"The lightness and darkness of parenting permeates both the process, and narrative of these works.
I am now a mother and have had to renegotiate time to create a productive and consolidated art practice. Works once extensively ruminated over in the flesh are now pondered while I parent. In thinking about my child’s future my thoughts stray to my past. These memories, both cherished and banished, have found their way into my mind and painting. My changed way of working has created a fragmented approach with long thought processes and minimal practical time. The works reflect this fragmentation with various vignettes.
My paintings while still directed by the process of painting have nevertheless crept into the terrain of the domestic. Framing, architectural forms and interiors peak out of colour fields and landscapes. Interior spaces are woven throughout the works. Some paintings are begun by referencing my father’s 1970’s ‘Woodstock Handmade Houses’ book, my childhood skewed in the dark side of that hippy utopian vision. These books are the only tangible things that I have of my father's.
Other works are begun by referencing my own domestic space; bananas harvested from the yard, views from my studio. Sex continues to be explored in my work; pornography and the empty interiors of X-rated stills are also used as starting points. Yet the works become veiled, rooms turn into landscapes and the process of painting is allowed to erase these beginnings enabling new narratives to occur.
I am interested in veiling to construct a psychological space that is strangely familiar rather than simply mysterious. I stretch representational elements into the abstract, allowing shape, form, composition and colour to take over to create a psychological landscape. My work rests in this territory of the uncanny, teetering on an edge between the known and the unknowable." Amber Wallis, 2017
Amber Wallis’ paintings transform an internal psychological landscape into lyrical physicality. In her work, looping, rhythmic lines and broad areas of brushwork intersperse with shadows of recognizable forms to become the “uncanny place where the abstract and figurative meet”. Her engagement of the hand, gestural notation and colour map out thoughts, emotions, and intuitions.
While mining the legacy of Abstract Expressionism yet suffusing her work with an antipodean light and a fresh, quixotic beauty, Wallis is most concerned with beginning a painting by “hitting a canvas all out”, and maintaining the immediacy of drawing and initial lightness of touch. Balancing the formal with the personal she “traverses the quagmire of thoughts and materials” to arrive at a gutsy art practice liberated from language, and committed to confronting the canvas as a field of action and radical self-analysis.
Amber holds a Bachelor of Visual Arts from the Canberra School of Art and a Master of Visual Arts from the Victorian College of the Arts. She was the winner of the tenth Brett Whiteley Travelling Art Scholarship in 2008, during which time she worked in New York and Montreal and completed a residency at the Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris. Following from this Amber has been a finalist in several art prizes including and most recently the Arthur Guy Memorial Painting Prize (2019), Sunshine Coast Art Prize (2018,2019) and Mosman Art Prize (2018). She has featured in serval art publications and magazines notably Australiana to Zeitgeist: An A-Z of Contemporary Australian Art by Melissa Loughnan, Artist Profile (2019, 2012), Art Almanac and Australian Art Collector. Amber has exhibited throughout Australia, Canada and the USA. Her work is held in the Artbank and Arthur Roe Collections as well as various private collections in Australia and internationally. Carol Schwarzman
Amber Wallis
Born 1978, New Zealand
Currently lives and works in Bangalow, New South Wales
EDUCATION
2008
- Masters of Visual Art (Painting), Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne
2007
- Post Graduate Diploma in Visual Art (Painting), Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne
2002
- Bachelor of Arts Visual (Photomedia), Canberra School of Art, Australian National University, Canberra
- Exchange Program, Emily Carr Institute of Art & Design, Vancouver, Canada
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2019
- 'Murky Sex Paintings', Edwina Corlette Gallery, Brisbane
2018
- Melbourne Art Fair, Nicholas Thompson Gallery, Melbourne
2017
- 'Part Time Paintings', Edwina Corlette Gallery, Brisbane
2015
- 'Still Life/Cactus/Skelephone', Edwina Corlette Gallery, Brisbane
2013
- 'Flipping the Slip', Gallery 9, Sydney
2012
- Melbourne Art Fair, New Paintings, solo artist for Utopian Slumps Gallery, Melbourne
2011
- 'Dark Gully/Sex Drawings', Utopians Slumps, Melbourne
- 'Mountains Full of Sky/Salty Lines', Edwina Corlette, Brisbane
2010
- 'I Fuck Mountains', Utopian Slumps, Melbourne
- 'Dark Gully/Psychic War', Chalk Horse Gallery, Sydney
2009
- 'Circle of Eagles', Utopian Slumps Gallery, Melbourne
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2019
- Brett Whiteley Travelling Art Scholarship 20 Year Anniversary Exhibition, SH Ervin Gallery, Sydney
- 'The New Gallery Show - Group Exhibition', Edwina Corlette Gallery, Brisbane
- 'Come Closer', University of the Sunshine Coast Art Gallery, Queensland
- 'm_othering the perceptual ars poetica', Curated by Abbra Kotlarczyk and Antonia Sellbach, Counihan Gallery, Melbourne
- 'Sexy Xmas', The Lodge Los Angeles USA
