Gary Catalano (1947-2002), poet and critic, worked in a variety of jobs before a series of Australia Council grants in the late 1970s enabled him to devote himself full-time to writing. He had started to write poetry in his late teens, and was in his twenties when his first book reviews began to appear in the Bulletin. In 1973 he became art critic for Art and Australia magazine, and later wrote art criticism for the Melbourne Age. As an art and poetry critic he had articles published in France, Britain, Canada and the US. His first book of poetry, Remembering the Rural Life, appeared in 1978. His subsequent critical works include The Years of Hope: Australian Art and Criticism 1959-1968 (1980) and a biography of Rick Amor, The Solitary Watcher: Rick Amor and his Art (2001). In the last decade of his life Catalano turned away from regular art writing to focus on writing poetry, of which he published four volumes between 1991 and 1998, including The Empire of Grass, joint winner of the Grace Leven Prize for Poetry in 1992. His last volume of poetry was Jigsaw: Poems and Prose Poems (1998).
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2005
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
© Rick Amor/Copyright Agency, 2021
Rick Amor (20 portraits)
On one level The Companion talks about the most famous and frontline Australians, but on another it tells us about ourselves: who we read, who we watch, who we listen to, who we cheer for, who we aspire to be, and who we'll never forget. The Companion is available to buy online and in the Portrait Gallery Store.
Australian author David Malouf discusses the creation of his portrait by artist Rick Amor.
Artist Rick Amor and author Shane Maloney relate divergent experiences of the creation of Shane's portrait.
