Clare Thackway
Clare Thackway was born on Ngunnawal country, Canberra, and currently lives and works in Paris.
Known for her forthright and intimate portraits and figurative paintings, the body in Clare Thackway’s paintings becomes a semaphore through which she contemplates moments of human experience, from the emotional to the societal. Informed by ideas in psychology, feminism and the history of painting, she considers how internal and collective experiences affect the ways in which we hold ourselves.The artist works with the fluid associations of cloth and pattern, illuminating the inner threads of our implicit memories and the deep and intricate connectivity between people. Her decisive and scratched back painted marks drag light off the surface of the body, exposing luminous translucent skin. This prudent use of paint gives pulsing life to flesh, revealing the layers that exist subtly underneath.
Clare holds a Bachelor of Visual Arts (Painting) from the Australian National University, with an exchange to Glasgow School of Art, and graduated from the National Art School Sydney with Honours in Fine Art.
Thackway has been a finalist in several Australian art awards including the Archibald Prize, Salon des Refusés, Portia Geach Memorial Award, Doug Moran National Portrait Prize, Sir John Sulman Prize, Hufford Hardwood Portrait Prize, Fisher Ghost Art Award, Blake Art Prize, ID Digital Portrait Award, Metro 5 Art Award, Helen Lempriere Travelling Scholarship and was the winner of the Marten Bequest Travelling Scholarship.
She has held artist residencies at the Cranleigh School, Canberra, Good Shephard Lutheran College, Darwin, Splendid Arts Lab, Lismore and Splendid Mentorship at both Fremantle Arts Centre and iVEC University of Western Australia Perth, New England Regional Art Museum, Armidale, and Wik Media, Aurukun.
Since 2007, she has exhibited in commercial and museum exhibitions and her work is held in private collections in Australia, the UK, Germany, and France.
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CLARE THACKWAY FINALIST IN ARCHIBALD PRIZE
Clare Thackway has been selected as a finalist in the 2023 Archibald Portrait Prize with her work Lottie (2022).
When asked about her inspiration behind the portrait of Lottie Consalvo, Thackway stated "I have known Lottie for many years, and although we haven’t spent much time together there is a shared respect for each other as artists. Lottie inspires me to be brighter and to be braver. I often look to Lottie, as we are both female artists of the same generation, both married to painters and both mothering children of similar ages. But there is a greater connection between us. Through different forms we both strive to make work that reaches to the essence of the inner human experience."
The Archibald, Wynne and Sulman Prizes 2023 exhibition is open from Saturday 6 May at The Art Gallery of New South Wales.
Clare Thackway recently exhibited with us, presenting nineteen paintings in her solo show Patterns Changing. Don't hesitate to contact the gallery to request a catalogue of available work.
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