The complete picture is being revealed one delectable piece at a time: two giant murals are crafted day by day outside Caloundra Hospital, depicting the wilds of Australia – rich earth, luscious plant life, flowing water and animals caught in a moment. It is life rendered in full colour, abundant and alive.
That these artworks sit as sentinels outside a place where people leave this life – the Dove House specialist palliative care unit – is not lost on the creator, acclaimed artist Josh Wright.
“I see it as a privilege to be able to create this, to give my art and leave my vision here,” he says. “A lot of the families in there are dealing with a lot of hardship and I am in a position to be able to make something they will see on their way in and out that will give them some joy, some hope.”
The passion for charity partnerships was incubated from childhood. At age 10, Josh suffered a sudden and catastrophic event – a rupture in his cerebellum caused by a rare brain arteriovenous malformation that left him paralysed down his left side. Months in hospital undergoing surgeries and rehabilitation followed, with the necessary separation from family and life as he knew it delivering more than just a regaining of his health and life.
“At the time, as a child, I was just kind of a passenger to it all. They were just trying to keep me sustained and keep me alive,” he says. “But in that hospital setting, I saw how impactful art was on the walls and in the activities. I’m just grateful to be alive because, if it were back in the ’60s or the ’70s, I would have certainly died.”
No one could ever accuse Josh of taking on easy work or choosing life’s gentler pathways. He was born of two cultures and developed by many more: he is American-Australian by parentage, and his art was grown and delivered in the United States, Italy, Mexico and now on the Sunshine Coast. An only child, he began life with culture all around. His mother was an artist, grandmother a painter, father a songwriter. His stepfather was best friends with world-famous art dealer Tim Blum and his world was populated by renowned creatives.
Josh’s artistic journey started formally when he began working as a studio assistant to figurative bronze sculptor Richard MacDonald in California.
“Richard taught me the discipline of being an artist, the respect in a studio setting,” Josh says. “I think a lot of people think that being an artist is kind of this nonchalant way of living where you are kind of creative but also jobless and directionless. Working with Richard, I realised there’s so much more discipline behind being an artist and it is about that and dedication to your art. He encouraged me to get a formal education.”
Acceptance into the prestigious Florence Academy of Art in Italy led to five years of study, where Josh immersed himself in the classical techniques that once shaped the Old Masters, including Titian, Caravaggio, Velázquez and Van Dyke.
Josh says he was unapologetically addicted to learning, to the culture and the rhythm that came with being a student at the Florence Academy of Art, arriving first and being the last to leave in the highly competitive, creative environment during the COVID years.
“They say a painting’s never finished – it is abandoned,” he says. “So I try and push it as far as it can go. I paint on oil on linen because it lasts 500 years and it can even be restored to last longer. Using oil on linen is a patience game and I like the discipline of that.”
After graduating in 2022, Josh had stints in Los Angeles and San Diego, working in sculpture at a bronze foundry and creating graphic novels. He then ventured to Loreto, Mexico, where his stepfather has a home. In Mexico, he experienced real artistic freedom, feeling embraced by a community of artisans and unrestrained by financial pressures.
“I was making great money at the time, so I felt like I needed to give back, and I had an exhibition and I gave a portion of the profits to a kids’ foster home there – Casa Hogar – that was in great need of renovations,” he says.
“It was such a thrill to see the difference that made and that is what got me into doing community projects, because I recognise that the art can kick some serious promotional and financial goals.”
The Loreto experience lit a fire in Josh and he has since used his art to raise funds for, among others, the burns unit at the Sydney Children’s Hospital and Anglicare’s work with at-risk youth in Brisbane. At the SunnyKids Mayoral Ball on the Sunshine Coast in October, Josh will complete an artwork live on stage, demonstrating creativity in action and drawing attention to a cause that does immeasurable good.
“It is the oxygen to my blood,” he says. “I mean, I could live as an artist without it, but to be able to get into a community and create positivity and awareness through art is so satisfying. I do a lot of art projects at hospitals or at events doing live paintings.
“The important thing is it is not just me: there are other donors and people involved, and I call it community enhancement.”
Love brought Josh to the Sunshine Coast via Sydney about 18 months ago. As well as making his own art, he currently delivers lessons in the foundations of drawing using the classical methodologies he knows so profoundly. Josh has unbridled pride in taking his place in passing on the candle of knowledge.
“Things are really booming for me at the moment,” he says. “I’m getting more work than I even know what to do with. I am having to say no sometimes and I have a waiting list for some of my workshops.”
Josh says he feels empowered by striking life’s purple patch, embracing the maturity he has found in his art.
“Someone once told me that a good artist learns the foundations and then carries them on, but a great artist learns the basics and then forgets them.
“All the artists that were really influential – true greats such as Picasso and Renoir and the Impressionists – they all had the foundations, the roots of art, in their classical technique and then they found a way to bend them and create something new. I try to live on the edge like that.”
Josh says classical art has the ability to offer answers to life’s big questions.
“Those classical paintings are very layered and there is more than what you see in front of you at first – there’re these little nuances and stories underneath the painting,” he says.
“I think that perhaps forever, paintings have inspired hope and belonging in people, because they show the struggle, the beauty of times past and that makes people feel less alone.
“Sometimes I think about my art in terms of how is it going to look when I’m dead, when I’m gone. One of the reasons I got into art is because it’s a chance to become immortal, to be alive forever. I think we all want that. We want part of us to live on.”
sunnykids.org.au/event/sunnykids-annual-mayoral-ball-2026/
joshwrightart.com