Kurt Black

Kurt Black’s art studio sways and bobs in the breeze, waves lapping at its bow, a miniscule space in a sailboat’s galley that’s borderline claustrophobic.   Which he isn’t and allows him just enough room to punch out one of his symbolic abstract works every day of the year, anchored on the Noosa River, and which he’s been doing, religiously, for the past four years. However, Australian abstract art lovers – or those of an aging emerging artist with a unique style – have yet to discover the true talent that defines Black as an artist of note amongst the country’s best and there are a few reasons for this.  Sure, he’s had recent exhibitions on the Sunshine Coast and as far south as Victoria, but his on-and-off again approach to painting, and the pauses in between, seem to have somewhat dampened the enthusiasm for his work – which is an art lover’s gift for embracing the genius of the unknown, or, perhaps, somewhat known, for an investment that could triple as Kurt Black’s work takes more of the centre stage. And, now, to his backstory.  Kurt, 65, was born in Perth to an artistic mother who recognised his eye for art at a very early age.  “When I was around eight or nine my mother enrolled me in private art lessons, having noticed that some of my scribbles had an artistic bent,” he says.  “I then went on to study and major in art while in high school in Western Australia and came in amongst the top ten percent of art graduates. So, the fire was lit, but it didn’t stay that way. I left home at 17 and went walkabout. I lived in communes, had various professions – none of which suited me – and relationships, equally so.  “But then I found my creative feet again, working in the entertainment industry – for about 10 years - while in Brisbane and living at Kangaroo Point, as a headlining tour guide, feting around such performers as Bono, Lou Reed and Chris Issac, to name just a few. And along the way meeting such musical geniuses as violinist Ivry Gitis and pianist Cecil Taylor who headlined at the Brisbane Biennial Festival then.”  However, a book of poetry titled “Vice Journey” intervened soon thereafter, taking two years to write, and battling mental health issues he relocated to Noosa in 2000 to readjust and soon sound himself in a relationship with an art teacher at a high school in Cooroy.