Silas Hobson
Sold Paintings
DOB: May 1978
BORN: Lockhart River, QLD
LANGUAGE GROUP: Kuuku Yau Wuthathi
COMMUNITY: Lockhart River, Cape York, Far North Queensland
Silas Hobson was born in 1978 and has lived in Lockhart River, in the far North of Queensland, all of his life. Silas began painting in 1996 and is one of the original group of artists, who started painting in Lockhart River, known as the ‘Art Gang’. Over the years Silas has established a solid mark as a leading artist from Lockhart River.
Silas works in print, painting and sculpture and creates highly individual artworks that speak about Lockhart River’s traditional ways, stories and beliefs. His work captures his ancestral spirits, the link to culture, tradition, language stories and way of life both past and present. His paintings also capture the desires of the ancestral spirits and great elders of the past and present to preserve the life and values that have given identity to language and clan groups in Lockhart River.
Life in Lockhart River centres around one’s relationship with each other and with the sea, land and animals, which is evident in Silas’ art. There is also a message of reconciliation, of people coming together and learning about each other’s culture.
Silas has had great success in a number of solo exhibitions, and has exhibited extensively throughout Australia in group exhibitions. He has also exhibited in the USA, France, Switzerland and Italy. Silas has won a number of awards and has been collected by State and National institutions.
Artist Statement:
We all have different styles that speak about our traditional ways, stories and beliefs. I tell my story through prints and paintings. Our life here centres on our relationships with each other and with the land, the sea and the domestic and wildlife animals. My works are a contemporary response to the traditional culture and way of life in my home country.
A lot of my paintings are about people coming together, white people, black people, all kinds of people and even spirit people. Most of my works are about coming together, listening and yarning amongst each other, teaching, learning about each other, their way and our way and their culture and our culture”. I enjoy my art and I am happy that my art can go to places and homes where I know that I too have been welcomed through arts.
Other Lockhart River Artists represented in the Gallery are, Rosella Namok, Samantha Hobson, Fiona Omeenyo and Irene Namok
- National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
- Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney
- Queensland Institute of Technology Odgeroo Collection
- Flinders University Collection, Adelaide
- ATSIC Permanent Collection, Canberra
- Wollongong University Permanent Collection
- Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane
- Government House, Brisbane
- Fondation Burkhardt-Felder Arts et Culture, Motiers, Switzerland
- Kluge Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection, University of Virginia, USA
2017 Invited to exhibit in the world’s first Aboriginal art exhibition to be viewed using 3D glasses, Art Mob Gallery, Hobart
2015 Cape York Established/Practising Artist Acquisitive Award – Laura Festival – Winner
2014 Artworks published in the Indigenous Law Bulletin, September/October 2014, Volume 1
2014 Laura Festival – Winner 1st Prize
2005 An image of one of Silas’ paintings was used for the World Aids Day shirt distributed in Lockhart River
2001 Cape York Awards, Laura Festival – 1st Place in Painting on bark
1998 Part of a group entry that won the National Heritage Commission ‘Art of Place – Community Endeavour Award
1998 Fremantle Print Awards – Engraving ‘Stingray’
1997 Arts Office Queensland – personal development grant
1997 Rena Ellen Jones Award – Screen print ‘Hunting at Red Point Mouth’ selected for exhibition
2012 Ngayu Kulmin Kunthakuntha (I return strong), Emerge ArtSpace, Perth
2009 Ancestral Spirits Hogarth Gallery, Sydney
2007 Contemporary Indigenous Art of Lockhart River, Palazzo Collicola, Spoletto, Italy
2007 KickArts Gallery, Cairns
2007 Framed Gallery, Darwin
2006 Hogarth Gallery, Sydney
2007 Contemporary Indigenous Art of Lockhart River, Palazzo Collicola,Spoletto, Italy
2006 Emerge ArtSpace, Perth
2006 Hogarth Gallery, Sydney
2005 Coming Together, Andrew Baker Art dealer, Brisbane
2002 Something Out There, Andrew Baker Art Dealer, Brisbane
2022 Top 20 2022, Art Mob, Hobart
2021 Kincha Ngampulungku | My Tradition, My Culture, Art Mob, Hobart
2021 Across the Top 2021, Art Mob, Hobart
2021 Mid-Winter Mofo, Art Mob, Hobart
2021 Gold at Lockhart River, Art Mob, Hobart
2020 Across the Top 2020, Art Mob, Hobart
2020 Lockhart Art Gang – Sharing Our Stories, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney
2020 Top 20 Exhibition, Art Mob, Hobart
2020 Group Exhibition, Chengdu China, Invitation from Australian Consul General Chengdu and DFAAT
2019 Which Way, Art Mob Aboriginal Fine Art Gallery, Hobart
2019 Stories from my heart – Which Way, Art Mob, Hobart
2019 Overcoming Adversity, Art Mob, Hobart
2019 Lockhart Legends, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney
2019 Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair, Darwin
2019 Cairns Indigenous Art Fair, Cairns
