Stewart MacFarlane is a figurative Australian painter who depicts strong individuals in a highlit urban environment. He catches them in the act of doing, feeling, thinking something that is as intense as it is mysterious. His style is a pared-down realism (with expressionistic touches) combined with a surreality of lighting and perspective. He often, though not always, places a female or male nude in a situation of erotic enigma. Each time, a woman, a man, or both, play out their drama in a dislocated cityscape, or brightly hued room, or defamiliarized country-side. Each time, Stewart MacFarlane paints the human condition with beauty, insight, and surreptitious wit. He paints the Australian scene, but the Australian scene as representative of Western society as a whole.

Stewart Angus MacFarlane was born in Adelaide, South Australia, in November 1953. Aged 16, he enrolled at the South Australian School of Art, where he was influenced by the Adelaide painters, David Dridan and David Dallwitz. He gained his Diploma of Fine Arts (Painting) in 1974. The next year he travelled to America, where he had group and solo exhibitions, as well as pursuing his other love, music. In 1977 he graduated with a Bachelor in Fine Arts (Painting) from the School of Visual Arts, New York City.
He was a studio assistant of Janet Fish

Janet Fish

Janet Fish is a contemporary American artist. She paints still life paintings, some of light bouncing off reflective surfaces, such as plastic wrap containing solid objects and empty or partially filled glassware....

. Since returning to Australia in 1983, MacFarlane has earned his living as a professional painter, exhibiting several times a year, either in Australia or internationally.

To quote a former student of his, Lim Wei-Ling, director of the Wei-Ling Gallery, Kuala Lumpur, "Stewart MacFarlane is a force to be reckoned with. His resume speaks for itself. With close to 50 solo exhibitions in Australia, the United States and Europe, works in all major state and university galleries throughout Australia, and countless international awards and residencies, Stewart MacFarlane is truly one of Australia's most outstanding contemporary artists."

Stewart MacFarlane is also a musician. His band, Stew Lane and The Untouchables, performed and recorded in New York City from 1979 to 1981. The Album, 'Harder Than Wax" was released by AZ International, France, in 1980. Their independent release, "U.N.Rap Song" (Private Ear Records, 1980) is acknowledged by Freddy Fresh

Freddy Fresh

Freddy Fresh is among the most active and prolific American underground dance music musicians, having released more than a hundred records on many record labels...

as one of the earliest rap records and one of the first examples of a group, outside the hip-hop genre, to incorporate rap into their music.

Selected recent exhibitions

• Michael Reid, Sydney, September 2010
• Fletcher Jones Art Prize 2010, Geelong Gallery, Geelong, July-September 2010
• The Shilo Project, University of Melbourne, November 2009-March 2010.
• Master Landscapes of the Mornington Peninsula, Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery, December 2009-March 2010
• Philip Bacon Galleries, Brisbane, March 2009
• Charles Nodrum Gallery, Melbourne, November-December 2008
• Roswell Museum and Art Center, New Mexico, USA, February-March 2008
• Wei-Ling Gallery, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, September-October 2006
• Dridan Fine Arts, Adelaide, September 2005
• Bett Gallery, Hobart, March-April 2005
• Imaging the Apple, University of Ballarat, February 2004-August 2005
• Galerie Carlos Hulsch Berlin, Germany, October-November 2003

Monographs

• Helmridge-Marsillian, Veronique, Stewart MacFarlane. Riddles of Life, Craftsman House, Sydney, 1996

Books

• Aland, Jenny, Australian Artlook, Heinemann, Melbourne, 1997
• Drury, Nevill, Images 2, Contemporary Australian Painting, Craftsman House, Sydney, 1994
• Drury, Nevill, Images 3, Contemporary Australian Painting, Craftsman House, Sydney, 1998
• McCulloch, Alan, (rev. by Susan McCulloch), The Encyclopedia of Australian Art, Allen and Unwin, Sydney, 1994
• McCulloch, Alan, McCulloch, Susan, and McCulloch, Emily, The New McCulloch's Encyclopedia of Australian Art, Miegunyah Press, Melbourne, 2006
• Pickett, Charles, Cars and Culture. Our Driving Passions, HarperCollins and Powerhouse Publishing, Sydney, 1999
• Williams, Donald, and Simpson, Colin, Art Now. Contemporary Art Post-1970, McGraw-Hill, Sydney, 1994

Articles

• Adam, Rosemary, "Stewart MacFarlane: 'Roswell'", Art Monthly, September 1990
• Adam, Rosemary, "Stewart MacFarlane", Tension, March 1992
• Heathcote, Christopher, "Summer Famine", Art Monthly, March 1989
• Helmridge-Marsillian, Veronique, "Work and Sex. Three Paintings by Stewart MacFarlane", Art Monthly, July 1994
• Morrell, Timothy, "The Function", Artlines, Queensland Art Gallery Society, August-September 1997

Catalogues

• Katz, Vincent, Compulsion: Stewart MacFarlane, Brisbane City Gallery, 2001
• Leong, Roger, The Painted Self. Rick Amor, Peter Churcher, Kevin Lincoln, Stewart MacFarlane and Lewis Miller, Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery, 2006
• MacFarlane, Stewart, Door of Memories, Roswell Museum and Art Center, New Mexico, USA, 1987
• MacFarlane, Stewart, Screenplay, Galerie Carlos Hulsch Berlin, Germany, 2000
• MacFarlane, Stewart, and Helmridge-Marsillian, Veronique, Stewart MacFarlane. Small Observations. A Survey of Small Oil Paintings 1967-2005, Carnegie Gallery, Hobart, 2006
• Rufe, Laurie, and Fleming, Stephen, Beyond a Gift of Time. Current Work by Former Fellows of the Roswell Artist-in-Residence Program, Roswell Museum and Art Center, New Mexico, USA, 2008
• Smith, Jason, So You Wanna Be a Rock 'n' Roll Star, NGV Shell Collection, 2005
• Wei-Ling, Lim, Private Life. Stewart MacFarlane, Wei-Ling Gallery, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 2006

Video

• Nedelkopolous, Nicholas. Private View (2004, 49 mins, Mini Digital Video) Documentary on artist Stewart MacFarlane.