Tam Cao
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Primarily a portrait and landscape artist, Tam studied at the Julian Ashton Art School from 2008 – 2012. Tam was awarded the John Olsen Scholarship in 2010.
He was also awarded first prize in the 2016 inaugural ‘Art on the walk’ competition at the Henry Deane Plaza with his work ‘People of the Plaza’. This work involved a series of 12 life portraits completed over a 5 day period.
Tam’s practice is mainly grounded in the mediums of oil, pastel, gouache and watercolour. Tam describes his oil painting work as tonal realism in an attempt to render the world more palatable, not just in taste, but in the way the palette is simplified to a few colours, ie. the limited palette. "Not only is a limited palette the best way I know how to paint, it’s the best way I know how to teach. It provides a foundation into painting that directs one to focus on tone and temperature plus allowing for an artist to expand their range in future."