2018 Islands in the Sea, Foundation Burkhardt-Felder Arts et Culture, Musee de l’art aborigene australien, La Grange, Switzerland
2018 Foundation Burkhardt-Felder Arts et Culture, Musee de l’art aborigene australien, La Grange, Switzerland. A permanent collection exhibition featuring Lockhart River artists, Elcho Island artist, Tiwi Island artists and Mornington Island artists
2018 Many Rivers To Cross, Art Mob, Hobart
2018 Group exhibition, Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair, Darwin
2018 Cairns Indigenous Art Fair, Cairns
2018 Art Atrium Gallery, Sydney
2017 Lockhart River Group Exhibition at Booker Lowe Gallery, Houston, Texas
2017 Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair, Darwin
2017 Lockhart River Mob, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney
2017 Cape Country, Art Mob, Hobart
2017 Cairns Indigenous Art Fair, Cairns
2017 Ngampula Aalkan Nyiiku Maanchima – Mepla: Rise of a new beginning, Art Mob, Hobart
2016 Lockhart River Group participation at Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair through Indigenous Art Centre Alliance market Stall, Darwin
2016 Lockhart River Group Exhibition, Art Mob, Hobart
2016 Cairns Indigenous Art Fair, Cairns
2015 Puunyas, Wungki and Malkari – basket, Skirts and Shake-aLeg, Art Atrium Gallery, Sydney
2015 Cairns Indigenous Art Fair, Cairns
2014 Ngi’-Chu’uchi Minthama, Emerge ArtSpace, Perth
2014 Cairns Indigenous Art Fair, Cairns
2013 Kinship, represented by the Indigenous Art Centre Alliance, Tanks Art Space, Perth
2012 The Affordable/Collectible Lockhart River Show, Emerge ArtSpace, Perth
2012 Land and Water/Ancient and Modern, Booker Lowe Gallery, Houston, Texas, USA
2012 Cairns Indigenous Art Fair, Cairns
2012 Art Atrium Gallery, Sydney
2011 Cairns Indigenous Art Fair, Cairns
2010 Puuya Kuntha – Strong Heart, Booker Lowe Gallery, Houston, Texas, USA
2010 Cairns Indigenous Art Fair, Cairns
2009 Some of us, Tandanya National Aboriginal Cultural Institute, Adelaide
2009 Four of Us, Woolloongabba Gallery, Brisbane
2009 Affordable/Collectable Lockhart River Show, Emerge ArtSpace, Perth
2008 Tchi’ilpu Wunch Wuncha Wulpa’amu: Old Men and Young Men Coming Together For Men’s Business, Emerge ArtSpace, Perth
2008 Meenthama – Coming Out for Ceremony, Woolloongabba Gallery, Brisbane QLD
2008 Indigenart Galleries, Perth and Melbourne
2008 Cape to Cove, Holmes a Court Gallery, Perth
2007 The Art Gang Returns, Booker Lowe Gallery, Houston, Texas, USA
2007 Looking Forward – Looking Back, KickArts Contemporary Gallery, Cairns
2007 Lockhart River Art Gang, Museum of Contemporary Native Arts, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA
2007 Framed Gallery, Darwin NT
2006 Wrapped Up, Group exhibitions, emerge ART SPACE, Perth WA
2006 Uncharted Territory, October Gallery, London UK
2006 Shifting Tides Moving Sands, Tanks Arts Cairns, Cairns QLD
2006 Gatherings, Kick Arts Contemporary Gallery, Cairns QLD
2006 Festival Interceltique De Lorient, Brittany, France
2006 Carved From The Cape, Australian Art Resources
2006 Big Country, touring exhibition, Gondwana Gallery, Alice Springs Northern Territory
2006 Ancestral Spirits, Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection, Virginia, USA.
2005 Homefront, Kick Arts Contemporary Gallery Cairns
2005 Hinchinbrook Exhibition, COCA Gallery, Cairns
2005 Framed Gallery, Darwin
2005 Colour Fields, Gondwana Gallery, Alice Springs
2005 Australia: Different Sights/Different Sites, Booker Lowe Gallery, Texas, USA
2005 Affordable Art Fair, Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne
2004 Ngi’ilu Paluku Ngi’iku, Our Way, Framed Gallery, Darwin
2004 Hitting on and kicking on, COCA/Kick Arts Contemporary Gallery, Cairns
2003 Works on Paper Fair represented by Main Street Gallery, Sydney
2003 Water: Prints from Lockhart River and the Tiwi Islands, Queensland University of Technology Art Museum, Brisbane
2003 Story Place Exhibition, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane
2003 Moon Exhibition, Arthouse Gallery, Sydney
2003 Kulam Kannga, Kluge-Ruhe, Virginia, USA
2003 Kulam Kannga, Columbus State University, Georgia, USA
2003 Lockhart River Group Exhibition, Hogarth Gallery, Sydney
2003 Gallery Gondwana, Alice Springs
2003 Alliance Members Exhibition, Brisbane
2002 Collectable Aboriginal Art Event 2002, Raintree Aboriginal Fine Art Gallery, Darwin
2001 In My Eyes, Vera Scarth-Johnson Gallery, Cooktown, QLD
2001 Gatherings, Commonwealth Heads of Government Exhibition, Brisbane
2000 Pama Belong Sandbeach, paintings and prints by Lockhart River Art Gang at Queensland Aboriginal Creations, Brisbane
2000 Message Stick, touring exhibition by “The Art Gang”, from Lockhart River, funded by Visions Australia 1999-2001
2000 In My Eyes, an exhibition of fine art prints by “The ART GANG” and friends from Lockhart River, Cairns Regional Gallery
1999 We Searching, Queensland Aboriginal Creations
1999 International Works on Paper Fair, Sydney
1999 Cairns Regional Gallery Post Card Exhibition
1998 The National Indigenous Art of Place Award, Old Parliament House, Canberra
1998 Message Stick, Queensland Aboriginal Creations, Brisbane
1997 Rena Ellen Jones Award, Warrnambool Art Gallery, Warrnambool, VIC
1997 Ngana Nyiikana – Us Painting, Cairns Regional Gallery
1997 Mepla Sarbie Art, Art & Culture Centre, Cape York, QLD