{{Short description|Australian visual artist (born 1952)}} {{Use Australian English|date=June 2015}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2026}} '''Rodney Pople''' (born 6 September 1952) is an Australian visual artist.
== Biography == Pople was born on 6 September 1952, in Launceston.<ref name="National Gallery of Victoria - Collection - Artists - Rodney Pople">{{cite web|url=http://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/col/artist/1614|title=Collection – Artists – Rodney Pople|publisher=National Gallery of Victoria|accessdate=10 July 2014}}</ref> His works have been the cause of some controversy.<ref name="The Daily Telegraph (Australia) - 15 June 2012 - Rodney Pople: One of Australia's most controversial artists">{{cite news|url=http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/entertainment/sydney-confidential/rodney-pople-one-of-australias-most-controversial-artists/story-e6frewz0-1226397141160|title=Rodney Pople: One of Australia's most controversial artists|last=Fortescue|first=Elizabeth|date=15 June 2012|work=The Daily Telegraph|publisher=News Corp Australia|accessdate=10 July 2014}}</ref> Pople studied photography in Tasmania, and sculpture at Slade School of Fine Art, London.<ref name="The Sydney Morning Herald - 28 June 2014 - Altared state">{{cite news|url=http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/art-and-design/altared-state-20140623-3an2w.html|title=Altared state|date=28 June 2014|work=The Sydney Morning Herald|publisher=Fairfax Media|accessdate=10 July 2014}}</ref> He teaches at the National Art School in Sydney.<ref name="The Sydney Morning Herald - 28 June 2014 - Altared state" />
In 2008, Pople won the Sir John Sulman Prize with a work entitled ''Stage Fright''.<ref name="Art Gallery of New South Wales - Winner: Sir John Sulman Prize 2008 - Rodney Pople - Stage Fright">{{cite web|url=http://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/prizes/sulman/2008/28695/|title=Winner: Sir John Sulman Prize 2008 – Rodney Pople – Stage Fright|publisher=Art Gallery of New South Wales|accessdate=10 July 2014}}</ref> In 2010, works in an exhibition entitled "Bellini 21c" were the focus of protests.<ref name="The Australian - 15 September 2010 - 'Innocents' protest against art show ">{{cite news|url=http://www.theaustralian.com.au/arts/innocents-protest-against-art-show/story-e6frg8n6-1225923003645|title='Innocents' protest against art show |last=Boland|first=Michaela|date=15 September 2010|work=The Australian|publisher=News Corp Australia|accessdate=10 July 2014}}</ref> The works included images of Bellini's ''San Zaccaria Altarpiece'' overlaid with pornography.<ref name="The Sydney Morning Herald - 28 June 2014 - Altared state"/>
Pople won the Glover Prize for landscape painting in March 2012 with a work that included the figure of Martin Bryant, the convicted perpetrator of the Port Arthur Massacre in the foreground of the landscape of Port Arthur.<ref name="PM (ABC Radio) - 12 March 2012- Art or exploitation of grief?">{{cite news|url=http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2012/s3451501.htm|title=Art or exploitation of grief?|last=Ogilvie |first=Felicity|date=12 March 2012|work=PM|publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation|accessdate=10 July 2014}}</ref> Later in that year, a work entitled "Degas's Night" which included Degas' sculpture ''Little Dancer of Fourteen Years'' on the background of red-light district in Darlinghurst, New South Wales was also the cause of controversy.<ref name="The Daily Telegraph (Australia) - 15 June 2012 - Rodney Pople: One of Australia's most controversial artists"/>
He was an Archibald Prize finalist in 2014 and 2015.{{Citation needed|date=June 2025}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Pople, Rodney}} Category:Living people Category:1952 births Category:Australian painters Category:Archibald Prize finalists Category:Artists from Tasmania