The life of an artist is never an easy one. It is a courageous decision to turn your back on everything you are told will create a successful human, to venture down a path not so well travelled and cut ones dependence on society. Drawing attention to the subjects of the times and essentially recording life on earth, creative people are our scribes. Without the contribution of the artists and artisans throughout the history of the world we would never have arrived at this point, where finally, creativity is receiving the attention it deserves.

When Tony Pates realized he was an artist society was not as ready to acknowledge his role. A post war child, Tony was born directly into a damaged time full of people preoccupied by the nightmares they had endured and struggling to rebuild their worlds. After being awarded one of only 2 scholarships to Art College, at 14 Tony was forced to turn down the opportunity and instead entered the coalmines in England to help support 9 brothers and sisters. For the next 25 years while in the mines Tony never denied his true self, persevering with art throughout his life. In 1981 Tony reinvented himself and moved to Australia, settling first in Sydney then finally arriving on the Sunshine Coast in1988. 

A self-taught artist, Tony encapsulates his subject’s perfectly in every piece. While his passion is undoubtedly portraiture; Tony’s collection of landscapes is no less impressive.