Biography

John Spooner was born in Melbourne in 1946. He studied law at Monash University, and practised as a lawyer for three years.
He commenced drawing for the "Age" newspaper in 1974, leaving the Law in 1977.

1982 Awarded the Walkley Award

1984 Two man exhibition, prints and drawings, with fellow artist Peter Nicholson, Powell Street Gallery , Melbourne. This was followed in the same year by a two man exhibition, also with Peter Nicholson, at Solander Gallery, Canberra.

1982 Spooner: Drawings Caricatures and Prints, published by Thomas Nelson

In the period 1985/1986 Spooner was the winner of five Stanely Awards, including the Black and White Artist of the Year gold Stanely Award.

1986 Co-winner Mornington Peninsula Print Aquisitive Award

1986 Co- winner of the Fremantle Print Prize

1989 Bodies and Souls, a book of his drawings, caricatures and prints, published by Macmillan, forward by Barry Humphries.

1994 Spooner was awarded two Walkely Awards for Best Illustration and Best Cartoon.

1996 Solo exhibition John Spooner-A Survey, Prints Drawings and Paintings 1987 - 1996 was held at the Westpac Gallery

1997 Solo exhibition at the Essoign Club, Owen Dixon Chambers, Melbourne.

1998 Group Exhibition at Kensington Gallery, Adelaide; Group exhibition at Theatreworks, Melbourne.

1999 Spooners cartoons were included in When Australia was a woman, exhibition curated by the Western Australian Museum and in Bringing Down the House an exhibition curated by the National Museum of Australia.

1999 A Spooner in the Works, published by Text Publishing, comprising cartoons, prints and paintings.

2000 Solo exhibition Recent Thoughts at George Adams Gallery, (Victorian Arts Centre) showing paintings, cartoons and printmaking.
2000 Solo exhibition at McClelland Gallery (Victoria): Prints, Paintings and Cartoons from the Year 2000.

2003 Received the Graham Perkin Award for Australian journalist of the year, Quill Awards.

2004 Works exhibited in An Age of Cartooning, State Library of Victoria, Melbourne

2004 Solo Exhibition – Etchings, Cartoons & Paintings at Chrysalis Publishing Gallery and Studio, Melbourne

2007 Solo Exhibition – New Works at Chrysalis Gallery and Studio, Melbourne

Represented in the Melbourne Contemporary Art Fair 1996 ‘98 and 2000, the biennial International Works on Paper Fair, Sydney, 1995,’97, ‘99, 2001,’03 and the Affordable Art Fair, Melbourne 2004

Spooners’ works are represented in the Collections of The National Gallery of Australia, National Library of Canberra, The National Gallery of Victoria, The Victorian State Library Art, The Melbourne Cricket Club Museum, public and private collections throughout Australia and internationally.

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