Roger Swainston - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Roger Anthony Swainston (born 7 May 1960) is an Australian painter

Painting

Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...

. Naturalist

Naturalist

Naturalist may refer to:* Practitioner of natural history* Conservationist* Advocate of naturalism * Naturalist , autobiography-See also:* The American Naturalist, periodical* Naturalism...

and zoologist, he is one of the most recognized artist

Artist

An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...

s of the underwater

Underwater

Underwater is a term describing the realm below the surface of water where the water exists in a natural feature such as an ocean, sea, lake, pond, or river. Three quarters of the planet Earth is covered by water...

world.

Biography

Roger Swainston was raised in the Western Australian outback surrounded by wildlife. The unique Australian flora

Flora

Flora is the plant life occurring in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring or indigenous—native plant life. The corresponding term for animals is fauna.-Etymology:...

and fauna

Fauna

Fauna or faunæ is all of the animal life of any particular region or time. The corresponding term for plants is flora.Zoologists and paleontologists use fauna to refer to a typical collection of animals found in a specific time or place, e.g. the "Sonoran Desert fauna" or the "Burgess shale fauna"...

fascinated and inspired him from an early age and he has drawn and painted it since childhood.
In the late 70's he travelled and worked around the north coast of Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

on fishing trawlers. The endless variety of undersea life he encountered in their nets encouraged him to undertake further studies and he graduated from the University of W.A. with a degree in Zoology

Zoology

Zoology |zoölogy]]), is the branch of biology that relates to the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct...

in 1981.
He then worked in the fish department of the WA Museum and took part in a variety of scientific expeditions. These included surveying the fish fauna of West Australia's south coast with the WA Museum, the deepwater fauna off the northwest shelf with [CSIRO]http://www.csiro.au/ and the reef fauna of Papua New Guinea

Papua New Guinea

Papua New Guinea , officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is a country in Oceania, occupying the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and numerous offshore islands...

with CRI. During this period he also illustrated numerous guidebooks on the identification of fish and other marine life and worked with scientific institutions around the world such as; the Smithsonian Institution

Smithsonian Institution

The Smithsonian Institution is an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its endowment, contributions, and profits from its retail operations, concessions, licensing activities, and magazines...

, United Nations

United Nations

The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...

FAO, CSIRO and many other Museums and government departments concerned with the marine environment.
In 1990 he moved to France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

and spent several years working from a studio in Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

, where he further diversified and developed his work. Illustrations from this period are held by "Musee National des Arts et Traditions Populaires" and Ministry of the Environment and he is presently the official artist for the "Conseil Superieur de la Peche" in France. Whilst continuing to provide illustrations for a wide range of clients he began to work on methods of capturing the complexity of marine environments. This led to a documentary being made on Roger's project, to draw underwater a reef

Reef

In nautical terminology, a reef is a rock, sandbar, or other feature lying beneath the surface of the water ....

in the Red Sea

Red Sea

The Red Sea is a seawater inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. The connection to the ocean is in the south through the Bab el Mandeb strait and the Gulf of Aden. In the north, there is the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and the Gulf of Suez...

.
Upon his return to Australia in 1996 he continued this work on marine environments. His focus became the integration of science and art in a manner, which fostered both an appreciation of the extraordinary beauty of the subject and an understanding of its diversity and complexity.
In 1999 he held successful solo exhibitions of his work in Sydney

Sydney

Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...

and Fremantle

Fremantle, Western Australia

Fremantle is a city in Western Australia, located at the mouth of the Swan River. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle was the first area settled by the Swan River colonists in 1829...

and has since held other successful exhibitions in France, USA and Australia. As a conservationist

Conservationist

Conservationists are proponents or advocates of conservation. They advocate for the protection of all the species in an ecosystem with a strong focus on the natural environment...

, Roger has supported ecological projects and research, he works closely with conservation organizations to help protect fishery resources and increase knowledge of marine life.
In recent years Roger has continued this study of the marine environment with large scale underwater drawings and surveys of reef sites around the world. He has pursued scientific illustration with life size portraits of individual fish, intimate studies of their surface, form and function.
He presently lives and works in Fremantle Western Australia with his partner Catherine and their three children.

