Artchat caught up with Warren Salter with some questions about his art and inspirations and about his current exhibition at Red Hill Gallery in Brisbane.
AC: You have mentioned some world renowned artists such as Picasso, Monet, Dali and Streeton as influences, what is it about them or their works that influenced you and your artwork?
WS: Mainly its how these artists use their paint, deliberately avoiding photorealism, a painted look and tonal choices that give way to a surreal quality.
AC: What kind of art do you most identify with?
WS: Anything that suggests beauty to me, or imparts good will or suggests love. 
AC: You have a distinctive personal style, how would you describe the collection of figurative and landscape works?
WS: These works in this latest exhibition are a projection of things that I feel strongly about, love, childhood memories contributing to the formation of the person, family, beauty in nature … for me, all of these things are a reflection of a benevolent universe. I paint in a fashion that suggests a surreal dream like feeling.
AC: Where do you find your inspiration for your painting?
WS: I find inspiration in nature, music and people, though It would be better to say that inspiration finds me … usually after I have started an idea I am flying blind, the inspiration appears after a certain amount of labour.
AC: You have been surrounded by the creative arts since a young age, when did you know that painting would be your profession?
WS: I painted and drew prolifically as a child, and even sold my work at school.. I even studied art at college, but the idea of being a professional painter didn’t arise until I moved to Queensland twenty years ago where I met artists making a living from their talents. 
Warren Salter will be exhibiting at the Red Hill Gallery, 61 Musgrave Road, Red Hill throughout April 2015 alongside two prominent contemporary male artists Dan Mason and Michael Parker in the exhibition “All Afloat”.
