Kathryn Ryan
Kathryn Ryan's practice invites us on a personal journey to connect with nature and within. Moody, atmospheric oil paintings of South West Victoria reveal her very deep intimacy with place. They convey a level of depth and luminosity achieved by patiently developing meticulous layers of glazing over many months.
Her works delve into those states of the 'in between', exploring co-existing opposites, revealing what is tangible and intangible by sensitively navigating what to reveal and conceal.
In her most recent works, the intricate and detailed beauty of micro views from the natural world are explored in depth with layered, tonal and observational charcoal works. These works allude to the extraordinary beauty in nature, the intimate details, and invite us to look within and at our surroundings, where we may find moments of awareness of both our place in the world, our connections to nature and a spiritual or emotionally calm place.
In both her charcoals and oil paintings, we see the juxtapositions of strength and fragility, the intimate and the distant, the fleeting and the solid, played out through her treatment of shadow and light, which is simultaneously bold and subtle, precise and ambiguous.
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Exhibition history (selected)
solo
2023 Here & Now, Hamilton Gallery, Hamilton
2022 Small Works, Mario's, Melbourne
Rapture, The F Project, Warrnambool
2020 Landscapes of Time & Memory, Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne
2019 The Way Home, Nanda Hobbs, Sydney
2018 South West Coast, Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne
2017 Shifting Light, Olsen Gallery, Sydney
2016 New Works, Olsen Irwin, Sydney
New Works, Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne
2015 New Works, Olsen Irwin, Sydney
A Quiet Place, Warrnambool Art Gallery, Warrnambool
2013 Shadow & Light, Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne
2012 New Paintings, Tim Olsen Gallery, Sydney
2011 Winter Landscapes, Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne
2010 New Paintings, Tim Olsen Gallery, Sydney
2009 New Paintings, Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne
2008 Recent Paintings, Tim Olsen Gallery, Sydney
2007 The Pines, Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne
2005 The South West, Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne
2003 Panmure Paddocks, Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne
2001 A Quiet Place, Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne
1999 Works on Paper, The Continental, Melbourne
1996 Paintings, Dianne Tanzer Gallery, Melbourne
group
2023 Arbor, Tacit Art, Melbourne
2022 A Sense of Place, RACV Club, Melbourne (w/ Louise Forthun)
Muswellbrook Art Prize, Sydney
Small Works, The F Project, Warrnambool
Paul Guest Drawing Prize, Bendigo Art Gallery
Western District Views, Lauriston Press, Penshurst
Canopy, Warrnambool Art Gallery, Warrnambool
2021 9"x5", Nanda Hobbs, Sydney
The Warrnibald Portrait Prize, Warrnambool Art Gallery, Warrnambool
Ravenswood Australian Women's Art Prize, Sydney
2020 Views from the West, The F Project, Warrnambool (w/ Harley Manifold)
2019 30"x30", Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne
Deakin Landscapes, Deakin Downtown Gallery, Melbourne
The Kings School Art Prize, Sydney (Boys' Choice Award)
Mail Art Project, Toten, Norway
Lyn McCrea Memorial Drawing Prize, Noosa Regional Gallery
A Journey into Dark Essentiality, Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne
Women Artists, Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne
Tattersall’s Club Art Prize for Landscape, Brisbane
2018 Summer Show, Nanda Hobbs, Sydney
2x2, Olsen Gallery, Sydney
John Leslie Art Prize for Landscape, East Gippsland Gallery
M Collection 10 years Australian Art Collection, Menzies, Melbourne
Lyn McCrea Memorial Drawing Prize ,Noosa Regional Gallery
2017 Tattersall’s Club Art Prize for Landscape, Brisbane
The Kings School Art Prize, Sydney
2016 Paul Guest Drawing Prize, Bendigo Art Gallery
2015 Mail Art Project, Oppland Kunstsenter, Lillehammer, Norway
Biblio Art Prize, Blarney Books & Art, Port Fairy
2014 25th Anniversary Show, Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne
No White Walls, Fairmont Bab Al Bahr, Abu Dhabi
Art Souk, Etihad Modern Gallery, Abu Dhabi
Australia Unlimited MENA, Conrad Hotel, Dubai
2013 No White Walls, The Fairmont, Abu Dhabi
Australian Art Month, Art Hub, Abu Dhabi
Tattersall’s Club Art Prize for Landscape, Brisbane
2012 Artist's Books, The Fairmont, Abu Dhabi
Geelong Contemporary Art Prize, Geelong Gallery
John Leslie Art Prize for Landscape, East Gippsland Gallery