Ken Done: A Life Coloured In

by Ken Done

Overview

An impressionistic and exuberant memoir by Australia's best-loved artist.

Ken Done has an extraordinary place in the hearts of Australians - we've all worn or decorated our homes with his artwork. His vivid, optimistic images are part of our collective consciousness and have helped define us to the world. But what do we know about the man behind the brush?
A dreamy country kid-turned-art student, Ken took off overseas for a Mad Men-esque advertising career before an epiphany at a Matisse exhibition showed him that painting was where his heart truly lay. But a return to Sydney to paint saw his art overtaken by his entrepreneurial instincts as 'Ken Done' became a sought-after global brand.
However there's more to Ken Done's story than just commercial success: the sudden loss of the profits from a lifetime's hard work and a resultant stressful court case was closely followed by a shock cancer diagnosis. It was a dark time, but the powerful paintings that came out of this bleak period have brought him long-overdue acclaim as one of our great artists.
From his studio on sparkling Sydney Harbour to the ochre tints of the outback or the luminous palette of tropical waters, Ken's artist's eye is ever drawn to beauty and colour. But through good times and bad, what has sustained him are the simple pleasures of life: family, home and, of course, painting.

 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781460705650
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	04/01/2016
Sold by:	HARPERCOLLINS
Format:	eBook
Pages:	386
File size:	11 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Ken Done lives at Chinaman's Beach in Sydney and his gallery is in The Rocks. His internationally known art has always had popular appeal and commercial success, but more recently has also received critical recognition.

Table of Contents

3 Liberty Street 1

Huck Finn on the Clarence 8

From the Mountains to the City 20

Art School 36

Rites of Passage 44

Working Man 49

Taking on the World 58

MadMen Days 69

Ad-world 74

Swinging London 79

The Goldfish That Game in From the Cold 95

Booze and The Beatles 102

Margaret and Me 107

Leaving London 123

Home Again 131

Meeting Mr Packer 139

A Room With More Than a View 151

Art and Design 158

Up horn Down Under 164

The Shop Becomes an Empire 171

Land of the Rising Done 176

Art and Music 185

Losing a Lot of Money 190

Fish and Fame 198

Art on Wheels 202

On Show 211

Let's Talk About Painting 219

Ups and Downs 228

Incurable Wanderlust 236

The Dying of the Light 269

Unicef 276

An Old Port or Two 282

The Music Men 289

Sydney 2000 294

Old Bones 297

Under the Southern Cross 304

Out West 307

Portraits 310

Caveman 316

Augusta 318

Nevermore 324

Afterword 329

Acknowledgements 331

Index 332