This presentation was created in response to a university assignment. The original PowerPoint has more 'special effects' including sound and music. It contained 3 short films from You Tube. Throughout this presentation please pause to view the specified You Tube videos: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qb4n8yc2so http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vprnpfFeO0A&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsJ-bqwZGUc&feature=related I will delete this presentation in approximately 2 weeks.

2. Contemporary Artist: The madness in Pro Hart’s method made him one of Australia’s most recognisable artists, around the country and around the world.

3. To a large extent this is because his painting of the Australian outback were reproduced on a wide range of mass-produced items, such as air conditioners, beer cans, kitchenware, and telephones cards, and also because he appeared in a very popular carpet commercial on television. Hart’s critics frequently charged him crass commercialism because of commissions like these.

4. However Denham (2009) argues that while this may have been lucrative work, it was also a natural extension of the artist’s work. An art car is a car that has been transformed into a painting or a sculpture, usually by a Naïve artist. Over the years, Pro Hart has created scores of art cars, usually for charity. Hart’s best-known art car is probably the 1973 Silver Shadow Rolls Royce

5. Perhaps his most famous moment came with a series of television carpet commercials.This advertisement was made in the 1980s for Stainmaster. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qb4n8yc2so Go to You Tube to view this video, click on the link below

6. Question: Why would a professional artist with obvious talent, play with food and as some say humiliate himself? Do you believe this is creating art?

7. When he wasn’t bodysurfing dessert into a Stainmaster carpet, he was dropping paint from hot air balloons,

9. firing paint at a canvas from a century-old cannon, or swiping it on with an old credit card instead of a palette knife.

10. He would fill up a hollow glass ball with paint, load it into one of the cannons and fire it at a canvas pinned against a wall, repeating this procedure until the painting was finished. ‘That is a good art expression,’ he said. ‘The effect is the important part. I used to do it with other things besides cannons, you know, I did use big shanghais and balls of paint – all works the same way. But you get a better velocity with a cannon. It is a very interesting way of painting.’

11. Or he’d be dancing to avoid the shower of sparks while he hacked away at a metal sculpture with his angle grinder... wearing thongs or Ugg boots.

12. But the stirrer and stuntman of Australian art paid a price for his showmanship and commercial savvy. He was routinely overlooked when survey exhibitions of Australian art were assembled; his greatest works were dismissed as derivative while forgers gleefully attempted to cash in on his signature; and he never received the critical analysis and respect he deserved in his lifetime.

13. Biography: Kevin ‘Pro’ Hart was born in Broken Hill, NSW, Australia in 1928. His early years were spent on "Larloona" a sheep station, around 130kms from Broken Hill, learning by correspondence school. He was drawing from a young age, illustrating his homework at seven and progressing steadily in his talent.

14. He continued to paint and draw after moving back to Broken Hill in his early twenties, even as he worked the long underground shifts in a mine. Indeed, the hard work and the characters in the mine provided much inspiration for the narrative category of his painting styles.

15. In 1960, at the age of 32 he married Raylee June Tonkin, 19, and together they had five children. He continued to paint and took art classes to help formalise his technique. He was discovered by Kim Bonython, a gallery owner from Adelaide, in 1962 and his popularity as an outback artist began to climb.

16. Collection after collection would sell out and Pro began travelling the world. He met Kings and Queens, Presidents and Prime Ministers and his art resides in large international collections. His creative spirit knew no bounds, experimenting with "performance art" years before it became fashionable; dropping paint from hot air balloons, creating ice sculptures and even using a cannon to distribute paint on his chosen medium.

17. He continued to experiment with art techniques all his life. Mainly working in oils and acrylics, Pro used any tool or method to achieve the desired outcome for his work. The Opera House

18. He drew upon techniques of layering, chiaroscuro, glazing, scumbling, scratching and Alla prima. Pro was also a sculptor working with welded steel, bronze and ceramics. Descent From the Cross David and Goliath Abraham and Isaac

19. In 1976 he was awarded an MBE for his services to art in Australia. In 1982 he received an Honorary Life Membership of Society International Artistique for outstanding artistic achievement. This is granted to only one artist per continent and in 1983 he received an Australian Citizen of the Year Award. Beach Study with Sunbathers The Race

20. On March 28th 2006, Pro Hart died at his home in Broken Hill NSW. This video clip of ‘The Chase’ in 2006 shows a segment dedicated to galleries recognizing the value of Pro Hart’s work. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vprnpfFeO0A&feature=related Go to You Tube to view this video, click on the link below

21. What do you think inspired Pro Hart to create the wide variety of different composition he produced throughout his life-time? Pro Hart has been painting full time since 1958. Taking his inspiration from growing up and living in the mining town of Broken Hill, he has painted everything from landscapes and miners, to religious scenes of his interpretation, political events, to scenes from all of his various travels.

22. To keep Pro Hart’s legend alive Stainmaster carpets have introduced a new series of carpet commercials featuring his grandson Harry Hart. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsJ-bqwZGUc&feature=related Go to You Tube to view this video, click on the link below

23. After viewing his compositions, do you believe his work should be recognised and displayed in Australian National galleries? The Legend Still Lives!

24. References: http://www.stpatricks.org.au/UserFiles/Image/pro-hart-prints.jpg http://www.smh.com.au/ffximage/2006/04/03/hart4406_wideweb__470x331,0.jpg http://res2.graysonline.com/handlers/imagehandler.ashx?t=l&id=5674854&s=n&index=0&ts=634253933180500000 http://www.smh.com.au/ffximage/2006/03/28/pro_hart_wideweb.470x340,0.jpg http://www.prohart.com.au/image.php?c=13&i=1 http://i.pbase.com/u47/lambsfeathers/large/30452089.L6132_Hart.jpg http://www.minecraftforum.net/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=38543&start=30 http://www.swordsandarmor.com/mall/miniature-cannon.htm http://www.prohart.com.au/image.php?c=12&i=1 http://www.prohart.com.au/page.php?id=bio2 http://www.ausartim.com/Document1.aspx?id=3828 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qb4n8yc2so http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vprnpfFeO0A&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsJ-bqwZGUc&feature=related http://www.abp.unimelb.edu.au/unesco/ejournal/pdf/pro-hart.pdf