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THE ARTIST

PAINTINGS

SCULPTURE

ARCHITECTURE

REFERENCE

Brett-Livingstone Strong belongs to that rare class of celebrity, the international art star. Speaking the language of our new global culture, Strong has displayed an unerring ability to capture the attention of the public at large, winning a fervent, vital market on an enormous scale. Unique to our mass media age, his level of success is characterized by broad fame and its attendant myth-making, a lifestyle enjoyed earlier in this century by Picasso, Dali, and Andy Warhol. Today, towards the height of his career, Brett-Livingstone Strong has become an ambassadorial spectacle of international goodwill, a painter, a sculptor and architect of monumental projects.

As an Australian child prodigy from the age of four, Brett routinely sold out exhibitions early in his life. In 1972, the Fine Arts Museum of New South Wales held an exhibition of painting and sculpture by Brett-Livingstone Strong with the work of famed British modernist Sir Henry Moore - Brett was just 18 years old. Strong became recognized the world over in 1973, with the high-profile commission to paint the fine art invitation for Queen Elizabeth's Royal Opening of the Sydney Opera House. Following a rigorous academic training in architecture, Strong left Australia in 1977 on a celebrated globe-spanning exhibition of his work (sponsored by the Australian Art Council and Trade Commission). By constantly exploring innovative ways to combine sculpture with visionary architecture, Brett-Livingstone Strong had already earned a reputation for monument-building.

The United States Presidency Monument
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His career assured, Strong soon settled in Los Angeles, and quickly acclimated himself to America's preferred communications medium: television. When a 116-ton boulder was removed from Malibu's Pacific coast Highway, an event which dominated both local and national news, the young artist arranged with the city to purchase the rock for $100 and announced his intention to carve it into an homage to John Wayne. The story became his American debut, and Brett used jack-hammers, the California sun, and his own vigorous charisma to carve an image not just of America's favorite cowboy, but also of himself as an energetic visionary with very public ambitions. Concluding with the celebrated sale of the finished piece for $1.13 million, this fully-televised art event established Brett-Livingstone Strong's visibility - and market - at the highest level.

The BLS Abstract Collections
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Utilizing a classical figurative technique in both sculpture and painting, Strong's deeply accomplished works are easy to admire. He uses his obvious gifts like a bulldozer, taking an authoritative aesthetic stance that certifies his intentions as an artist of serious reckoning. Working largely with cast bronze, Brett-Livingstone Strong extends the project of antiquity to celebrate the heroes of his day; in so doing, like that of the ancients, his becomes a distinctively eternal art. This passion for monumentality has yielded Brett a ceaseless slate of public commissions unseen since the overburdened studio of Rodin.

The John Lennon Statue
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Strong's 1979 portrait bronze of John Lennon serves as the definitive artistic statement of homage to this spokesperson of their generation. Following another public multi-million dollar sale, the sculpture toured the world after Lennon's death, lingered overlong in New York's Central Park (at Andy Warhol's urging) and finally settled at the Los Angeles Grammy Awards Headquarters. By the time Strong returned to Australia in 1988 as that country's Official Artist of the Bicentennial, his contemporary public works were among the most valuable in the world, and he was the constant guest of governmental and corporate patrons.

BLS Architecture
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It was during this period that Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley unveiled Brett's ambitious sculptural celebration of their city's sisterhood with Nagoya, Japan. Building on this success, the artist received a special commission from Chief justice Warren E. Burger, and in 1987 stood with President Ronald Reagan to dedicate his Monument for the bicentennial of the U.S. Constitution. The highly-publicized Independence Hall ceremony honored the foundation of the country that had allowed this quiet man of irrepressible energy to realize his dreams and share his art with an ever-widening audience. His public works have continued to grow in prominence - in 1996 he fashioned 27 tons of bronze and granite into Washington D.C.'s Monument to the history of the U.S. Presidency.

The Creation Series
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Brett-Livingstone Strong's private collectors are among the most influential people in the world, ranging from heads of state to royalty. Portrait commissions have included Prince Charles, Dr. Armand Hammer and Michael Jackson; Rupert Murdoch and Elizabeth Taylor have also done business with the artist. For public patrons, he has worked on monumental sculptures to commemorate the achievements of NASA (for the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum), the vision of Walt Disney, the Sydney 2000 Olympics and the 500th anniversary of Michelangelo's David. Throughout his distinguished career, the art collecting public has always been involved, ensuring that every limited edition ever made of Brett-Livingstone Strong prints has long ago sold out, and that his original paintings have become prized rarities selling for ever-higher record prices.

Helicopter Transit
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Strong's latest epic undertaking incorporates his architecture and monuments. Strong first conceived his Statue of Freedom project, including cathedral inspired structures surrounded by a tranquil park. The project has developed into two distinct monumental works, the Statue of Freedom and Pacific Crystal Tower. Created as a tribute to mankind's pursuit of freedom and inspired by Strong's interest of merging views of nature within his art and architecture, these projects are the legendary focus of his universal creative force. Privately financed to date, the scope of these projects has quickly grown to include the artist's ideas for a broad range of cultural and entertainment attractions. As supporters glimpse the dramatic landmark, the project continues to transform in magnitude. This truly is the greatness of monumental architecture, to transcend its creation and become, like the artist's work, an awe inspiring experience.