Born 1972 in Sydney, Australia
Lives and works in Sydney
Del Kathryn Barton is widely recognised as one of Australia's leading figurative painters of her generation. Barton graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the College of Fine Arts at the University of New South Wales in 1993, where she was subsequently appointed as lecturer in drawing. Barton’s decorative, highly detailed paintings are known for their vibrant, figurative imagery – combining traditional painting techniques with contemporary design and illustrative styles. Barton’s pictures present a world where everything is fecund and alive. No part of the picture plane is without adornment, and no figure or creature is less charmed than any other. Using a mixture of materials, including synthetic polymer paint, gouache, watercolour, pen and often glitter and sequins, she embroiders her world. Barton’s transfigurations throw us off balance, as does her giddy sense of colour and scale. Her work is unashamedly girly and her palette kaleidoscopic. Obsessive patterning and fragile heroines revive memories of childhood.
Combining traditional painting techniques with contemporary design, illustrative styles and animation, Barton evokes femininity in both form and spirit. Her distinctive use of line transcends her painting practice to also encompass illustration, film and collage where she creates vibrant figurative dream worlds, rich with personal references and poignant, symbolic juxtapositions.
CV
Del Kathryn Barton selected group exhibition participations include: Australia Now: mad love, Arndt Art Agency A3, Berlin, Germany (2017) (upcoming), 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, 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 Centre, Buffalo, New York (2002).
Her numerous solo exhibitions include: r u a bunny?, Albertz Benda, New York, USA (2017) (upcoming), Del Kathryn Barton, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia (2017) (upcoming), RED, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia (2017), 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, RoslynOxley9 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 thankyou for loving me, Karen Woodbury Gallery, Melbourne (2005).
Barton was awarded The Archibald Prize, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney twice, in 2013 and 2008, in addition to being nominated for a range of awards that include the Dobell Drawing Prize, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney (2007) and The Sulman Prize, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney (1995).
Barton produced the acclaimed film animation “Oscar Wilde’s The Nightingale and the Rose”–a haunting adaptation of Wilde's short story about the price of love – that made its world premiere at the 2015 Berlin International Film Festival and was screened at the 2015 Melbourne International Film Festival. Her film received critical acclaim and was awarded the Film Victoria Erwin Rado Award for Best Australian Short Film.
Del Kathryn Barton, Nightingale and the Rose, 2015, Film, 14 min 12 sec, BART0005 ART STAGE SINGAPORE 2015, January 22 - 25
ARNDT is pleased to announce its participation at Art Stage Singapore 2015, taking place from January 22 – 25. We are looking forward welcoming you at our Booth E13.
Artists exhibited:
Del Kathryn Barton, Gilbert & George, Rodel Tapaya, David LaChapelle & Jigger Cruz.
Venue:
Marina Bay Sands Convention Center | 10 Bayfront Avenue | Singapore 018956
Please click here to view the list of artworks.
ART STAGE SINGAPORE 22 - 25 January, 2015 
ART STAGE SINGAPORE 22 - 25 January, 2015 
ART STAGE SINGAPORE 22 - 25 January, 2015 
ART STAGE SINGAPORE 22 - 25 January, 2015 DEL KATHRYN BARTON
the highway is a disco
Solo exhibition at ARNDT Singapore
October 31 - December 6, 2015
Opening | Saturday | October 31, 2015, from 4 - 7 pm | at ARNDT Singapore
ARNDT is pleased to present its first solo exhibition by artist Del Karthyn Barton.
An accompanying hard cover book will be published by Arndt Art Agency A3 on the occasion of the exhibition.
ARNDT Singapore’s first solo exhibition by acclaimed Australian artist Del Kathryn Barton entitled 'the highway is a disco' represents the artist’s solo debut abroad. Earning countless accolades within her home country—including winning the prestigious annual portrait competition the Archibald Portrait Prize twice—Barton is considered one of the leading artists of her generation.
Best known for her highly detailed paintings filled with vibrantly adorned figurative imagery, Barton’s artistic strength and basis for creative exploration derives from her drawing talents. The precise, yet organic drawn line. Not dissimilar to the freehand simplicity displayed in the work of artists such as Egon Schiele or graphic Japanese animations, Barton boldly brings to life the outlines of female faces and bodies with architectural pens directly onto her canvases. Leaving no room for error or hesitation, each mark is intentional. The building blocks of her creations laid bare.
Barton’s meticulous ensuing processes involve, layer upon layer, the application of immaculate detail and technical dexterity via her signature acrylic and gouache finishes that offer a window into another realm. No part of the picture plane is left untouched. Countless confetti-like spots and dotting simulate the emittance of energy, presenting dense, populated compositions.
Barton’s visual lexicon invites viewers to explore the depths of a very particular, and at times alien, beauty. Disconcertingly intense, Barton’s uniquely elaborate and titillating scenes of cornucopia bring into focus inner worlds of feminine sexuality. A sustained tension between pleasure and unease, earthy delights and the fantastic are conveyed through bewildered looks of longing in the eyes of supernatural beings, contorted, elongated hands, and the combination of nudity with disarmingly girly adornment of ribbons, bows and bonnets. Here, childish innocence confronts transcendent libidinal states.
