The beloved animals at Lucy Culliton’s farm in regional NSW feature in her first solo exhibition held at Jan Murphy Gallery. Bibbenluke Menagerie is a collection of portrait paintings of these special friends, many of whom have been adopted and rescued.
Inspired by life in the country, Culliton is an artist imbued with the collector’s impulse to amass and record, a hunter who finds her treasures in the theatre of the everyday. A realist by temperament, Culliton extracts the objective truth from her chosen forms with accuracy and precision, but never at the cost of painterly expression. Culliton’s paintings are richly textured celebrations redolent with luscious colour, intricate pattern and the powerful rhythms of repetition.
An enthusiastic portraitist, she has welcomed an expanding coterie of domestic and farm animals to her canvas and these are lovingly portrayed in her upcoming exhibition.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
A commended Australian artist, Culliton is a regular finalist in the Archibald, Wynne and Sulman Prizes and has won numerous prizes, including the 2006 Portia Geach Memorial Award. Her work is represented in the collections of the National Gallery of Australia, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Macquarie Bank and Parliament House, Canberra.
Image: Lucy Culliton Lacey on Caroline’s carpet 2017 oil on canvas 120.0 x 95.0 cm