Robert Todonai was born on April 11th, 1963, at Port Augusta, South Australia. He began his art training at the Science-Art Research Centre at Berri, in South Australia’s Riverland, in 1981, where he studied oil painting under Robert Pope. At the same time he embarked on a degree in Applied Mathematics, taken externally through the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. After two years of work, Todonai began to achieve some financial success with his art, and withdrew from mathematics to concentrate fully upon a career as a painter.

In 1990, after successful exhibitions in Hollywood and Beverly Hills, USA, Todonai moved to the beautiful Tweed Valley of Northern New South Wales, where, jointly with colleagues, Robert Pope and Irene Brown, he built an enormous stone mansion, now known as the Castle on the Hill. The Castle now functions as an award winning bed and breakfast, and has been the subject of numerous television, newspaper and magazine features. He works from his studio in the Castle.

Robert Todonai is a versatile artist. He works predominantly in oils and acrylics on stretched canvas, belgian linen and primed hardboard. His faourite subjects include landscapes, figurative and historical themes. Although he is best known as a painter of the Australian landscape, he regularly accepts commissions covering a variety of subjects, from classic racing cars to portraits. He has approprately been described as a ‘narrative impressionist’ as his romantic images evoke moods and atmosphere as well as telling a story. Each of Robert Todonai’s paintings is a celebration of light, life and colour.

CAREER ACHIEVEMENTS

• Artist to the Town of Loxton, SA, 1988…
• Awarded title, Earl of Lock, by Prince Leonard of the Hutt River Province, W.A.
• Listed in Artists and Galleries of Australia by Max Germaine
• Listed in A Buyer’s Guide to Australian Art by Graham Ryles
• ‘Decree of Artistic Excellence’ awarded by the Hollywood Thalian Society
• Treasurer of the Science-Art Research Centre of Australia Inc (Uki, NSW)
• Listed in Marquis Who’s Who in the World 1996…
• Listed in 2000 Outstanding Artists and Designers of the 20th Century, International Biographical Centre Publication, Cambridge, UK
• Paintings used as prizes on the television gameshows, Sale of the Century and Wheel of Fortune
• Official Artist to the Festival of Speed on Tweed, Murwillumbah
• Work reproduced on collector’s plates produced by The Bradford Exchange

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS

• Artist-in Residence, Tweed River Regional Art Gallery, ‘Siteworks’ residency and exhibition, 2001
• Grosvenor Place Foyer, Central Sydney, 1999
• Stanthorpe Regional Art Gallery, 1998
• Arica Gallery, Dalkeith, WA, 1997
• Feature Artist, Australian Outback Exhibition, Western Galleries,Toowoomba, Qld, 1996
• Feature Artist at the Waltzing Matilda Centenary Exhibition, Winton, Qld, 1995
• Griffith Fine Art Gallery, Murwillumbah, NSW, 1995,1996
• Queensland Art Brokering Service’s touring exhibitions; Australian Art Masters Past, Present and Future, 1996…
• Studio Star Gallery Darwin, 1987, 1991, 1993
• Tweed River Regional Art Gallery, ‘Professional Artists of the Tweed’, 1992
• DeVorzon Gallery, Pacific Design Centre, Hollywood, USA, 1989
• Dyansen Galleries, Rodeo Drive, Beverly Hills, USA, 1989                                 
• Elder Fine Art Galleries, Adelaide, SA, 1988–1993
• State Education Centre, Adelaide, SA,1984