Colin Parker

Colin Parker (born Lindfield, NSW, 1941) is a largely self-taught Australian oil painter with a career spanning more than sixty years. He comes from an artistic family — his grandfather established S.A. Parkers in Sydney in 1917, a framing and art supplies business that became a meeting place for artists including Streeton and Roberts, and his father C.D. Parker was a watercolourist and gallery owner.

Parker is best known for figurative depictions of outback Australia, painted in a bold, direct style developed through extensive plein air work. He has served as Artist in Residence at both Uluru and Kakadu National Park, and has also painted in Paris, southern France, Rome and northern Italy. His first solo exhibition was held in 1963.

He has been selected for the Archibald Prize on three occasions and the Wynne Prize for Landscape four times, and has won First Prize at Sydney's Royal Easter Show on three occasions. He served as President of the Royal Art Society of New South Wales and is a past president of the Macquarie Towns Art Society. His work is held in corporate, state and Commonwealth government collections in Australia and overseas.