Salt Light (Teatree Bay)

Luke Deacon is an Australian artist based on the Noosa–Sunshine Coast, whose paintings explore the movement, energy and elemental qualities of the coastal landscape. Daily encounters with the ocean through surfing, painting and meditation shape his practice, grounding his work in a close and ongoing relationship with place.

Inspired by the headlands, tides and rock formations of his local coastline, Luke moves between abstraction and representation. Layered surfaces, gestural lines and sculptural applications of paint capture the rhythms and tensions of the environment. His paintings reach beyond literal depictions, offering a distilled response to the experience of being within the landscape.

Luke completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts at Deakin University in 1999, specialising in Painting under Abstract Expressionist Bruce Vinall. He later received a scholarship to undertake Honours research in Japan, studying Zen painting, ceramics, Japanese calligraphy and art history. These influences continue to inform the immediacy and economy of his mark-making, alongside contemporary painting approaches and working outdoors.

A qualified Art Teacher and Steiner/Waldorf Educator, Luke has taught in schools internationally and currently teaches painting and life drawing alongside his studio practice.