 John Dahlsen is based in Byron Bay Australia. He studied in Melbourne at the Victorian College of the Arts and at the Melbourne College of Advanced Education.
He won Australia’s oldest art award, the prestigious Wynne Prize, at the Art Gallery of NSW in 2000 and was again a finalist in 2003 and 2004. In 2006 he was a finalist in the Sulman Award at the Art Gallery of NSW. He has won other significant acquisitive and non-acquisitive art awards, including a mixed media/new media award at the 2003 Florence Biennial. He was also awarded the Geraldton Art Prize.
John has lectured at various universities and secondary schools from 1980 – 2007. He has been an invited speaker at architectural and environmental symposiums in Australia and internationally, including at the Australian Embassy in Washington DC, which coincided with an exhibition of his work there in 1999.
For 25 years he has had regular solo and group exhibitions in Australia, in both commercial and regional galleries and internationally, in USA and Europe, where he is also represented in major public and private collections. Galleries represent him in Australia, as well as in New York, Milan, Belgium and Amsterdam.
In August 2004, Dahlsen represented Australia at the Athens Olympics of Visual Arts and in October 2004, he became the first Australian artist, (he joins such renowned artists as Andy Warhol, Keith Haring, Francesco Clemente and Damien Hirst) to be commissioned by global vodka producer Absolut, to create a major public artwork “Absolut Dahlsen”, which was unveiled at Sculpture by the Sea, 2004. (This work is now located outside the Gold Coast City Art Gallery).
John’s art has been written about in major Australian and international newspapers. His work has been featured in many magazines and in international art publications. Television includes coverage on all Australian channels and many international programmes. He currently has a major presentation and interview on ABC online.
 John was successfully commissioned to create the public artwork titled “The Guardian” situated at the gateway to Story Bridge at Kangaroo Point by The Brisbane City Council, in 2003.
He had a major solo exhibition of his work at the Tweed Regional Art Gallery in February 2005 and his sculpture “Pink Shard” made from fused toughened glass panels with a plastic interlayer bearing image won him another award, at the 2005 Thursday Plantation East Coast Sculpture Show. During June 2006, he had a solo exhibition at parliament house in Sydney.
Later in 2005, he curated as well as participated in an exhibition at the Samuel Dorsky Museum, in New York State in the USA; he also took up an artist in residence position in Jefferson City Missouri, USA in September 2005, where he made a public artwork for their sculpture walk.
John has also been approached, by a Museum director in the USA, to have a solo exhibition of his work in a major USA museum in Minnesota in 2008 and will be involved in an environmental art exhibition in Barcelona also during 2008.
In December 2006, John was awarded the runner up prize in Australia’s newest, and now the richest art award, The Signature of Sydney Art Prize.
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