Jeff Makin is a full time artist and art critic who has held numerous senior appointments. He is recognized as one of Australia’s most distinctive painters of the Australian landscape.
The colourful landscapes of Jeff Makin were stylistically close to the works of Fred Williams with whom he frequently painted in the 1970’s. He painted in the plein air tradition which began in Melbourne with the Heidelberg School of artists. Successful solo exhibitions in Sydney and Melbourne launched Jeff as a serious landscape painter. During the 80’s Makin successfully exhibited in London and he was artist in residence at Edinburgh University for 12 months. This period was important in the development of the artists work as he had the time to absorb the rich tradition of Northern European landscape painting.
The 1990’s were also a time for numerous large-scale corporate commissions, which explored waterfalls, the outback, mountain and coastal areas of Australia.
This year, Jeff is the first of only six Australian artists that have been profiled by the Asian Pacific Building Corporation, where his work is celebrated and on display in the Hotel Makin, Melbourne. Other artists in the series of boutique hotels include Brett Whitely, John Olsen, Jeffery smart, David Larwill and Tim Storrier. |