2018
- Let Her Rip, Byron School of Art
2017
- Hazlehurst Art on Paper Award, Hazlehurst Regional Gallery
2016
- 'Interstice', Tristian Koenig, Collingwood
2015
- Sydney Contemporary Art Fair, Edwina Corlette Gallery
2014
- 'FIN', Utopian Slumps, Melbourne
- 'Sublime Point: The Landscape in Painting', Hazelhurst Regional Gallery
- 'Sense of Surround', Edwina Corlette Gallery, Brisbane
- John Leslie Art Prize, Finalist, Gippsland Art Gallery
2013
- 'The Feminine Optic', Curated by Andrew Frost, Tamworth Regional Gallery, Tamworth
2011
- 'The New Arcadia', Lismore Regional Gallery
2010
- 'Pin Up Your Doodle', Charity Fundraising, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne
- 'Worm Mountain', group show, C3 Gallery, Abbortsford Convent, Melbourne
- 'Territorial Pissings', Utopian Slumps, Melbourne
2009
- 'Chalk Reindeer', Christmas Show, Chalk Horse, Sydney
- 'The Shilo Project', Ian Potter Museum of Art, University of Melbourne, Melbourne
- 'South', Monster Children Gallery, Sydney
- 'Red Bird', General 54, Montreal, Canada
2008
- Brett Whiteley Traveling Art Scholarship Finalist Exhibition, Brett Whiteley Studio, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
- Headcase Charity Auction, Sofitel, Melbourne
- Robert Jacks Drawing Prize, Bendigo Art Gallery, Bendigo - Finalist
- 'Thank God We Died Together', TCB, Melbourne
- 'Con.ceit’08', Corangamarah Art Prize - Finalist
- 'Masters of the Universe', Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne
2007
- Graduate Exhibition, Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne
- Disparate Collection, Victorian College of the Arts Student Gallery, Melbourne
2006
- 'Xmas Is Completely Cool Charity Group Show!', Someday Gallery, PAM, Melbourne
- 'The Present History Launch', The Front Gallery, Canberra
- 'Sepia Hell', joint exhibition with Alana Di Giacomo, Ballan & Pannan Galleries, Melbourne
2005
- 'Holiday Present & Gift Show', Someday Gallery, Melbourne
2002
- 'A Memorable Decline', Emily Carr Institute of Art & Design, Vancouver, Canada
AWARDS AND PRIZES
2019
- Finalist, Arthur Guy Memorial Painting Prize, Bendigo Art Gallery
- Finalist, Sunshine Coast Art Prize, Caloundra Regional Gallery
2018
- Finalist, Sunshine Coast Art Prize, Caloundra Regional Gallery
- Finalist, Mosman Art Prize
- Finalist, John Leslie Art Prize, Gippsland Art Gallery
2017
- Finalist, Hazelhurst Art on Paper Award
2014
- Finalist, John Leslie Art Prize, Gippsland Art Gallery
2010
- Artstart Grant, Australia Council for the Arts
2009
- Residency, Cite International des Arts, Paris
2008
- Winner, Brett Whiteley Traveling Art Scholarship, Brett Whiteley Studio, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
- 'The Cage', Postgraduate Residency, April and September 2009, Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne
BIBLIOGRAPHY
2019
- Kevin Wilson, Preview Amber Wallis, Artist Profile, Issue 48, p142
- Megan Willams and Arryn Snowball, Come Close, University of Sunshine Coast publication
2018
- Vault, Melbourne Art Fair 2018, Issue 23, page 103
2017
- Melissa Loughnan, Australiana to Zeitgeist: An A-Z of Contemporary Australian Art, 31 May
- The Art Almanac, Amber Wallis: Part Time Paintings, September
2015
- Lisa Marie Corso, Amber Wallis Still Life/Cactus/Skelephone, The Design Files, 9 June
- The Art Life, New Work Friday #192, 29 May
- Carrie McCarthy, Controlled Chaos, Cultural Flanerie, 25 June
- Daily Imprint, Artist Amber Wallis, 3 June
2014
- Australian Poetry Journal 4.1, 21 July, Cover Artwork
2013
- Casey Hutton, Amber Wallis Studio Visit and Interview, The Meander Journal, November
- Andrew Frost, Flipping the Slip, The Art Life, 15 November
2012
- Artist Profile, Amber Wallis, Melbourne Art Fair Special Edition, Issue 19, p 130 - 131
2012
- Michel Lawrence, Amber Wallis Sexing Up the Slumps, Inside Art TV video profile, 15 August
2011
- Australian Art Collector, Psychoactive Painting, October – December, p 128 – 135
- The Age, Visual Art, 11 November
2010
- The Age, Visual Art, 6 October
- The Age, What’s On, 16 October
- Dan Rule, Amber Wallis: I Fuck Mountains, Broadsheet Melbourne, 29 September
- ABC Television, ABC Arts, Utopian Slumps Reborn, 29 April
- The Age, Utopian De-Slumped, 24 March, p 18
2009
- The Shilo Project, Ian Potter Museum of Art, Melbourne, p 42
- Celebrating 10 Years of Young Talent, Look, Art Gallery Society of NSW, August/September, p54
2008
- Lyrical Landscape Wins Trip to Paris, VCA News, Issue 2, p 11
- The Age, Our Space Ian McBride and Amber Wallis, A2 Section, 28 October, p 11
- The Sydney Morning Herald, A simple note takes artist to great place, 18 September, p 10
- The Daily Telegraph, An Artful memory is a young painter’s passport to Paris, 18 September, p 18
- The Australian, Lyrical Landscape wins trip to Paris, 18 September, p 7
- The Canberra Times, Artist finds magic near Captains Flat, 18 September, p 3
- The Daily Telegraph, An artful memory pays off, 18 September, p 9
- Museums & Galleries NSW, June Issue 2 Brave New World, Social Media and Cultural Organisations, Cover image Contextual Villains collaboration
2006
- The Present History, Contextual Villains, limited edition release, National Australia – Winner Create Awards, p 74
COLLECTIONS
- Artbank
- Arthur Roe Collection
- Private collections in Australia and Internationally
29 August 2018 – 15 September 2018
THE 10TH ANNIVERSARY EXHIBITION
14 March 2011 – 2 April 2011
Amber Wallis ‘Mountains Full of Sky/Salty Lines’ (Gallery 2)
