About
There is a meditative quality to Aaron Kinnane’s landscapes that suggests his inspiration goes beyond simple fascinations with environment and the materiality of paint. Kinnane has spent years observing the land while mustering cattle on horseback in the mid north coast of NSW, and he imports something of the solitude and vastness he experienced during that time into his paintings. Like the Impressionists and Romantics before him, Kinnane’s landscapes capture ephemeral effects of light and atmosphere, but overlaid with a quiet spirituality that evokes the sensation of being in nature rather than replicating its precise features. His palette knife technique deliberately reduces detail to something between abstraction and naturalism, allowing the viewer to cast their own interpretation on the scene before them, though an underlying sense of Kinnane’s own contemplations and deep connection to the land remains in the layers of oil paint.
The tactile quality of Kinnane’s landscapes is further enhanced by regular forays into sculpture. Cast in bronze from timber forms made using a chainsaw and chisel, these large scale figures are clearly akin to his painting practice while adding a more explicitly human and introspective aspect to the work.
Aaron Kinnane studied Visual Arts at Newcastle University, and furthered his formal training as assistant to respected Italian artist Sandro Chia (b. 1946) in his Tuscan studio from 2000-2001. In 2017 Kinnane undertook an artist residency at the Chateau de Creancey, Burgundy. A finalist in the prestigious Wynne Prize for Landscape at the Art Gallery of New South Wales (2015), the NSW Parliament Plein-air Prize, Sydney (2016), and four-time-finalist in the Tattersall’s Landscape Art Prize (2017, 2016, 2015, 2014), his work has been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions in Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore and France and his work is held in private and public collections both nationally and internationally.
Carrie McCarthy 2022
Born 1977
Solo Exhibitions
2018 Natural Blue - Scott Livesey Galleries, Melbourne
2018 Creancey Mornings - Redot Fine Art Gallery, Singapore
2017 From where I stand - Sydney Contemporary Art Fair, Arthouse Gallery
2017 Collector Spotlight 2017 - ReDot Fine Art Gallery, Singapore.
2016 Return to Eden on a dark horse, Arthouse gallery Sydney
2015 Winter Passing, Milk Moon Rising, Arthouse Gallery, Sydney
2015 Art Month Sydney, Studio Show
2014 Sunset Studies. Arthouse Gallery, Sydney
2012 New Paintings. Gallery One, Gold Coast
2011 In The Night Garden, when extraordinary things happen to ordinary people pt.2 Gallery One, Gold Coast
2010 When Extraordinary Things Happen To Ordinary People. Iain Dawson, Sydney 2009 The Bandit Moon and the Bastard Son, Charles Hewitt, Sydney
2008 Art Melbourne, New generation stand, Melbourne
2008 Circadian Rhythm, Charles Hewitt, Sydney
2006 Seven steps soft of heaven, john miller gallery, Newcastle
2005 Ships will carry me, pepperina gallery, Newcastle
Selected Group Exhibitions
2018 Sydney Contemporary art fair, Arthouse Gallery Sydney
2017 Tattersalls Art Prize, Tattersals Club, Brisbane
2016 NSW Parliament Pleinair Prize, Sydney
2016 Tattersall’s Art Prize, Tattersall’s Club, Brisbane
2015 Wynne Prize, The Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney
2015 Tattersall’s Art Prize, Tattersall’s Club, Brisbane
2015 Unfolding Splendour,’ Arthouse Gallery, Sydney
2014 Under the Sun, Arthouse Gallery, Sydney
2014 Tattersalls Art Prize
2014 The Art Hunter-Contemporary Art Now, Hosted by The Cool Hunter, Sydney 2013 Signal 8 Summer show, The Cat Street Gallery, Hong Kong
2013 Clipboard show. Robyn Gibson Gallery, Sydney
2012 Signal 8 Summer show, The Cat Street Gallery, Hong Kong
2012 L’Oréal Melbourne fashion week, Windows by design
2011 Wattle, The Cat Street Gallery, Hong Kong
Awards
2017 Finalist - Tattersall’s Landscape Art Prize - Tattersall’s Club, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.
2016 Finalist - Tattersall’s Landscape Art Prize - Tattersall’s Club, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.
2016 Finalist - NSW Parliament Plein Air Painting Prize - NSW Parliament House, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
2015 Finalist - Wynne Prize - Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW), Sydney, NSW, Australia.
2015 Finalist - Tattersall’s Landscape Art Prize - Tattersall’s Club, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.
2014 Finalist - Tattersall’s Landscape Art Prize - Tattersall’s Club, Brisbane, QLD,
Residencies
2017 Chateau de Creancey, Burghundy, France
Collections
Hugh Young, Chateau de Creancey, France
Harriett & Richard England Collection, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
Liverpool Hospital, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
The Australian Club, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
The Arthur Roe Collection, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
Education
1998 B.A.V.A Newcastle University
2000- 2001 Assistant to Sandro Chia, Italy