1. Tiarna Herczeg
We recently came across Tiarna Herczeg and her incredible work, following a beautiful feature article in The Design Files written by Christina Karras.
Tiarna Herczeg is a proud Kuku Yalanji and Hungarian woman living on Gadigal lands.
In their interview with Karras, Herczeg was quoted saying, ‘When I paint, I feel something else takes hold of me and I am allowing ancestral knowledge to flow through onto the material…Somehow my paintings always resemble maps from an aerial view. I don’t understand what my subject matter is until I finish painting.’
Herczeg uses her practice as a ritual for connecting to Country. Her approach to painting also comes from a sense of urgency regarding her spiritual and cultural identity. As Herczeg allows herself to disconnect from the idea of painting and instead taps into her spirituality, she loses the fear of painting an artwork and without preference paints as an action. This fearlessness shows in loose, large and gestural brush strokes, vibrant colours and organic compositions highlighting the familiarity, richness and naturalness of Country.
Follow them here
See them : currently exhibiting NGADIKU a solo show on now at Koskela
2. Emily Ebbs
Emily Ebbs’ is the first artist we sourced work for AntiCommitment’s art offering - allowing art to be more accessible to young people through subscription.
Emily lives and works in Sydney, on Gadigal land.
Their process based practice evokes the emotional residue of childhood trauma. She focuses on the idea of the stain. They show signs of something marked or discoloured that is difficult to remove where she finds it is closely linked to the idea of trauma.
She does this by staining canvas or drop sheet, tearing up unfinished or unwanted works, collaging fabrics and making impulsive marks.
Her work is a way of reflecting on her past experiences in a safe place and where art making can aid in recovering from trauma.
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3. Lucinda Jones
Lucinda Jones is a painter working from her home studio on Guringai country. They are self taught, and influenced by their background in fashion and food. Jones paints beautiful, block colour female figures on paper, canvas and linen.
They are inspired by both feminine strength and vulnerability and their distinctive use of colour explores the duality of softness and strength.
Jones was quoted stating, “Through the notion of positive and negative space, it is my hope that the viewer can use their imagination to fill in the spaces that are left. What I decide to leave out, is just as important as what is present on the page.”
Follow them here
See them : Current Solo exhibition ‘out of body’ at Hake House
4. Marley Alvarez
Marley Alvarez came to our attention via their recent Artist in Residency and showcase at Darlinghurst art gallery Rainbow Studios, run by the beautiful Jade Gillett.
Alvarez is a Sydney born, Byron Bay based mixed media artist. Their work fuses digital imagery, text, line drawing and painting to create what Mon Barton described as an “ethereal type world full of colour, shape and psychological texture”.
Alvarez was drawn to painting and creating from an early age and her abstract practice of appropriation and repurposing household items was informed by years of travel and exploration.
Her works have been described as “visual mini-memoirs” that take the viewer back to their inner child.
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See them : State Of The Art. Rainbow Studios
5. Rhoda Tjitayi
We came across the work of Rhoda Tjitya via the APY Gallery in Darlinghurst, an artist owned gallery that showcases work from the APY lands.
Tjitayi was born in Pukatja community (sometimes still referred to by its mission-era name of Ernabella) on the APY Lands and lives and works in Adelaide.
Tjitayi gathers the monumental energies of millennial histories and presences in ancestral territory, translating the precious narratives onto canvas.
Rhoda’s exquisite works depict Piltati Tjukurpa, an important cultural story learnt from her grandmother. Rhoda remembers visiting her grandmother and sitting with her while she painted. When Rhoda paints she says “I am remembering the story she passed on. I am painting this to pass it on to my children. I have learnt this story from my grandmother she put the story in my heart and it’s going out to my grandchildren. When she was painting, she would tell a story and sing.” Rhoda learnt how to dance and sing from her grandmother and is now teaching her daughter and her family. Rhoda says “I am happy to be painting my grandmother’s story.”
Find out more here
See them: exhibitions at APY Gallery and most recently has been featured in the 2022 Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art: Free/State at the Art Gallery of South Australia and 2022 Wynne Prize at the Art Gallery of New South Wales.
6. Emma Currie
Emma Currie is a painter and illustrator living and working in Melbourne, Australia.
Currie’s work is known for its organic shapes and geometric colour blocking. Their work often depicts the female form, with unique compositions and abstraction. Currie’s works are contemporary but in areas that feel reminiscent of classical paintings of the female nude.
Currie said in an interview with Lucy Feagins from The Design Files, “I’ve been in a pretty conflicted headspace while creating these pieces to be honest. As a woman, it’s important to me to not perpetuate the passive consumption of the female body. But it’s also what I love to do, paint the body….In making these paintings and acknowledging the role of those classical ideals of feminine beauty, I’ve been able to engage in a dialogue with tradition, making allowances for the contradictions and conflicts I feel as a women working within the conventions of an aspect of art history that is deeply problematic. Though not necessarily attempting to subvert the male gaze through any new form of representation, I am rather co opting this classical language in order to gain a sense of agency over it.”
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See them : Group Show ‘Pleasure Garden’ at Gallery Jones Art and Frame House
