Bernard Ollis

Brief Profile

Bernard Ollis lives and works between Sydney and Paris. He has had over 50 solo exhibitions since 1972, including at Macquarie Galleries Sydney, Powell Street Gallery Melbourne and more recently at Australian Galleries, Stella Downer Fine Art, and presently at NG Art, Sydney. He has been a finalist in the Sulman, Doug Moran and Dobell Prizes on several occasions at the Art Gallery of NSW and participated in exhibitions throughout Australia, New Zealand, Europe and Asia.

Ollis undertook a residency at the Cite Internationale des Arts, Paris (1975), and has been awarded numerous art prizes and awards, which include the 1976 John Minton International Painting Prize, the 1977 Sir Frederick Richards’ Travelling Scholarship (UK), an Australia Council Visual Arts Board Grant Australia wide solo touring exhibition (1984-86) and the Conrad Jupiters Award in 2005 (Gold Coast City Art Gallery QLD), 2008 he had an artist studio residency at the Australian Embassy residence in Cairo, Egypt (on special invitation of the Australian Ambassador), in 2014 in Antarctica with the Mawson’s Hut Foundation and finally as an artist in residence in Zhouzhang province in China in 2015.

He is represented in public collections in Australia and the United Kingdom, including the Royal College of Art London, National Gallery of Australia, High Court Western Australia, Parliament House Canberra, and the State Galleries of Queensland, Victoria and Northern Territory.

Bernard Ollis was born in Bath, England. He is a graduate of Cardiff College of Art and Design, Wales and received his Master of Art (Painting) from the Royal College of Art, London, where he was tutored by David Hockney, R. B. Kitaj, and Sir Peter Blake amongst many others. He arrived in Australia in 1976 and lectured at the University Northern Territory and La Trobe University, Victoria before being appointed Head of Painting at the National Art School in 1996. He is the former Director of the National Art School, Sydney (1997-2008).

Bernard Ollis is currently represented by:

Ø  Trevor Victor Harvey Galleries, Sydney

Ø  The Falls Gallery, Wentworth Falls, Blue Mountains NSW (small works and prints)

Ø  Linton and Kay Galleries, Perth, WA

Ø  Mitchell Fine Art Gallery, Brisbane, QLD

Ø  Penny Contemporary, Hobart, TAS

Ø  12 Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand