Del Kathryn Barton

Del Kathryn Barton (born 11 December 1972) is an Australian artist who began drawing at a young age, and studied at UNSW Art & Design (formerly the College of Fine Arts) at the University of New South Wales. She soon became known for her psychedelic fantasy works which she has shown in solo and group exhibitions across Australia and overseas. In 2015 her animated film Oscar Wilde’s The Nightingale and the Rose won the Film Victoria Erwin Rado Award for Best Australian Short Film. She drew obsessively from an early age and lived in her imagination.

In 1990, she entered into the College of Fine Arts of the University of New South Wales, as an already accomplished artist with a wide repertoire of subjects. Her tutor during this time, whom she recalled as a “fantastic teacher”, was Michael Esson. After graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1993 the artist was employed as a lecturer at CoFA from 1994-96.

Her solo exhibitions include: The Nightingale and the Rose, Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI), Melbourne, Australia (2016); the highway is a disco, ARNDT, Singapore (2015); Electro Orchid, Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney (2014); The Nightingale and the Rose, Heide Museum of Modern Art (2012); the stars eat your body, Kaliman Gallery, Sydney (2009); the whole of everything, Karen Woodbury Gallery, Melbourne (2008) and thank you for loving me, Karen Woodbury Gallery, Melbourne (2005).

On 7 March 2008, it was announced that Barton had won the 2008 Archibald Prize for portraiture, for You are what is most beautiful about me, a self portrait with Kell and Arella, a self-portrait with her two children. Barton said of the portrait: "This painting celebrates the love I have for my two children and how my relationship with them has radically informed and indeed transformed my understanding of who I am". A key inspiration for Barton is her experience of motherhood. In 2013, she won the Archibald Prize for her portrait of actor Hugo Weaving. Of portraiture generally, she says: "I really value the discipline" that it brings.

She was also an Archibald Prize finalist in 2008, 2013 and 2018.

She is represented by Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery in Sydney.

Barton participated in group exhibitions that include: Like-ness, Albertz Benda, New York, USA (2016); Express Yourself: Romance Was Born for Kids, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne (2014); Dark Heart, Adelaide Biennale of Australian Art, Adelaide (2014); Theatre of the World, Museum of Old and New Art, Tasmania (2012); Lightness and Gravity, Queensland Gallery of Modern Art, Queensland (2012); Freehand: Recent Australia Drawing, Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne (2010/11); 2009 Wynne Prize for Landscape, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney (2009); Half a World Away: Drawings from Glasgow, Sao Paulo and Sydney, Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center, Buffalo, New York (2002).

In 2020 her sculptural work, the infinite adjustment of the throat...and then, a smile, was shown in Part One of the exhibition, "Know my name: Australian women artists 1900 to now" at the National Gallery of Australia.

Artistic practice Barton's paintings are fantasy-like and include female figures merged with flowers and plants. Historically flowers have often been used to represent femininity and female genitalia.

Many works are digital collages

Barton begins a work by making a drawing, perhaps of an emotion, gesture or image from a dream. She then develops the drawings into a highly patterned paintings, working on more than one painting at a time. Each work takes several months to complete.

Barton and Huna Amweero won Best Feature Film - Original for their feature film script Blaze at the 2022 AWGIE Awards. The script won the 2023 Betty Roland Prize for Scriptwriting at the New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards.

Collections Barton is represented in galleries across Australia: National Gallery of Australia, four prints in her series 'that's when I was another tree ' from 2007 National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney QAGOMA (Queensland Art Gallery and Gallery of Modern Art), Brisbane Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide

Publications Year Title Publisher 2015 Del Kathryn Barton - the highway is a disco A3 Arndt Art Agency 2012 Oscar Wilde - The Nightingale and the Rose Art & Australia Pty Ltd 2011 Del Kathryn Barton Piper Press 2008 the whole of everything Karen Woodbury Gallery