Les Kossatz is a prominent Australian sculptor whose work is in the collections of the Australian National Gallery, state and regional galleries; and in private collections in Australia and overseas. His first major commission, in his twenties, was for the stained glass windows at the Monash University Chapel, Melbourne. Other significant public commissions include the ceremonial doors for the High Court of Australia, the Eternal Flame at the Australian War Memorial, “Coming & Going” for the Ian Potter Foundation at the National Gallery of Victoria and “Curtain Call” for the lawns at Darling Harbour, Sydney. He has worked and studied in Europe and America and taught sculpture at Monash University for the last fifteen years. He led a design team for the Korean War Memorial in Canberra, completed in April 2000. A major retrospective of his work is planned for 2008 at the Heide Park and Art Gallery, Melbourne.

• Born Melbourne, Australia, 1943.
• TSTC (Art) Melbourne Teachers’ College, 1964
• Diploma of fine Art, RMIT, Melbourne, 1965
• Lecturer in Painting, RMIT 1969-90
• Edinburgh College of Art 1974
• study trip to Mount Athos, Greece, and Moscow, Leningrad and Tbilisi, USSR, 1988
• study trip (Bond University commission), Pennsylvania, USA, 1988
• worked in Edward Kienholz studio, Berlin, West Germany, 1990
• studio Houston Texas, USA, 1991
• lecturer Monash University sculpture and drawing 1991-6

• head of sculpture Monash University 1996-2000, continued lecturing 2001-2005 and became a Research Fellow of the university in 2006.

2009

Heide Museum of Modern Art, Bulleen Victoria The Art of Existence

2007

Robin Gibson Gallery, Sydney

2006

Connecting Concepts, Deakin University, Stonnington Stables Gallery, Melbourne

2005

Les Kossatz: Music Satchels, Woodbine Fine Art, Malmsbury, Vic

Postcards, Baillieu Library, University of Melbourne

Les Kossatz: Sheep, McClelland Gallery, Langwarrin, Vic

2003

Hidden Layers: Kakadu, Penny School Gallery, Maldon, Vic

1995

Robin Gibson Gallery, Sydney

Lyall Burton Gallery, Melbourne

1995

Michel Sourgnes Fine Art, Brisbane

ANU Drill Hall Gallery, Canberra

1989

Kienholz Gallery, Idaho, USA

1988

Northern Territory Museum & Art Gallery, Darwin

Bicentenary Touring Exhibition

1885 Hamilton City Art Gallery, Vic

Robin Gibson Gallery, Sydney

1984

Quentin Gallery, Perth (Festival of Perth)

Latrobe Valley Arts Centre, Vic

1983

Realities Gallery, Melbourne

1977

Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane

Abraxas, Canberra

1976

Crossley Gallery, Melbourne

1975

Desborough Galleries, Perth

Sweeney Reed Gallery, Melbourne

Rudy Komon Gallery, Sydney

1972

Gallery I Eleven, Brisbane

1970

Gallery I Eleven, Brisbane

1969

Strines Gallery, Melbourne

1968

Strines Gallery, Melbourne

1967

Strines Gallery, Melbourne

2006

The Sound of the Sky, Museum & Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin

2003

McClelland Survey, Langwarrin, Vic

This Was the Future, RMIT Gallery, Melbourne

Travelling the Roundabout, University of the Academy Gallery, Launceston, Tas

Elizabeth Arthur Fine Art, Hamilton, Vic

2002

Making it New, Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne

1999

Artists in the Field – a Retrospective, Museum & Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin

Defiance Gallery, Sydney

1997

Preview 1997, Lyall Burton Gallery, Melbourne

Heidelberg Medical Centre Arts Program, Melbourne

The Faculty Gallery, Monash University, Melbourne

1996

Gallery Artists, Lyall Burton Gallery, Melbourne

1995

Robin Gibson Gallery, Sydney

1995

Chapman Gallery, Canberra

1994

Wool in the Australian Imagination, Hyde Park Barracks, Sydney

1993

Sur-real, Monash University Studios, Melbourne, in conjunction with the Fifth Australian Sculpture Triennial

1992

A Tribute to Anthony Pryor, Realities Gallery, Melbourne

Sculpture 4, Robin Gibson Gallery, Sydney

Realities Gallery, Melbourne

Australian Masters, Solander Gallery, Canberra

Quiet Industry & Good Conduct, State Library of Victoria, Melbourne

1991

Diverse Visions, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane

1989

Robin Gibson Gallery, Sydney

1988

Artcraft, Bicentennial National Exhibition

First Australian Contemporary Art Fair, Royal Exhibition Building, Melbourne, for Realities Gallery, Melbourne and Robin Gibson Gallery, Sydney

Sculpture 88, Gallery 460, Gosford, NSW

Episode 1, Chisholm Institute, Melbourne

Australian Tapestries, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne

1987

Diversity in Australian Art, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane; Museum of Modern Art, Saitama, Japan

Australian Art 1960-86, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne

Third Australian Sculpture Triennal, Heide Park and Art Gallery, Melbourne

Personal Views, Westpac Gallery, Victorian Arts Centre, Melbourne

Australian Masters, Solander Gallery, Canberra

1986

Oz Drawing, Holdsworth Gallery, Sydney

Making Monash, Monash University Gallery, Melbourne

1985

Ninth Mildura Sculpture Triennial, Mildura, Vic.

