I am an Artist. My job is also my favourite past time. It is my hobby and my passion. Visual Arts is the most direct and immediate way of making a statement about society.

Australian media is obsessed with sport. Sport is a physical way of discerning ourselves in an international context. But it is through the Arts that we can tell the real stories – the truth. And with the truth we will make a better society.

Born in Sydney in 1973, Ben Quilty exhibited his Higher School Certificate Body of Work in ARTEXPRESS 1991. Subsequently, Quilty was selected as the recipient of the Julian Ashton Summer School Scholarship.  He has acquired a Bachelor of Visual Arts from Sydney College of the Arts and a Bachelor of Visual Communication from the University of Western Sydney. Currently living in Robertson, New South Wales, Quilty has worked as a full time artist since 2002, exhibiting nationally and internationally.

Ben Quilty has won and been a finalist of a number of prestigious awards, including the Archibald Prize in 2011 for his portrait of Australian artist Margaret Olley.  He has also been awarded the Redlands Konica Art Prize in 2012, the Doug Moran National Portrait Prize in 2009 and the Brett Whitely Travelling Art Scholarship in 2002.