Laura Matthews

Overview

Laura Matthews received her formal education at the prestigious Slade School of Fine Art, UK- one of the most highly regarded fine art schools globally. She currently lives and works in Sydney. Leaving behind her memories of a paler climate, an increasingly acute sense of colour and light has generated large and acclaimed bodies of work which have focussed on the Australian landscape and the sublime.

Matthews work also references ancient mythologies and contemporary stories where the human figure is painted in multidimensional motion., generating an other-worldly feel. Her works become a metaphor for our contemporary existence, often referencing the constant communication that technology affords us, serving to connect us to each other, yet ironically eroding much of what is personal about our relationships.

Her most recent bodies of work reference the narratives and female personalities from Greek Mythology, through which she considers the earliest attempts to minimise the volume of the female voice, drawing parallels to our modern era of increasing misogyny..

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Works

Laura Matthews
Unforeseen, 2023
Oil on canvas under resin
150 x 150cm
Laura Matthews
Snow Country, 2023
Oil on canvas
122 x 122cm
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Laura Matthews
Morning Surf, 2023
Oil on canvas
120 x 120cm
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Laura Matthews
Sail Day
Oil & spray paint on canvas
130 x 130cm
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Laura Matthews
Breathe, 2018
Oil on Canvas
160cm x 200cm
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Laura Matthews
"As the crow flies” (en route to Launceston) , 2016
Oil on canvas
150 x 150 cm
59 1/8 x 59 1/8 in
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Laura Matthews
Rose Day, 2023
150 x 150cm
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Laura Matthews
The Devil in the Detail, Flinders Island, 2021
oil on canvas
150 x 150cm (Framed)
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Laura Matthews
Shimmer Walk
Oil on canvas
130 x 130cm
Laura Matthews
Hiraeth
Oil on canvas
150 x 150cm
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Laura Matthews
Cloudline
Oil on board
100 x 100cm
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Laura Matthews
Golgotha
Oil on Canvas
140.5 x 155.5cm
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Laura Matthews
Idyll, 2017
Oil on canvas
150 x 200 cm
59 1/8 x 78 3/4 in
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Biography

Education

1987-1989: HDFA, Slade School of Fine Art, University College, London

1983-1987: BA (Hons) Slade School of Fine Art, University College, London

1989: Elected Freeman, Painters & Stainers Guild (London)

Awards

2019: Winner of the Manning Art Prize - "Naked and Nude"

2019: Winner of People's Choice Award - Paddington Art Prize

2017: Winner 1st Prize Regional artist award, Hunters Hill Art Prize

2017: Winner Peoples Choice Tattersall's Art Prize

2017: Finalist Manning Art Prize

2017: Finalist Paddington Art P{rize

2017: Finalist inaugural Ravenswood Art Prize

2017: Finalist Tattersall's Art Prize

2016: Finalist Tattersall's Art Prize

2015: Finalist Tattersall's Art Prize

2014: Finalist Tattersall's Art Prize

2013: Finalist Tattersall's Art Prize

2012: Finalist Portia Geach Portrait Prize

2012: Finalist Tattersall's Art Prize

2011: Finalist Tattersall's Art Prize

2011: Finalist Manning Regional Art Prize

2010: Finalist Paddington Art Prize

2010: Finalist Norvil Art Prize

2010: Finalist The John Glover Prize for Tasmanian Landscape

2009: Finalist The John Glover Prize for Tasmanian Landscape (Highly Commended)

2008: Finalist Kings School Art prize 2008: Finalist Portia Geach Memorial Award for Portraiture

2008: Finalist Kings School Parramatta Art Prize 2008: Finalist Norvil Art Prize, Salon