Australian Sculpture 1975-85, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide

McClelland Gallery, Vic

Victorian Print Workshop, Melbourne

Realities Gallery, Melbourne

Irreverent Sculpture, Monash University Gallery, Melbourne

1984

Realities Gallery, Melbourne

Acquisitions & Alternatives, Monash University Gallery, Melbourne

Animal Imagery in Contemporary Art, Ballarat Fine Art Gallery, Vic; Benalla Gallery, Vic; Wollongong Gallery, NSW

Aichi Culture Centre, Japan; Ogisu Memorial Museum, Japan; Toyohashi City Museum, Japan

1982

Australian Printmakers 1945-81, McClelland Gallery, Vic.

Twelve Melbourne Printmakers, Oxford University Gallery, UK; Bayreuth University Gallery, Germany

1981

20th Anniversary Exhibition, Rudy Komon Gallery, Sydney

Realities Gallery, Melbourne

Quentin Gallery, Perth

1980

RMIT Gallery, Melbourne

Druckma Press Collection, Melbourne University Gallery

1979

Fifteen Australian Printmakers, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane

1978

McClelland Gallery, Vic.

Western Pacific Print Biennale

Images, Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne

1977

Realities Gallery, Melbourne

Owen Dixon Chambers, Melbourne

Print Council of Australia (Japan)

1976

Sydney Biennale

1973

Realities Gallery, Melbourne

1972

Osborne Polak Gallery, Melbourne

Victorian Contemporary Sculpture, Geelong Art Gallery, Vic;

1970

Victorian Arts Society, Melbourne

Fourth Sculpture Triennial, Mildura, Vic

1966

Five Melbourne Painters, Rudy Komon Gallery, Sydney

Gallery A, Melbourne

1965

Young Melbourne Painters, Gallery A, Sydney

1964

Young Minds, Museum of Modern Art & Design, Melbourne

• Alexander von Humbolt Foundation, Germany
• Armidale City Art Gallery, NSW
• Art Gallery of WA, Perth
• Artbank
• Australian National Gallery, Canberra
• Comalco Collection
• Dalby Art Gallery, QLD
• Deakin University, Geelong, Vic
• Heinz Collection, UK
• Monash University Collection
• National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
• New Parliament House Collection, Canberra
• Newcastle City Art Gallery, NSW
• Northern Territory Museum & Art Gallery, Darwin
• Philip Morris Collection, Canberra
• Power Institute, Sydney
• Print Council of Australia, Melbourne
• Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane
• Queen Victoria Museum & Art Gallery, Launceston

• Regional galleries (Victoria): Ballarat, Benalla, Geelong, Hamilton, Latrobe Valley, Shepparton

2000

Arts ACT, Canberra, sculpture “Ainslie’s Sheep”

1998

Australian National Korean War Memorial, Canberra

1987

Darling Harbour Authority, Sydney, sculpture “Curtain Call”

1986

Australian War Memorial, Canberra, Eternal Flame

1985

Australian Chancery, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

1980

Ian Potter Foundation, NGV, sculpture “Coming & Going”

1979

Victorian Ministry of the Arts, Tram

High Court of Australia, Canberra, Ceremonial doors

High Court of Australia, Canberra, Coats of Arms

1968

Monash University Chapel, Vic

2006

Smorgon family, Melbourne

1993

Downie Collection, Launceston

1992

Magnus, Nankervis & Curl, Sydney, sculpture

1990

Gibson Collection, Melbourne

Veterinary Research Institute, Melbourne, sculpture

1989

Klaus Groenke Collection, Idaho, USA, sculpture “Tally of Seasons Past”

Kienholz Collection, USA, sculpture

1985

Realities Gallery

1984

Hamilton Heritage Festival, Tapestry

Comalco

1980

Victorian Arts Centre Trust, sculpture “Hard Slide”

1978

Print Council of Australia

Australian Labor Party, Bodford Terrace print portfolio

• James Mollison, Art in Australia, Vol 5 No 4, 1969
• Mervyn Horton, Present Day Art in Australia, Ure Smith, 1969
• Kim Bonython, Modern Australian Painting 1970-75, Rigby, 1976
• Jenny Zimmer, ‘Kossatz-Sheep-Mana’, Aspect, Vol 3.5, 1978
• Ken Scarlett, Australian Sculptors, Nelson, 1980
• Janet McKenzie, Drawing in Australia, Macmillan, 1986
• Susanna Gaertner, ‘Letter from Australia’, Journal of Art, 9/91, New York, 1991
• Alan McCulloch & Susan McCulloch, Encyclopedia of Australian Art, Allen & Unwin, 1991
• Sasha Grishin, Contemporary Australian Printmaking, Craftsman House, 1994
• Sasha Grishin, Relics, ANU Drill Hall Gallery, 1995
• Michael Hedger, Public Sculpture in Australia, Craftsman House/G+B International, 1995

• Caroline Field, ‘On the Wings of an Eagle,’ World Sculpture News, Vol 11 No 2, Spring 2005