Jan Murphy Gallery is pleased to present Hidden mothers and ghost flowers by Amber Wallis, her first exhibition with the gallery. Working at a large scale onto both primed and raw linen, layering colour loosely and quickly, the paintings take on an intentionally diffuse and mysterious quality.
“My painting practice continues to be an ode to the staining and the materiality of feminism and an extension of my desire to paint with technical limitations, where painting becomes an exercise in restraint and quiet consideration. They necessitate a delicate hand. I try to not overwork or labour the paintings, what remains is a very conscious intention to leave images in their magical first conceptions. I want my work to hold the lightness and strength of femininity.” – Amber Wallis, 2023
Wallis holds a Bachelor of Visual Arts from the Canberra School of Art and a Master of Visual Arts from the Victorian College of the Arts. In 2022, she was awarded the inaugural Wollumbin Art Award at Tweed Regional Gallery and has previously been a finalist in several art prizes including the Evelyn Chapman Art Award (2022), Arthur Guy Memorial Painting Prize (2019), Sunshine Coast Art Prize (2019, 2018) and Mosman Art Prize (2018).
Image: Amber Wallis, Yellow and blue interior with ghost flowers, 2023, oil on linen, 180.0 x 160.0 cm. Image courtesy of Jan Murphy Gallery and Amber Wallis
