Angela Brennan

Angela Brennan (born 1960) is an Australian painter.

Brennan was born in Ballarat in 1960. She went on to complete a Fine Arts degree, in painting, at Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in 1982 and a Bachelor of Arts, majoring in philosophy, at the University of Melbourne in 1992.^[1] Best known for her high-keyed abstractions, Brennan displays a mastery of colour and spontaneity in her work that offers the viewer a range of ideas and emotions that seek a reaction. She continues to add to her repertoire of painting styles, including abstracts, text paintings, portraits, interiors and landscapes, and more recently has expanded her practice to include ceramics and sculptural installations. These varied modes of art-making allow Brennan to encounter philosophical and personal subject matter. In 2006 the Monash University Museum of Art held a major survey exhibition of her work, titled Angela Brennan: every morning I wake up on the wrong side of capitalism.^[2]

Exhibitions

Brennan has exhibited extensively since the late 1980s, holding over 35 solo shows and participating in over 120 group exhibitions. She is represented by Niagara Galleries in Melbourne, Roslyn Oxley9 in Sydney, and Goddard de Fiddes in Perth. Recently, prominent shows have included the Geelong Contemporary Art Prize and Roads Across: Contemporary Directions in Australian Art at Flinders University Art Museum and City Gallery, both in 2012, and Kaleidoscope: Art and Colour at the National Gallery of Victoria, Artwork Tapestry at Tarra Warra Museum of Art and the Fletcher Jones Art Prize at Geelong Gallery, all in 2011. She has also participated in art fairs within Australia and overseas, such as the Melbourne Art Fair, from 2004 to 2012, the Korea International Art Fair, from 2010 to 2012, and the Zurich Art Fair, in 2004. Brennan has also exhibited extensively overseas, including From Here to Eternity: Contemporary Tapestries from the Victorian Tapestry Workshop, in Washington, DC and Paris, as well as Paintings and Drawings at The Gallery on Cork Street, London in 2005 and Business Men, They Drink my Wine at Pickled Art Center, Beijing, in 2003.^[3]

Collections

Brennan's work appears extensively in public and private collections across Australia as well as overseas. She is featured in major state galleries, such as the National Gallery of Australia, National Gallery of Victoria, Art Gallery of South Australia and TarraWarra Museum of Art, as well as numerous private, corporate and university collections throughout Australia. Internationally her work features in the Mont Blanc Art Collection in Switzerland and World Bank in New York, as well as in private collections in the United Kingdom, France, Canada, Israel, Japan and Singapore.^[4]

Awards

Brennan has been the recipient of numerous awards, grants and residencies throughout her career. They have included the Australia Council Studio, Milan in 2008, Melbourne Savage Club prize in 2007, studio residency at Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris in 2006 and 1998, and Blundstone Contemporary Art Award in 1995.^[5]

References