Australian painter, printmaker

(b. 1951, London, UK: arr. Aust. 1998)

Andrew Antoniou is an artist who revels in the idea of the theatre of the absurd.  His often theatrical, often dreamlike paintings are carefully staged, open-ended and enigmatic narratives, leaving interpretation to the viewer. Strange machines, anthropomorphic animals, figures engaged in ritual and dressed in circus costume inhabit the images.  They enact their roles in a detached way, interacting but at the same time maintaining their aloofness from each other, as they perform in the unfolding scenes. Professor Sasha Grishin writing in the Canberra Times said, 'Andrew Antoniou is an artist whose work possesses an authentic visionary quality.' Andrew Antoniou's work has featured in over 16 solo shows and 23 group exhibitions since 1989, in Australia and the USA.