David Dridan (b. 1932), artist, studied at the South Australian School of Art and later at East Sydney Technical College. There, he met Russell Drysdale, who became a friend and a significant influence on his work. Awarded a grant from the British Council in 1961, he travelled to the UK for further study at the London Polytechnic and to undertake training in gallery administration at the Victoria & Albert Museum. He was keeper of paintings at the Art Gallery of South Australia from 1962 to 1964, during which period he also became a teacher at St Peter’s College, Adelaide. From the late 1960s he focused increasingly on his painting, becoming known for his views of South Australian landscapes. In the early 1970s, he served as a member of the Commonwealth Art Advisory Board, formed to advise the government on official portrait commissions and the development of the national collection. Also a viticulturist, a collector, and co-founder of the Fleurieu Art Prize, Dridan established his own gallery at McLaren Vale in the 1990s, and was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia in 2007 for his services to the arts, tourism and the wine industry in the region. In retirement, he moved into a stone villa and studio in Strathalbyn, where he still paints, on occasion in the company of his friends and fellow-octogenarians John Olsen and Barry Humphries. Dridan has held numerous solo exhibitions and examples of his work are held in various public collections, including those of the National Gallery of Australia and the Art Gallery of South Australia.
Alluding to Dridan’s work as an artist and winegrower and his place in the McLaren Vale community, the portrait shows him standing behind a table upon which a palette and paintbrushes sit alongside bottles and wineglasses. In the background is a painting by the Anglo-Welsh artist Frank Brangwyn (1867-1956). The portrait of Dridan was a finalist in the Archibald Prize in 1993 and hung for some time in the Salopian Inn, a long-established McLaren Vale restaurant.