2006: Finalist Art on the Rocks, Sydney

2004: Finalist Paddington Art Prize, Sydney

2004: Finalist Fleurieu Peninsula Biennale for Landscape Painting

2004: Finalist Portia Geach Memorial Award for Portraiture

Selected Exhibitions

2025-26: Solo exhibition WA

2024: "The Calculation" Lane Cove Gallery Artist in Residence

2023: "Flux" Manning Regional Gallery

2021: "Disrupted" Nanda Hobbs Sydney

"Remembering The Light" Studio Gallery, Yallingup

2020: "Tamesis" Bermondsey Art Project

"Retrospective" Studio Gallery, Yallingup

2019: "Sea Creatures" Studio Gallery, Yallingup

2018 "Rivers, Roads and Relics" Nanda\Hobbs, Sydney

2017 "Disparate measures" Anita Traynor Fine Art Melbourne

2017 "Inside Out "Studio Gallery Perth

2016: "Hiraeth" Nanda\Hobbs Contemporary, Sydney

2015: "Eye Witness" Pine St gallery Chippendale

2014: "Threshold" Art Equity ,Sydney

2013: Exhibition studio gallery Yallingup

2012: "10 paintings " Studio Gallery Yallingup WA

2012: "Ghosts " Gallery Aloft Sydney

2011: "Nature Built it 2First" Despard Gallery, Hoba

2011: "Life on Mars", Astras Galleries, Gold Coast

2010: "What Lies Beneath" Metro Gallery, Melbourne

2009: "Diemens" Metro Gallery, Melbourne

2009 "Roar" Charles Hewitt Gallery, Sydney (Televised)

2008: "Devils Heart" Art Equity, Sydney

2007: "Vistas" Art Equity, Sydney

2007: Ross Hill Winery, Presented by BCFA, Orange

2006: "Breathe" Art Equity, Sydney

2005: "Sky Sweep City Scape" Art Equity, Sydney

2004: "Caught in the Eye" Art Equity, Sydney

2007: "Australia Day" Sydney Morning Herald Exhibition "Barbeque"

2007: "Sydney Art Fair" Group Corporate Art

2006: "Images of Little Bay" for Landcom

2005: "Affordable Art Fair" Sydney

2004: "1+2 Media" Dommayne Design Inaugural Exhibition Presented by BCFA

United Kingdom

2002: July move to Australia - 1+2 Artist Studios, Lilyfield, Sydney

2001: Mixed shows, Sheen Gallery, London

2000: Five Painters, New Grafton Gallery, London

1999: Joint exhibition; The New Grafton Gallery, London

1999: Mixed show Quantum Contemporary Art, London

1999: Mixed show, Highgate Fine Art, Highgate, London

1999-2000: Works commissioned Royal Caribbean International Cruise liners

1998-1999: Works commissioned by Royal Caribbean International Cruise liners

1998: Guest exhibitor at the New English Arts Club, Pall Mall, London

1987: Abbott & Holder, London

1997: Collyer Bristow:"A Clear Picture "

1996: Slade Summer Exhibition, "Drawing a Survey"

1996: Slade Gallery, One Woman Show

1995: New Grafton Gallery Joint show, London

1994-1996: London Contemporary Art Fair

1993-1998: New Grafton Gallery (Mixed shows), London

1992: The Heffer's Gallery, Cambridge

1991: Austen Desmond "The Prose of Painting", London

1990: Bonham's' "New Generation", London

Collections

Works contained in Slade (UCL,London) Collection

Private collections in Europe, USA, Australia and Asia

Works collected and exhibited by Royal Caribbean Cruise Liners 1998 – 2001 Landcom Australia

Teaching

2000-02: Lecturer in Drawing (Costume Design School of Art)

1999: Slade Affiliate Programme Tutor - Life Painting, Drawing

1998-99: Wimbledon School of Art -costume design, drawing tutor 0.5 lecturer Painting & Drawing tutor (course co-ordinator)

1997-89: Course tutor - Slade Life Drawing BA/MA students; Slade Affiliate Programme -

1997-98: Wimbledon School of Art Visiting lecturer (Life Drawing & studio visits)

1996: Painting & Drawing tutor B-Tec Foundation Course Painting & Drawing coordinator - Richmond Adult & Community college.

1994-98: Slade Summer School continuing to work on the Alternative Foundation course, course co-ordinator for specialist drawing courses i.e., "Drawing a Way of Thinking"

1990: Workshops(Barbican) based around the exhibition "A Singular Vision"

1990: Drawing & Painting workshops incorporating lectures on the work of Euan Uglow - Whitechapel Art Gallery London.

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Exhibitions