MARISA PURCELL
The subject of Marisa Purcell’s artwork cannot be found in her paintings but comes about through the experience of them. Their meaning resides in the illusory spaces created between the swathes and splashes of brilliant saturated colour, and the bold and ghostly forms that spill out from her canvases to permeate the viewer.
Purcell describes these illusory voids as liminal spaces, and thinks of them as active zones which cross time and space, and in which artist and viewer meet and interact. Long interested in the processes of art’s reception, she draws inspiration from the example of artists across history – from Fra Angelico to Rothko – who similarly exploited the mystical power of painting to embody spiritual sensation.
Purcell works instinctively and experimentally to the same end, constantly paring her work back to essential motivations. In their final iterations, her ephemeral and aesthetically sophisticated compositions gesture towards an experience of the profound that is available to us all.
Education
2007
Masters of Visual Arts, University of Sydney, Sydney College of the Arts
2000
Master of Art Administration, University of New South Wales, College of Fine Arts, Sydney
1994
Post-technician’s Certificate in Printmaking, National Art School, Sydney
1993
Bachelor of Educational Studies, (art) University of Queensland
Employment
2010
Lecturer – Painting, Sydney College of the Arts, University of Sydney
2005- current
National Art School Short courses – Artist/Lecturer
2000- current
Teacher/Lecturer – Art Gallery of NSW
Solo Exhibitions
2012
Murmuration, Edwina Corlette Gallery, Brisbane
2010
Night Crossings’, Tight Projects, Sydney
Portrait of the Seeping Through’, MOP Project Space, Sydney
2008
Installation / Design for ‘Manna’ (theatre set) at Sydney Theatre Company
Only the Memories are New’, Ryan Renshaw Gallery, Brisbane
2007
Post-Graduating exhibition, Sydney College of the Arts
Places to Remember’, The Cat Street Gallery, Hong Kong
2006
Time Being' United Galleries, Sydney
2005
The Entrance', Cite Internationale des arts, Paris
2004
In Between', Table Gallery, Basel, Switzerland
Sticky Nights' Station21, Zurich, Switzerland
2003
Translations’, FUGE/Verein Pro Fuge, Grünau, Zürich, Switzerland
2002
Somewhere Near’, Tim Olsen Gallery, Sydney
Group Exhibitions
2010
First Group Show’, Tight Projects, Sydney
2009
Art on Paper’ Hazelhurst Regional Art Gallery
2008
Clayton Utz Travelling Scholarship Exhibition, Metro Arts, Brisbane
Stations of the Cross’, St, Ives Uniting Church
Art Dubai’ Contemporary Art Fair, Kashya Hildebrand Stand (Zurich)
New Generation’ Ryan Renshaw Gallery, Off the Wall, Brisbane Art Fair
2007
The Blake Prize for Religious Art’ National Art School Gallery, Sydney
Art on Paper’ Hazelhurst Regional Gallery, Gymea Unrealesque’, Grantpirrie Gallery, Sydney
Dreamscapes’, Kashya Hildebrand Gallery, Zurich
KIAF’, International Art Fair, Korea, Kashya Hildebrand Stand
Monochromes’, Gallery 141, Darlinghurst, Sydney
2006
The Blake Prize for Religious Art', National Art School Gallery
Art Sydney 06' Selected, Off the Wall
Flavour' Art Loft, Singapore
Slowly, Slowly' Kudos Gallery, Paddington, Sydney (curated show)
2005
Liquid, Love, Light' Saatchi and Saatchi Gallery, The Rocks, Sydney
Art on Paper' Hazelhurst Regional Gallery, Sydney
Flavour' Art Loft, Singapore
Scholarships/Awards
2009
Waverley Council 6 Month Studio Residency
2008/9
Australia Council for the Arts, New Work Grant
2007
Hill End Residency, Bathurst Regional Art Gallery
2006/7
University of Sydney Post-Graduate Award
2004/5
Cite Internationale des Arts, Residency, Paris
2003
FUGE/Verein Pro Fuge, Residency, Zürich,
2001
India Link’ grant to finance ‘Same, same but different’