Gordon Hanley is an Australian artist and its first ARC Living Master.

Gordon Hanley had a relatively late start to his career as a full-time artist. His family migrated from England to Australia when Gordon was 5 years of age and following a two and a half year stay in a migrant hostel, they moved to a small house on an isolated bush acreage in rural SE Queensland. It was there that he first began to draw and paint, developing his natural talent and interest in art. After serving 5 years in the Navy, he obtained a B.Sc. (Biology), Dip. Ed., and a B.A. all the while continuing with his paintings and drawings which by this stage were becoming more than just a hobby. By 1990 he had built up enough paintings for his first solo exhibition. In an almost unprecedented event for an unknown artist, the entire collection of 38 paintings sold out in less than 45 minutes, and ABC television even showcased the artwork at the end of the 7:00PM national news. The pathway to a full-time career in art beckoned.

The next year saw another sold out exhibition and a few months later he was signed by Australia’s largest fine art print company. In the 1990’s Gordon carved out an enviable career that saw his work featured Australia-wide, not just in original artworks but also in art prints, calendars, tapestries, collector plates, placemats, jigsaw puzzles – virtually everything that could feature his realist artworks that struck a chord with Australian art lovers.  His watercolours are recognized as among the finest in the world, with many featured articles in both Australian and international art magazines. For 5 years he was the Wildlife Artist in Residence at the Queensland Museum and was a member of the Royal Queensland Watercolor Society. His first book “Jewels of Nature: The Parrots” was a limited edition that sold between $8,000 - $10,000 a copy.

Yet for the past 12 years, Gordon Hanley moved from his main output of watercolours to the Renaissance art of silverpoint drawing, which he has refined to include techniques of drawing in precious metals that combine 24K gold, pure silver and platinum to produce amazing, dramatic images of near photographic realism that have no equal in world art. This shift marked the beginning of serious international attention. He has been represented by Lou Meisel, of the Lou Meisel Gallery in New York (the world’s no.1 photorealist art gallery) and has been honoured as the first Australian artist - and the world’s first metalpoint artist - to be granted the accolade of “Living Master” by the USA-based Art Renewal Centre. His watercolours and drawings in gold and silver are in the collections of royalty, the White House and in some of the most prominent business identities - a considerable achievement for a self-taught artist.

His art has been showcased on the ABC, Ch.7, Ch.9 and Ch.10 networks and dozens of magazine and newspaper articles (incl. Weekend Australian Magazine, Australian Artist Magazine, International Artist Magazine, The Artist UK and many others). The yearbook of the Museum of European and Modern Art (MEAM) based in Barcelona features 1000 of the world’s top realist artists. Their website lists “12 Grande Autores” and Gordon Hanley was listed as one of those 12.