Clipperton Island

In 2005 he spent two months on Clipperton Island

Clipperton Island

Clipperton Island is an uninhabited nine-square-kilometre coral atoll in the eastern Pacific Ocean, southwest of Mexico and west of Central America, at...

in the Eastern Pacific to draw the fauna and flora of this isolated and deserted atoll. As the artist for the French scientific expedition surveying the atoll he was commissioned by the Fondation Gaz de France (French Government, Ministry of Finance and Energy ) to create 5 paintings of Clipperton Island.

Ningaloo Reefs

He also has an ongoing project to survey a range of environments along the Ningaloo Reef and capture them as panoramic underwater scenes, containing all the abundance and diversity to be found there. These will serve as both inspiring works of art and educational tools to help the understanding and preservation of these ecosystems.

Vanuatu - Santo Island

In 2006, invited by the Museum of Natural History of Paris, Pro-Natura Int. and Agence Rapho, he spent 2 months in Vanuatu

Vanuatu

Vanuatu , officially the Republic of Vanuatu , is an island nation located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is some east of northern Australia, northeast of New Caledonia, west of Fiji, and southeast of the Solomon Islands, near New Guinea.Vanuatu was...

- Santo Island, to draw an underwater reef portrait as well as a variety of marine species and the flora and fauna of the untouched rainforest

Rainforest

Rainforests are forests characterized by high rainfall, with definitions based on a minimum normal annual rainfall of 1750-2000 mm...

Endeavour Panels

A commission by the Education Dept. of WA in 1999 saw him produce a detailed 7.2m X 1.5m panel of life on WA coastal reefs as a Public Art Project for the students of Endeavour Primary School.

Hillarys Artworks

In 2004 he was commissioned through the Percent for Art scheme to prepare a number of large panels to be installed in a new Research and Education facility for the WA Fisheries Department. These works use new techniques and materials, such as reflective pigments. They represent a distillation of his many years of experience with marine life to create evocative mural sized panels with hidden layers of meaning and ever-changing intriguing surfaces.

Red Sea Reef

In 1995 A French documentary team enabled Roger to embark on a project which had occupied his thoughts for many years, to draw his underwater subjects from life. During a voyage to Yemen

Yemen

The Republic of Yemen , commonly known as Yemen , is a country located in the Middle East, occupying the southwestern to southern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the north, the Red Sea to the west, and Oman to the east....

on the Arabian Peninsula he executed the first of his large scale panoramic drawings of the coral reef, which formed the basis of a half hour documentary "[Peintre sous la Mer]http://www.vodeo.tv/18-22-765-peintre-sous-la-mer.html" (Segment Productions).

TV documentaries and reports

1988 - ABC (Australia) Roger’s work on sharks with CSIRO
1995 - FR3 (France) The illustrative work of Roger Swainston
1997 - Arte/La Cinq (France) a 50 minutes documentary on Roger’s creation of an underwater drawing of a reef in the Red Sea.
2002 - ABC (Australia, 7.30 Report) Roger working on the Ningaloo Reef
2004 - TV documentary THALASSA (France) in Coral Bay
2005 - TV documentary CANAL+ (France) in CLIPPERTON ISLAND expedition with Roger mandated by the French government.
2006 - TV documentary for Thalassa (France) from Vanuatu - Santo Island

Represented and collected

Australian National Archives http://www.naa.gov.au/, Australia
Western Australian Museum http://www.museum.wa.gov.au/, Australia
CSIRO http://www.csiro.au/
Education Department WA http://www.det.wa.edu.au/, Port Kennedy, Australia
Ministère de l'environnement ONEMA http://www.onema.fr/ Paris, France
Musée des Arts et Traditions Populaires http://www.musee-atp.fr/, Paris, France
Perth Game Fishing Club http://www.pgfc.com.au/
Fondation Gaz de France http://www.gazdefrance.com/FR/D/177/fondation-gaz-de-france.html
Fisheries Department WA http://www.fish.wa.gov.au/, Perth Australia
Musée Océanique de Monaco http://www.oceano.mc/, Monaco
Woodside Petroleum http://www.woodside.com.au/, Australia
Smithsonian Institution http://www.si.edu/, USA
Prince De Broglie, Deyrolle http://www.deyrolle.fr/ Paris France
FAO http://www.fao.org/index_es.htm Rome, Italy
Private Collections including: England, France, Germany, Switzerland, U.S.A., Australia, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Monaco.

