Fairweather Man

When Ian Fairweather died in 1974, Australia not only lost an extraordinary artist but one of its greatest eccentrics. The reclusive, driven man left behind a wonderful legacy a body of extraordinary paintings that today command huge prices and hand on the walls of galleries around the world. This is the story of his life and travels, but also a journey deep into the heart an soul of the man and his work. It is a gripping yarn about one mans fight against convention and the inner-most demons that drove him to totally devote his life to paining. At the age of 60, Fairweather had an experience that became a turning point in his painting. He built himself a flimsy raft and set sail from Darwin on a foolhardy, death-defying journey across the Timor Sea. For sixteen days he drifted in a semi-conscious and hallucinogenic state. It is said that before that journey he was an extremely talented artist, but afterwards he became and extraordinary one. For the last 20 years of his life Ian Fairweather made himself a home on an island off the coast of Queensland. There he lived a hermit-like existence in a primitive grass hut devoid of any creature comforts. It was there that he created his greatest work, obsessively turning his life story into a series of extraordinary paintings. Fairweathers story and his beautiful paintings are brought to life through a combination of Fairweathers own words, taken from letters and diaries, interviews with family, friends, colleagues and art historians, impressionistic recreations, archival footage, a beautifully composed score and voice-over narration. An unusual, entertaining and highly visual portrait of one of Australias greatest painters.