Biography
‘Blake’s words highlight for me the poetic structural strategies of Courtenay’s paintings: the use of symbolism and metaphor, the judicious intermingling of fantasy and reality, the ability to evoke a certain slippery, intangible, yet powerful emotional response. The first stanza of Auguries of Innocence, “To see a world in a grain of sand and a heaven in a wild flower, hold infinity in the palm of your hand and eternity in an hour,” brings to light some of Courtenay’s underlying themes.
In Courtenay’s paintings, the world seems to have been reduced, in more ways than one. Colour has been drained away until all that remains is almost monochromatic: subtle shades of silver, grey, white, black and lavender. And in her imagery, whole planets appear to have been compressed, not in to grains of sand or wild flowers, but in to floating tangles of twigs, fish-eye landscapes studded with power pylons, or yawning voids full of glittering stars. Courtenay’s worlds are stripped back and miniaturised. Just as Blake describes, they read like microcosms of the larger macrocosm reflecting a Platonic notion, popular in European philosophy of the Middle Ages, which tried to theorise the place of mankind in the universe and acknowledged the interconnectedness of all things.’
Her paintings are ephemeral, volatile and mercurial meditations on the repercussions of our ongoing struggle for dominance with the natural world.
Tracey Clement, 2010.
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http://www.sixtoeight.net/
Download Gabrielle Courtenay's CV
Training + experience
1986
Post Graduate Diploma of Professional Studies City Art Institute
1976
Graduate of Education in Art Sydney Teachers College
1974
Bachelor of Science in Architecture University Of New South Wales
Selected exhibitions
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2011
Colliding Worlds The Depot Gallery II, Sydney
2009
Chasing Tumbleweed ANITA TRAVERSO GALLERY, Melbourne
2008
Edge Charles Hewitt Gallery, Sydney
2007
Edge ANITA TRAVERSO GALLERY, Melbourne
2006
Penumbra Mary Place Gallery, Paddington Sydney
White Lines Bathurst Regional Art Gallery
2005
White Lines Mary Place Gallery, Paddington Sydney
White Lines SPAN Galleries, Melbourne
2003
New Painting SPAN Galleries, Melbourne
2002
Allure Bark Modern Art, Hong Kong
Allure The Depot Gallery, Waterloo Sydney
2000
Shift Mary Place Gallery, Paddington Sydney
1998
Foil Mary Place Gallery, Paddington Sydney
1994
D’Still ROM Gallery, Darlinghurst Sydney
1985
Courtenay Hogarth Gallery, Sydney
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2009
Mount Eyre Vineyards Art Prize 2009, Rex Livingston Art Dealer, Surry Hills
Prometheus Visual Arts Award, All Saints Anglican School, Merimac
Drawcard 2009, National Art School, Sydney
Shadow, ANITA TRAVERSO GALLERY Melbourne
2008
57th Blake Prize, National Art School Gallery
Mosman Prize 08, Mosman Art Gallery
Corangamarah Art Prize, Otway Estate,
Barongarook Victoria
Sunshine Coast Art Prize ’08,
Caloundra Regional Art Gallery
35th Alice Art Prize 2008, Araluen Centre, Alice Springs
Drawcard 2008, National Art School, Sydney
2007
Crossroads Toyota Community Spirit Gallery
Artworks from the Collection Bathurst Regional Art Gallery
Autumn Show Charles Hewitt Gallery, Sydney
an intimate look Upstairs Gallery, Bundanon Homestead
Into Abstract Hawkesbury Regional Gallery, Windsor
Journey 3 ANITA TRAVERSO GALLERY
The Only Constant ANITA TRAVERSO GALLERY Melbourne
2006
Conrad Jupiter’s Art Prize Gold Coast, Queensland
Mosman Art Prize Mosman Art Gallery
Waverley Art Prize Waverley Art Centre, Bondi
2005
City of Whyalla Art Prize Whyalla, South Australia
Art on the Rocks Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority
2004
Willoughby Art Prize Willoughby Civic Center, Sydney
Waverley Art Prize Bondi Beach Primary School, Sydney
Cromwell’s Touring Art Prize Sydney, Melbourne, London, Washington
2003
Group Show Mary Place Gallery, Sydney
Conrad Jupiter’s Art Prize, Queensland
Willoughby Art Prize Willoughby Civic Center, Sydney
SCEGGS Art Show SCEGGS Festival on Forbes
2002
Villa Aba Six Artists Villa Aba, Kew, Melbourne
2001
SCEGGS Art Show SCEGGS, Darlinghurst , Sydney
2000
Willoughby Art Prize Willoughby Civic Center, Sydney
Gallery 19 Final Show Gallery 19 Haymarket, Sydney
Sky Gardens Art Prize Skygardens, Sydney
Woollahra Art Prize Woollahra Primary School, Sydney
1999
Newspace Art Auction Newspace, SCA,
Willoughby City Art Prize Willoughby Civic Center, Sydney
The Rocks Art Prize ASN Gallery, Sydney
Woollahra Art Prize Woollahra Primary School, Sydney
The Post Card Show Linden Gallery, Melbourne
1998
The Christmas Show Gallery 19 Haymarket, Sydney
Hello Gallery 19 Haymarket, Sydney
School Art Prize The Hutchins School, Tasmania
1996
Blake Art Prize Exhibition Center, Sydney
1995
Sculpture ’85, Melbourne
Awards + grants
2011
Hill End Artist in
Residence Program, Haeflinger's Cottage
Shortlisted Semi-Finalist, Charlatan Ink Art Prize, USA
2010
Red Gate Residency, Beijing
2008
‘6 x 6’ Artist’s Connecting Community Project
– Beyond Empathy, Moree, NSW
2006
Iliri Artist Scholar Program Residency
Ochre House, Fowlers Gap
2005
Bundanon Trust Artist in Residence Program
Bundanon, Shoalhaven
2004
Hill End Artist in Residence Program
Haeflingers Cottage
1985
Shell Australia Acquisition Art Price, Melbourne
Collections
Artbank, Bathurst Regional Art Gallery Collection
Bundanon Trust, Hawkesbury Regional Gallery Collection
New Norcia Gallery Collection, WA
Private Collections Australia & Hong Kong
Price range
$900 - $8,000
ATG Exhibitions
Navigating Dark Waters ([ gallery 1 ] NOW SHOWING until 21 December 2013)
Colliding Worlds (
Gallery 1 until 19 November 2011
** Finalist in the 2011 Charlatan Ink Prize, New York
)
Edge (5 - 22 December 2007)
Chasing Tumbleweed (5 - 29 August 2009)