Books Illustrated

Barry Hutchins and Roger Swainston, THE SEA FISHES OF SOUTHERN AUSTRALIA, Swainston Publishing, 1987. 180 pages
Gerald R.Allen and Roger Swainston,THE MARINE FISHES OF NORTH-WESTERN AUSTRALIA, Western Australia Museum,1988. 201 pages
Gerald R Allen and Roger Swainston, THE REEF FISHES OF NORTHERN NEW GUINEA, Christensen Research Institute,1993. 132 pages.
Peter Last and John Stephens, SHARKS AND RAYS OF AUSTRALIA, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, 1994. 593 pages.
Gerald R Allen,FIELD GUIDE TO THE FRESHWATER FISHES OF NEW GUINEA, Christensen Research Institute,1993.132 pages.
Gerald R.Allen, F.A.O. SPECIES CATALOGUE Volume 6, Snappers of the World, FAO of the United Nations, 1985, 264 pages.
Kent E.Carpenter and Gerald R.Allen, F.A.O. SPECIES CATALOGUE Volume 9, Emperor Fishes and Large Eyed Breams of the World, FAO of the United Nations,1989. 134pages.
WOODSIDES GUIDE TO FISHING THE DAMPIER ARCHIPELAGO Volumes I - II - III, Woodside Offshore Petroleum Pty,1986 /89/92. 80 pages.
V.Wadley, SQUID FROM THE NORTH-WEST SLOPE DEEPWATER TRAWL FISHERIES, Common.Scientific Ind.and Research Org.,1990. 30pp
V. Wadley and M. Dunning, CEPHALOPODS OF COMMERCIAL IMPORTANCE IN AUSTRALIAN FISHERIES, CSIRO 1998, 78pp
Dr Gerald R.Allen - D.R Robertson, FISHES of the TROPICAL EASTERN PACIFIC, Uni. of Hawaii Press 1994 - 332pp.
Dr G.R.Allen and R.C. Steene, FISHES OF THE GREAT BARRIER REEF AND CORAL SEA, Crawford House Press,1990 - 508 pp.
COASTAL FISHES OF OMAN, Crawford House Press, in press 1995
R.T. Leighton and al, SHARKS AND RAYS, TIME-LIFE Books U.S.A. 1997, 288pp.
M. Carwardine and al, WHALES AND DOLPHINS, TIME-LIFE Books U.S.A. 1998, 288pp
D.Fauntain and G.Allen, FIELD GUIDE TO THE ANEMONE FISHES AND THEIR HOSTS, West. Australian Museum, 1997-300pp
G.Allen, DAMSELFISHES OF THE WORLD, Mergus Press,1991, 200 pp..
G.R.Allen and R.C. Steene, FISHES OF CHRISTMAS ISLAND, INDIAN OCEAN, Christmas Island Natural History Authority, 1988. 200 pp.
J.C. Chantelat, LA PECHE - Guide Vert, Edition SOLAR - France -,1995. 365 pages.
FISH AUSTRALIA, Penguin Books Australia,
Barbra Blomberg, TASMANIAN SEAFOOD COOKING, Department of Sea Fisheries Tasmania,1988, 144 pages.
CORAL REEFS OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA, Environmental Protection Authority Bulletin 285,1987. 18pp.
F.E.Wells and C.W.Bryce, SEASHELLS OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA, Western Australia Museum,1985- 207pp.
P.J. Kailola et al., AUSTRALIAN FISHERIES RESOURCES, Bureau of Resource Sciences Aust. 1993-422pp
J.Ross editor, FISH AUSTRALIA, Penguin Books Australia Ltd - 1995 - 498pp.
J.B.De Panafieu, PLANETE EAU DOUCE, Gallimard Jeunesse - 2003

External links

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