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Leith
O'Malley was born with pencil in hand in the Adelaide Hills town of Mount Barker, South
Australia.
His
passion for drawing came at a very early age, being influenced
by the illustrative style and cartoon work of American "Mad
magazine", and later by notable Australian newspaper cartoonist
Paul Rigby, Michael Leunig and American poster artist Rick Griffin.
Leith's
early work in Adelaide included freelance illustration contributions
to various magazines, before moving to Whyalla in the late 80's. He was
quickly snapped up to provide regular cartoons to Steel City Times
and later became the editorial cartoonist for the Whyalla News.
Leith
made the transition from line to brush in the early nineties after
workshops with Blake and Wynne Prize winning Australian War Artist
"George Gittoes". Soon after Leith co-founded the "Red
Dust Contemporary Art Group" exhibiting artwork throughout
regional and metropolitan galleries. Since this time Leith has
continued painting and exhibiting his work, holding a number of
commissions for artwork and being invited to contribute to several
touring, group and solo exhibitions. In 1999 Leith won the Whyalla Industrial
Art Prize for his large haunting oil on canvas "Industrial
Refugee".
The
ability to work in many mediums including digital has allowed
Leith to have his work seen by a much larger audience, yet still
enjoy the choice of living in the country.
Clients
who have used Leith's graphic work have included the Guenette
Production Company (Los Angeles), Le'Mag Magazine (France), BHP
(Australia), Tokyo Electron (Texas) and the United States
Coast Guard.
Although
he will tell you that the computer will never replace the feeling
of brush on canvas or pen on paper, Leith's ability to use the
tools of both traditional and digital mediums has opened further
windows of opportunity for him, and also given visitors from around
the world the opportunity to discover yet another creative South
Australian.
* In recent years Leith has produced the promotional artwork for the Adelaide Jazz Festival, The Newcastle Jazz Festival and also the “Rio-Havana-New York” Jazz Festival (Moscow).
* Has been a feature artist for Artists Pallette magazine along with work published in Le Mag (France) and Art World News. His jazz art series “Jazz is Art, Art is Jazz” features on many online international jazz sites including allaboutjazz.com (USA), jazzitalia.net (Italy), jazzpages.com (Germany), polishjazz.com (Poland) and the Saatchi Gallery (United Kingdom). Wacom
(makers of graphic tablets) are also currently featuring an illustration tutorial of Leiths work on their Asia Pacific website.
* Produced the cover art for db magazines “Big Day Out” issue 2007. Big Day Out Promoter/Head Honcho Ken West was quick to contact Leith and arrange the purchase of the original digital artwork which now hangs in his office.
* Commissioned by Festival Productions Inc. of New York to create the promotional brochure and T-Shirt artwork for the 33rd anniversary of the prestigious “New York Friehofer’s Jazz Festival” held in Saratoga, New York State in June 2007. The festival line-up included Al Green, George Benson, India Arie, David Sanborn, Ravi Coltrane, Dizzy Gillespie All Star
Band and many more.
* Some of the companies who have used Leiths art or design work include: Wacom (Australasia), BHP Australia, Ericsson Finland, Mitsubishi Motors, West End Breweries, United States Coast Guard, Guenette Production Company (Los Angeles), LaTrobe University (Melbourne), University Of San Diego, Family Social Services Switzerland, Federal Government- Ontario Canada, Bristol University-Uk, Tokyo Electron Inc Arizona, Ws Atkins Rail Ltd-Derby Uk, OneSteel Whyalla.
* Oct 2008. Now represented in Melbourne by Smart Artz Gallery. Part of group exhibition with Dennis Ropar. |
