Fine art photographer Matt Draper brings his creative vision to existence through unconstrained immersion, revealing life beneath the surface.

By patiently navigating through untamed environments, Draper seeks to better understand each individual species he interacts with. Working with only natural light on a series of single breaths, he manoeuvres concept to creation with minimal disturbance. Draper’s art breaks barriers between human and animal, merging realms and revealing distinct characteristics of unfamiliar physicality and hidden intuitive behaviours — resulting in a dynamic balance of vastness and intimacy.

A Matt Draper fine art print is unique and exclusive, belonging to a signature series of work. Each edition is limited in release, individually numbered, and accompanied by a certificate of authenticity. Focusing on curated exhibitions, Draper is creating notable recognition and expanding his audience, partnering with distinguished scientists and explorers to convey the importance of our natural world through art. Draper’s work is part of renowned private collections, with most editions sold before publicly viewed or displayed.

This image was taken from the mast of a ship on Sydney Harbour. Vaniman had intended that his panoramas be exhibited in public buildings as massive enlargements, but today they survive as extremely rare and detailed platinum contact prints. He spent over a year photographing Australia and New Zealand on behalf of the Oceanic Steamship Company creating promotional images for the company.

Beginning in 1903, Vaniman spent over a year photographing Sydney and the surrounding areas. It was during this time that he created his best known work, the panorama of Sydney, shot from a hot air balloon he had specially imported from the United States. Vaniman is best known for his images of Hawaii, Australia, and New Zealand.

Private collection, Sydney 

Ildiko Kovacs’ ability to sculpt line, as if it is a three-dimensional form rendered flat, is a signature feature of some of her most-celebrated works. During this period in her oeuvre Kovacs initiated a dialogue between the western tradition of abstraction and Indigenous art. The palette of the subject work accentuates the artist’s focus on the textural qualities of paint, built up in layers to create a distinct sense of both depth and solidity. 

In the mid-1990s Kovacs spent 10 months living and working in Broome, beginning a period of engagement with Indigenous artists and their communities. She was particularly moved by the work of Rover Thomas as suggested by the dynamic lines and flat planes of colour that map terrain in a number of her subsequent works.

Kovacs’ painting radiates energy and movement. A sculpted, unbroken line emerges like a pathway through a field of colour, the composition enriched by the tension between the positive and negative spaces that it connects. 

Exhibited Rudy Komon, April 1969 cat 4; Private collection, Sydney 

Birds by the River was featured in Olsen’s 1969 solo exhibition, The Donemoochin Summer at the Rudy Komon Gallery. Komon was one of the early Woollahra gallerists and supported a great many of the mid-20th century’s finest Australian artists. The work is in fine original condition and has not been seen publicly since it was purchased in 1969.

Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, 1999; 

Private collection, New Zealand; 

Private collection, Sydney

Rosalie Gascoigne, Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney, 1999

This distinctive assemblage of retro-reflective road signs epitomises Rosalie Gascoigne’s poetic use of found objects, particularly those containing text. Cut up into fragments, rearranged and composed in a grid formation, the panels display orderly shapes of text against a bright yellow background, the light-reflecting properties with a subtle ability to shimmer and shine. Gascoigne stated: “I don’t want it to be dramatically lit, but I do want it to sometimes flash at you, as road signs do, and then go sullen, then flash, like a living thing.” ¹

[1] Gascoigne, M., Rosalie Gascoigne: A Catalogue Raisonné, ANU Press, Canberra, 2019, p. 307, cat. 675