This exhibition catalogue was published to accompany an exhibition of the same title at Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne in 2012.In a career spanning over sixty years, Ken Whisson has been making thoughtful and uncompromising paintings and drawings which hold a unique place in Australian art. Whisson's reputation has been built around his tenacious dedication to the act of painting and persistent fascination with - and singular responses to - the delicate machinations of both the inner world and the world at large.The exhibition - titled by the artist via Emmanual Kant: `To live as if', and the Paris surrealists: `Let us live as if the world really exists' - traces the evolution of Whisson's major themes and series, from his powerful portrayals of human relations to those which consider relationships with natural, built and cultural environments. Ken Whisson: As If is a major retrospective of the artist's work and is produced in association with the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia.