paintings are full of drama, deep melancholy and foreboding, yet their subject mater is more often than not the mundane and everyday places of suburbia and the drab underside of the city. Amor finds dramatic portents at the end of the street, menace in the darkened shops and weather effects of biblical proportion on a flat and featureless 'bay beach'. In making the extraordinary from the ordinary, Amor employs the flawless technique he has taken long years to develop. The clarity and order of his work clearly reflects a life and career similarly under control and harmonious. It has been a lifetime of many twists and turns, but carried through with distinction and a singular vision for all that the artistic life might offer. Written by Gavin Fry, the text details the evolution of the artist's work in a clear and perceptive manner, focusing on important developments and on particular works. The book contains more than 160 colour plates, black and white illustrations, photographs documenting the artist's life, biographical notes, exhibition lists and a selected bibliography.
