David van Nunen is President of the Australian Watercolour Institute and a founding executive member of the Painters and Sculptors Association of Australia.

In 2020, David van Nunen was awarded the Order of Australia Medal (OAM) for service to the visual arts.

Born in Grafton, New South Wales, van Nunen graduated from the National Art School in 1974 and subsequently obtained a Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of New South Wales College of Fine Arts.

He has been awarded a number of Artist-in-Residencies, notably at the Power Studio, Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris; the Museum and Art Galleries of the Northern Territory; the Art Gallery of New South Wales (in conjunction with that institution’s 1991 Bohemians in the Bush exhibition); Arthur Boyd’s Bundanon Trust property on the Shoalhaven River and the Himalayas Art Museum, Zhujiajiao, China.

Since 1974, van Nunen has held 41 solo exhibitions, including the Australian Embassies in Paris, Washington DC and Mexico City, and participated in over 150 group exhibitions in Australia, England, Scotland, China, Taiwan (China), America, France, Mexico, England, Scotland, Ireland, Korea and Thailand.

In his tenure as President of the Australian Watercolour Institute since 2009, David van Nunen has consolidated strong cultural links with China. A sinophile with a particular interest in Chinese ink painting, van Nunen has made numerous trips to China, including as an international guest artist and judge at the Lushan International Watercolour Festival, Lushan (2010, 2012, 2014, 2016). He was also a guest artist in numerous exhibitions, notably the Shenzhen International Watercolour Biennial; Qingdao International Watercolour Salon; Shanghai Zhujiajiao International Watercolour Biennial; Second Chinese Academy of Art Watercolour Exhibition;Qingdao-Jimo International Watercolour Exhibition 2016, Third Contemporary International Outstanding Watercolour Exhibition and Reinterpretation: International Watercolour Exhibition.

Among van Nunen’s awards are the Sydney Morning Herald Art Prize for Landscape Painting, The Sydney Harbour Art Award, the inaugural 2012 Kogarah Art Prize and the 2019 Gosford Art Prize (second place award). Since 1975, he has been a frequent finalist in numerous art competitions, including the Archibald Portrait Prize and Wynne Landscape Prize (on 15 occasions) at the Art Gallery of New South Wales and the NSW Parliament Plein Air Painting Prize. His many commissions include a 4.5 metre tapestry, Obirri Rock, which hangs as a centrepiece in Darwin International Airport, commissioned by the Federal Airports Corporation.

David van Nunen’s work has been documented in numerous international books, catalogues and art journals,including McCulloch’s Encyclopedia of Australian Art (Melbourne University Press, 2006); Contemporary Australian Painting (McGraw Hill, 1992);Bohemians in the Bush (The Beagle Press, 1991); New Art One: New Directions in Contemporary Australian Art (Craftsman’s House, 1987), Arts International (Vol. XXV, 1982), Arts National, ‘David van Nunen: A New Vision of the Australian Landscape’ (1985).

He is co-author, with Linda van Nunen, of Brushes with History: Masters of Watercolour, published by The Beagle Press in 2015.