{{Short description|Australian artist (born 1940)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=June 2015}} {{Use Australian English|date=June 2015}} '''Keith Looby''' (born 1940 in Sydney, Australia), is an Australian artist who won the Archibald Prize in 1984 with a portrait of Max Gillies.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|last=Kerr|first=Joan|date=1996|title=Biography: Keith Looby|url=https://www.daao.org.au/bio/keith-looby/biography/|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=24 November 2020|website=Design & Art Australia Online}}</ref>
== Early life and education == Looby was raised in the Sydney suburbs of Newtown and Bondi. He studied at East Sydney Technical College (now The National Art School) from 1955 to 1959, where his teachers included John Passmore<ref>{{Cite web|last=McQueen|first=Humphrey|date=25 April 2003|title=Kieth Looby, Catalogue Essay|url=https://www.surplusvalue.org.au/McQueen/art_aust/art_aus_looby_cat.htm|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=24 November 2020|website=}}</ref> and he soon became part of the Sydney Push.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2020-02-06|title=Looby|url=https://www.artistprofile.com.au/looby-film/|access-date=2020-10-14|website=Artist Profile|language=en-US}}</ref> He travelled overseas in 1960 and lived in Italy and London until 1967. In 1964, he held his first solo exhibition at the Carpini Gallery, Rome. An elaborate pencil drawing was exhibited at the Royal Academy, London in the 1960s.<ref name=":0" />
== Australian history and ''Suburbs of the Sacred'' == Looby produced two books of drawings and illustrations on the history of Australia: ''The History of Australia'' in 1976,<ref>{{Cite book|last=Looby, Keith, 1940-|title=The history of Australia|date=1976|publisher=Macleay Museum, University of Sydney|others=Campbell, David Watt Ian.|isbn=0-909635-06-4|location=Sydney|oclc=3186293}}</ref> with poet David Campbell, representing the history of Australia up to the arrival of the English, with songs and poems inspired by the drawings and by Aboriginal myths and rock engravings of the Sydney Hawkesbury area; and ''Black and white history of Australia'' in 1979,<ref>{{Cite book|last=Looby, Keith, 1940-|title=Black and white history of Australia|date=1979|publisher=Macleay Museum, University of Sydney|others=Macleay Museum.|isbn=0-909635-14-5|edition=[1st ed.]|location=[Sydney]|oclc=11841269}}</ref> in which he interprets aspects of Australian history, beginning with Indigenous Australia before European settlement, and the subsequent effects of settlement on Aboriginal Australia, among other episodes of foundational mythology, Ned Kelly, The Goldfields, The Bush etc.
In 1988, Australian political activist, socialist historian and cultural commentator Humphrey McQueen wrote ''Suburbs of the Sacred, Transforming Australian Beliefs and Values'', an "examination of Australian suburban culture through the artwork of Keith Looby".<ref>{{Cite web|title=Trove|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/12683769|access-date=2020-10-14|website=trove.nla.gov.au|language=en}}</ref>
== Selected exhibition history == Looby commercially exhibited with the Ray Hughes Gallery in Brisbane and then in Sydney from the mid-1970s to the early 2000s.<ref name=":1" /> His painting ''Resurrection'' (1964) was exhibited in the historical retrospective ''Federation: Australian art and society 1901-2001'', curated by John McDonald at the National Gallery of Australia,<ref>{{Cite web|title=Press Releases|url=https://nga.gov.au/aboutus/press/federation.cfm|access-date=2021-02-09|website=nga.gov.au}}</ref> the afterparty of which resulted in the ending of Looby's "28 year marriage" with Hughes.<ref>Quote from the artist, featured in the documentary film ''Looby'' (2019)</ref>
In 1992, Julie Ewington curated ''School class to playground, 1958-1992 / Keith Looby'', at Canberra School of Art Gallery; a retrospective drawing on a long-running series of paintings and prints based on Looby's own school experience, as an early site of social relation, class and institutionalisation.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Trove|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/34752424|access-date=2021-02-09|website=trove.nla.gov.au}}</ref>
In 2021, Looby returned to exhibiting with concurrent exhibitions at 484 Presents in Melbourne<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.484presents.com/keith-looby |title=Keith Looby "Drawings, Prints And Paintings" |date=13 August 2022 |website=484presents.com |access-date=2022-10-30}}</ref> and Spud Lane Studios in Robertson, NSW.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://spudlane.com.au/whats-on/exhibition-looby-dichotomy.php |title=Keith Looby "Dichotomy" |date=27 August 2022 |website=spudlane.com.au |access-date=2022-10-30}}</ref>
== Awards == Looby has been a finalist in the Archibald Prize at the Art Gallery of New South Wales multiple times between 1974 and 2000:<ref>{{Cite web|title=Archibald Prize :: Art Gallery NSW|url=https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/prizes/archibald/|access-date=2020-11-24|website=www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au}}</ref> {| class="wikitable" !Year !Subject/Title |- |2000 |Anne Summers |- |1999 |Paddy McGuinness |- |1993 |A. D. Hope |- |1988 |Blanche D'Alpuget |- |1987 |Manning Clark |- |1986 |John Bloomfield's Arta Eaten |- |1985 |Bill Hayden |- |1984 |Max Gillies (Winner: Archibald Prize 1984) |- |1983 |David Combe and the portrait |- |1980 |Anne Summers: God's police dolls |- |1979 |P. P. McGuinness with Paddy doll |- |1978 |Keith Looby |- |1976 |Jan Senbergs |- |1975 |David Campbell |- |1974 |Rupert Lockwood |} Other notable awards include the Blake Prize for Religious Art in 1973 and the Sulman Prize in 1974. In 1981, Looby received an Australia Council New York studio residency, whilst in 1973–1974 he was artist in residence at the Australian National University. In 1992, Looby was named Canberra Artist of the Year.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Looby|url=https://www.artfilms.com.au/item/looby|access-date=2020-11-24|website=www.artfilms.com.au|language=en-US}}</ref>
== ''Looby'' documentary == In 2019, the artist was the subject of a documentary film ''Looby'',<ref name=":1">{{Cite news|last=Frost|first=Andrew|date=2020-02-13|title=Being an outsider artist is a noble pursuit – until nobody exhibits your work {{!}} Andrew Frost|language=en-GB|work=The Guardian|url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2020/feb/13/being-an-outsider-artist-is-a-noble-pursuit-until-nobody-exhibits-your-work|access-date=2020-10-14|issn=0261-3077}}</ref> co-directed by Nick Garner and Iain Knight, produced by Merilyn Alt and Sean Murphy. The documentary featured interviews with McLean Edwards, Julie Ewington, Max Gillies, Adam Hill (aka Blak Douglas), John McDonald, Humphrey McQueen, and Damien Minton.
== Personal life == Looby was married to Helen Beresford, with whom he has two children, and abstract artist Kerry Gregan, with whom he has a son.
Keith Looby lives with his partner April Pressler on Sydney's lower north shore.
== References == {{Reflist}}
* ''Suburbs of the Sacred, Transforming Australian Beliefs and Values'', Penguin, 1988, 269pp. {{ISBN|0-14-010457-7}}
==External links== *{{official website|http://keithlooby.com/}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Looby, Keith}} Category:1940 births Category:Australian painters Category:Archibald Prize winners Category:Living people Category:Artists from Sydney Category:Blake Prize for Religious Art winners Category:20th-century Australian artists
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