about

This website is a selection of Abstract Paintings and Digital Art by Brenton Schwab from 2005 to 2025

Brenton in 2024 with a favourite 2014 acrylic painting 120x90cm
For me art is about discovery

On my journey of discovery I have moved through styles from Realism to Abstract Expressionism and have been influenced by Post-Minimalism and Non-Objective concepts, the work of many artists.

Today my work is a fusion of these processes and concepts. 

Over the years I have continued developing my skills in art, experimenting with drawing, painting, printing, photography and digital collage

2025 saw me move to Adelaide, after 9 years in Sydney. Packing up was a chance to sort and group my work. Now, while unpacking, I am seeing things differently and repainting old abstract paintings while completing others that were packed in a hurry. Discovering new plants and new environments is the influence that drives me, my painting, my photography and my digital work.

I moved to Sydney in 2016 to study Post Graduate Art at UNSW, had a studio in an ‘art precinct’ and was painting full-time. This was the first really intense focus on my art practice. I produced lots of work and experiments while continuing to refining my style; my art is still abstract but there has been a shift toward more conceptual, post minimalism and non-objective processes.

From 1991 to 2016 I lived on the Sunshine Coast, Queensland. The Sunshine Coast it is one of Australia’s most bio-diverse environments, for me it was paradise. During the 2000’s I worked as a Bush Regenerator and developed skills in plant identification and observation. My art, painting and photography continued and was influenced by the amazing things I saw throughout my working day.

My early training as a Printing Machinist gave me experience in colour mixing, ink and paper. Then in 1982, as a mature age student, I completed an Agricultural Science Degree. Unexpectedly, this Science Degree was the trigger for my insatiable need to discover art. Learning to draw gave me ‘a new way of seeing’ – a way to discover with a similar excitement that exploring natural environments has always given me.

The bio from my 2020 exhibition at Gaffa, Gallery (Sydney), link here is another summary of my practice