Preserving Our National Heritage.

The loving detail with which he renders the texture of crumbling brick, rusting corrugated iron, rotting wood and overgrown gardens evoke in many the nostalgic images of lost innocence and warm, wonderful memories of a carefree childhood. At the same time they also evoke a certain melancholy, as crumbling surfaces, disturbing skies and shadows in windows remind us that we are ourselves vulnerable, fragile beings.

Just as light is the magic ingredient that animates good photography, Warren's works are masterpieces of atmospheric contre jour lighting, gently bathing and unifying everything it touches. His dark skies often provide a stark, threatening contrast to the warm inner glow of the buildings, on one hand providing a powerful foil and adding a sense of drama to the works, and on the other symbolising the finite nature of these man made things.

Port Albert, established in 1841 as the consequence of a shipwreck, nestles on the stormy fringes of Bass Strait. It is Gippsland's first port and its oldest town, and was for many years the only gateway to the goldfields of Walhalla and Omeo. Port Albert is unique in that it is not only a cultural and historical treasure, but its hotel and general store are the oldest, still functioning businesses in Victoria. Warren's passion for history developed at an early age, and when he left school he secured a job with the Shire of Alberton as its Recreation and Tourism officer. In this position he worked tirelessly to heighten public awareness about the preservation of our unique but rapidly disappearing heritage.

His interest in painting was fuelled by success, and in 1971 he took the formidable step of travelling overseas to study at the City and Guilds Art School in London. In 1978 he took up painting as a full-time career and after other successes won the prestigious Camberwell Art Society's Travel Study Grant in 1980 which enabled him to again study overseas in England, Europe and Greece. On his return to Australia, Warren and his family moved back to Port Albert, in 1986.

During his time at Port Albert, Warren has not only been a prolific painter, but he has been actively working hard to preserve the historical integrity of what is a unique part of our heritage. In 1991 he was chairperson of Historic Port Albert's very successful 150th Anniversary celebrations.

Warren has won more than twenty five major art awards and had very successful exhibitions in Canberra, Adelaide and Melbourne. His work is represented in many Regional collections and the Australian Art Bank, as well as numerous private and corporate collections. His first major prize was at the Sale Festival of Arts in 1967 with a painting of Port Albert. Since then his genuine love of history has seen him travelling extensively and recording buildings in old gold mining areas such. as Maldon, Castlemaine, Bendigo and Walhalla as well as Gulgong and Sofala in New South Wales, and the little treasure houses of Evandale, Oaklands and Ross in Tasmania.

Warren has worked hard to develop his own visual language to record our heritage. His unique methods of glazing technique which accentuate the life and qualities of the building materials used, give his work a transparency, a luminosity and a richness of depth that few artists are capable of achieving. In many ways his technique of underpainting surfaces and then overpainting them with numerous glazes provides the ideal vehicle necessary to produce the timeless but fragile records of our heritage. The buildings glow with an inner life and strength, but at the same time the corrosion and crumbling serve to fulfil the biblical prophesy of "ashes to ashes, dust to dust".