Anne Wallace facts for kids

Anne Wallace (born 31 August 1970) is an Australian painter. Her artworks have been shown in big exhibitions and are kept in important art collections.

Wallace was born in Brisbane, Australia, on August 31, 1970. She grew up in a suburb called Kenmore. She went to St Aidan's Anglican Girls' School and later studied at Queensland University of Technology (QUT). She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Visual Arts in 1990 or 1991.

At QUT, she learned from a famous landscape painter named William Robinson. She says he taught her the traditional oil painting skills she still uses today. In 1990, she won two awards from the Queensland Art Gallery (QAG).

In 1993, Wallace received a special scholarship called the Gordan Samstag International Visual Art Scholarship. This allowed her to study at the Slade School of Fine Art in London in 1994. She finished her Master of Arts degree with Distinction in 1996 and won an award for her figure drawing. She also spent six months living and working as an artist in Paris, France, at the Cité internationale des arts. This was supported by the University of Sydney and the Australia Council for the Arts.

Career

From 1989 to 1993, Anne Wallace worked part-time in the Arts Faculty at the University of Queensland.

In 1999, she won a major art award called the Sir John Sulman Prize from the Art Gallery of New South Wales.

Since 1993, Wallace has regularly shown her art with her long-time art dealer, Darren Knight Gallery in Sydney. An art dealer helps artists sell their work. As of 2020, she lives in Melbourne and also shows her art at Kalli Rolfe Gallery there.

Style and subject matter

Wallace mainly paints with oil paints. Her style is called "figurative," meaning she paints things that look real, like people or objects. It's often described as "contemporary realism," which means it's realistic but also modern.

Her paintings are often described as interesting and sometimes a little mysterious. They can be hard to fully understand at first glance. People have compared her work to famous artists like Balthus and René Magritte.

Many things influence Wallace's art. These include the different types of old buildings in Queensland where she grew up. She is also inspired by the time period from the 1920s to the 1980s. Novels and films about mid-century America, and music from bands like The Smiths, also play a role. Many of her paintings refer to something specific, like a poem or a line from a book. You can still enjoy the painting without knowing the reference, but knowing it can help you understand it more deeply.

Wallace is interested in films. Her art has often been linked to movies, especially "film noir" (a style of dark, mysterious films). However, she has said that her paintings are not directly about films or telling a story. She explained that her art tries to show the feeling of trying to understand something that is hard to grasp in real life. It's about the emotion that comes from experiencing things that are not clear.

She is also influenced by writers like John Updike and James Ellroy.

Her paintings sometimes hint at mysteries or stories, like a detective might investigate. For example, her painting Biltmore Hotel Flower (2019) refers to a famous unsolved mystery from 1947 in Los Angeles.

Major works in public collections

Many of Anne Wallace's artworks are held in public collections. This means they are owned by art galleries and museums where people can go to see them. These include the National Gallery of Australia, Queensland Art Gallery, National Gallery of Victoria, and the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia.

• She Is (2001) is owned by the National Gallery of Australia. It was shown in an exhibition there in 2002.
• That was long ago (2005) was bought by the Queensland Art Gallery / Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA). It has been shown in Brisbane and Sydney.
• Biltmore Hotel Flower (2019) was bought by the Art Gallery of Ballarat in 2019.

Career and Influences

In 2015, Anne Wallace was interviewed for a special collection at the State Library of Queensland. In this interview, she talked about her art, her studies in London, and her childhood.

Exhibitions

Things visible and invisible (1998)

Wallace showed her art in an exhibition called 'Things visible and invisible' at Metro Arts in Brisbane. Other artists like Annie Hogan and Christopher Howlett were also part of this show. Some of her works included Evening shadows creep (1998) and What lonely hours (1998).

Recent paintings (2001)

This was a solo exhibition, meaning only Anne Wallace's art was shown, at Darren Knight Gallery.

Blur — Reality and Realism in picture making (2004)

Wallace was part of the 'Blur' exhibition at the Redland Art Gallery in December 2004. Other artists included Madeleine Kelly and Jenny Watson. Her works shown were Daphne (2003-2004) and Eames Chair (2004).

Darren Knight Gallery (2005)

Another solo exhibition at the Darren Knight Gallery in 2005 featured many of her paintings. These included Consolation (2005), Reverie (2005), and That was long ago (2005).

Strange Ways (2020)

'Strange Ways' was a big exhibition of Wallace's work at the QUT Art Museum in 2020. It included artworks rarely seen from private collections, as well as pieces from major galleries like QAGOMA (Damage, 1996) and the National Gallery of Australia (She is, 2001). This exhibition was planned to travel to the Art Gallery of Ballarat. However, it could not be shown there because the gallery had to close temporarily due to the COVID-19 pandemic.