'the highway is a disco' continues Barton’s trajectory in navigating the language surrounding female existence and desire. The exhibition presents a new suite of major paintings, digital collages, sculptures and film. Barton’s signature diptych 'the cosmos is disco lust' (2015) presents three female figures in the throes of playful, psychedelic ecstasy, intertwined with various flora, fauna and coloured tendrils. Upon a cosmic backdrop, two empowered female deities ride a pair of kangaroos, seemingly floating amongst foliage, lily pads and the bright red flower of the waratah—an Australian native.
Such abundance continues in her pieces 'wild carrot dream', (2015), 'the highway is a disco', (2015) and
'within my pleats', (2015) whereby a menagerie of unclassifiable mystic creatures are juxtaposed by repetitive abstract patterning. Barton’s decorated version of euphoria engages in animist mythology directly in this new body of work.
Barton’s series of collages 'inside another land', (2015) apposes the female form with exotic flowers that appear like vulvas. Taking Hegel’s lead (in his Philosophy of Nature, Encyclopaedia of the Philosophical Sciences (1830)) orchids become anatomised. Florid orifices are conjoined with splayed legs and set against hallucinatory resonant patterns that recall Dadaist photomontages.
Her sculpture 'with flowers', (2015) pays homage to the history of women’s artmaking and the artistic practice of the late Louise Bourgeois. Made from bronze, this spider structure adorned with flowers is an ode to Bourgeouis’ towering sculpture 'Maman' (1999) that engages with the sphere of domestic nurture. The role of motherhood portrayed as at once beautiful and terrifying. The other sculpture in the show 'to feel', (2015) features a chaotic ball of disembodied baby arms reaching out in a variety of directions.
Perhaps the epitome of Barton’s quest to represent the ultimate act of love is in her film 'The Nightingale and the Rose', (2014). Evoking a beautiful sadness, Barton’s animated illustrations in the film bring to life the Irish playwright and poet Oscar Wilde’s eponymous dark fairy tale of unrequited love. The Nightingale and the Rose premiered at the Berlin International Film festival this year
Barton’s 'the highway is a disco' takes visitors on an imaginative journey that knows no bounds.
CV
Del Kathryn Barton has participated in many important group exhibitions that include: 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, 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 Centre, Buffalo, New York (2002).
Barton was awarded The Archibald Prize, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney twice, in 2013 and 2008, in addition to being nominated for a range of awards that include the Dobell Drawing Prize, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney (2007) and The Sulman Prize, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney (1995).
Barton produced the acclaimed film animation “Oscar Wilde’s The Nightingale and the Rose”–a haunting adaptation of Wilde's short story about the price of love – that made its world premiere at the 2015 Berlin International Film Festival and was screened at the 2015 Melbourne International Film Festival. Her film received critical acclaim and was awarded the Film Victoria Erwin Rado Award for Best Australian Short Film.
ARNDT Singapore
Gillman Barracks
9 Lock Road #03-21
Singapore 108937
Tel. +65 67340775
info@arndtberlin.com
PRESS
Artsy | The Surreal, Glimmering World of Del Kathryn Barton’s Women | 3 November 2015
DAILYSERVING | Del Kathryn Barton: The Highway Is a Disco at ARNDT Singapore | November 2015
Habitus Living | Del Kathryn Barton exhibits abroad at ARNDT Singapore | October 2015
Del Kathryn Barton I the highway is a disco I ARNDT Singapore I October 31 - December 6, 2015 
Del Kathryn Barton I the highway is a disco I ARNDT Singapore I October 31 - December 6, 2015 
Del Kathryn Barton I the highway is a disco I ARNDT Singapore I October 31 - December 6, 2015 
Del Kathryn Barton I the highway is a disco I ARNDT Singapore I October 31 - December 6, 2015 
Del Kathryn Barton I the highway is a disco I ARNDT Singapore I October 31 - December 6, 2015 
Del Kathryn Barton I the highway is a disco I ARNDT Singapore I October 31 - December 6, 2015 
Del Kathryn Barton I the highway is a disco I ARNDT Singapore I October 31 - December 6, 2015 
Del Kathryn Barton I the highway is a disco I ARNDT Singapore I October 31 - December 6, 2015 
Del Kathryn Barton I the highway is a disco I ARNDT Singapore I October 31 - December 6, 2015 
Del Kathryn Barton I the highway is a disco I ARNDT Singapore I October 31 - December 6, 2015 
Del Kathryn Barton I the highway is a disco I ARNDT Singapore I October 31 - December 6, 2015 
DEL KATHRYN BARTON THE HIGHWAY IS A DISCO (2015) DEL KATHRYN BARTON THE HIGHWAY IS A DISCO (2015)
ARNDT is pleased to announce a new publication on Del Kathryn Barton, produced by A3 and published on the occasion of the artist's solo exhibition at ARNDT Singapore in 2015. The publication features text by Michael Young.
VIEW THE FULL PUBLICATION HERE.
Publisher: A3
Harcover: 133 pages
English
ISBN: 978-981-09-7125-0