About

Foto: Jens Liebchen
© Messe-Berlin

Since the late 1970s David Pestorius has been active in alternative and experimental culture in his hometown of Brisbane, Australia. Initially he was an active participant in the local punk and new wave scene (until 1983), which, like those in many other cities around the world, witnessed important crossovers between rock ‘n’ roll and art. The remarkable achievement and influence of groups such as The Saints and The Go-Betweens is a clear testament to the ambition and seriousness that so marked this scene, and which, critically, led to an irrevocable blurring of the ‘high’ and ‘low’ ends of the cultural divide.

Between 1980—82, while studying Law at what was then the Queensland Institute of Technology, Pestorius hosted a regular weekly new-release program on Radio 4ZZZ-FM in Brisbane. In the early Eighties he was also a close collaborator of the publishing impresario Graham Aisthorpe (1961–1988), working with him on various magazines (including Unit, Planet, Semper, Backstage, Roadrunner and Time Off), which reported on the especially dynamic independent music scene in Brisbane at this time.

In late 1984 Pestorius was admitted to the Queensland Bar, initially working as a Judge’s Associate in the Supreme Court of Queensland, then as a barrister in private practice. In the second half of the 1980s he became increasingly involved with contemporary artists, taking the formative experience of punk and allowing it to shape his interests and activities in the world of art. He began to collect and commission work and to organise exhibitions and events, all the while adhering to the principles laid down by punk, which he saw paralleled, in many ways, by the work of the Minimal and Conceptual artists of the 1960s and 1970s, and the Constructivists in the 1920s.

Pestorius continued working in the law until 1998, although since 1990 the vast majority of his time has been consumed with contemporary cultural activities: working closely with artists, architects, writers and musicians on projects which often interconnect and involve a situational reorientation of contexts and forms. Frequently taking place in the context of art, but also often not, the idea of the exhibition and the concert, their settings and limits, are consistently in flux and open to question.

In 1993 Pestorius commenced to represent artists and work as a gallerist, and he has regularly participated in major international art fairs, including Art Chicago, Art Basel and Art Forum Berlin. While not altogether subscribing to the machinations and conventions of the art market, he has nevertheless managed to annually host an average of 6 gallery exhibitions, which since 1999 have been held at the Pestorius Sweeney House.

Pestorius holds the degrees Bachelor of Laws (1984) and Master of Arts (2004), both from the Queensland University of Technology. The subject of his Master's thesis was "High Achievement or Creative Byway: The Erratic Reception of Ralph Balson's 'Matter' Paintings."