Australia’s most notable Surrealist painter, James Gleeson is Inspired by Freudian and other psychological theories. He creates visionary landscapes verging along the division between reason and subconscious, beauty and ugliness, sea and land. Some of his more wacky, spine-chilling images grew out of his early war experiences, remaining a subconscious part of his character and his paintings. 

Gleeson and Frank O'Keefe, his partner, lived in Sydney and for almost three decades he painted small at weekends while working as an art teacher, museum curator, lecturer and art critic. However, he was travelling broadly, looking and learning, harvesting ideas and developing themes, and at the age of 68, moved to a larger studio. Here, he gave himself the physical and mental space, to put those hoarded feelings and ideas down on canvas. He then began working on a larger scale.