The intimacy and theatre of family life and everyday events are at the core of James Drinkwater’s art practice. Inspiration might be found in the coastal life he shares with his partner and children in his hometown of Newcastle, or in something as obscure as the architecture of his son’s vintage Japanese cameras - Drinkwater is drawn to the beauty right in front of him, the magic under his nose.
Throughout his career which began aged five with classes at the Ron Hartree Art School, Newcastle, Drinkwater explored both abstraction and figuration before developing his distinctive aesthetic. He shifts between painting, sculpture, assemblage, collage and drawing in the studio but it is primarily painting where his ideas are most fully explored. His canvases are viscous, sensual, and physical with the oil applied in thick swathes of colour by palette knife, rags and his bare hands. His contemplations on themes and concepts drive both materiality and composition.
In 2019 a major survey exhibition The Sea Calls Me by Name was held at Newcastle Art Gallery. Also in 2019 Drinkwater collaborated on the ballet Storm Approaching Wangi – and Other Desires, working alongside choreographers Skip Willcox and Belle Beasley as well as composer Joseph Franklin. Commissioned by Multi Arts Pavilion, MIMA Lake Macquarie, the project saw Drinkwater designing the sets and costumes as well as performing.
In 2022 James Drinkwater's work was included in the exhibition Singing In Unison – Artists Need to Create on the Same Scale that Society Has the Capacity to Destroy curated by Phong H. Bui and Cal McKeever of The Brooklyn Rail. This landmark exhibition held in Brooklyn, New York, featured artists such as Sean Scully, Julian Schnabel, Ugo Rondinone, Ron Gorchov, and Dorothea Rockburne.
In 2023 two major survey exhibitions showcased James Drinkwater's work: Passage at the Northern Centre for Contemporary Art, Darwin, and At Mid Career at the Drill Hall Gallery, Australian National University, Canberra, curated by Terance Maloon.
James Drinkwater graduated from the National Art School, Sydney (2001) before moving to Melbourne, then Italy and Germany to further his art practice. A finalist in major art prizes such as the Mosman Prize (2020), Paddington Art Prize (2020, 2017, 2016, 2014), Wynne Prize (2018, 2017, 2015, 2014), Kilgour Prize (2018), and the Sulman Prize (2016), he won the Brett Whiteley Travelling Scholarship in 2014 and the Marten Bequest Travelling Scholarship in 2011. He has exhibited in solo and group exhibitions throughout Australia, and internationally in Germany and Singapore, and his work is held in private, corporate and public collections such as the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Gold Coast City Art Collection, Newcastle Art Gallery, Monash University, Macquarie University, University of Newcastle and Artbank.
