Kerry Inkster

I was born and raised in a small dusty town in country South Australia - the daughter of farmers. I distinctly recall seeing articles about Jackson Pollock and Andy Warhol as a teenager and thought that artists only truly existed in a fabled world. However I loved art - it was the only place I felt a sense of true enquiry, self reflection, breath, and peace. After a diversion into a "sensible career" and motherhood I became a professional artist, conceptually trained through the South Australian School of Art in 2012 with a Bachelor of Visual Art, Specialisation Painting. On my artistic journey I have developed my style from hyper realistic beginnings to simplified shape and form with the influences of action painting Expressionism and Pop Art. I'm hugely interested in colour, tone, composition, texture, and movement - and I focus on these elements within my figures and faces. Through my hard work I won the 2013 University of South Australia Medal for outstanding academic achievement in the Division of Education, Arts and Social Sciences. I was also selected and entered into The Helpmann Academy Graduate Exhibition in 2013.
Fast forward to today, I live in Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia, with my partner and our collective 6 kids, 3 dogs, and 5 chickens. I am very fortunate and have my own home studio where I get to fling paint and explore my passion - painting!! As far as I'm concerned there's nothing better than applying paint in it's many forms - watching it move, blend, bleed, and dry.
I am interested in asking questions about the human condition through my figurative and portrait paintings. Mostly working from photographs and film stills, I have a particular interest in observing the female image and the cultural implications that these images represent. Much of my interest at this point in time is in equality, gender discrimination, and horizontal segregation. The way that I paint is also reflective of this interest as I paint entirely on the horizontal surface which references feminism. As I have been subject to sexual discrimination, a patriarchal culture, and a 20-year domestically violent marriage, strong beautiful resilient women interest me. These strong beautiful resilient women can be seen in my current body of work - standing in, emerging from, or swimming through, water.
For me the most amazing thing about being underwater is that the rest of the world disappears for a while. There are no distractions or stress - just quietness. My focus is honed, the light is filtered, my body is suspended, and my long hair floats and flows. Being underwater also offers me a sense of joy and freedom - and as I live in a hot tropical environment, being underwater also represents cooling off. I love to share these feelings and images through my paintings. I also like to tell a story with my underwater paintings - to give my viewers a sense of another magical world. I'm drawn to images that offer a sense of being uplifted. I believe we all need more positivity in our world.
Please contact me if you'd like to discuss art at anytime.