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Mia Oatley's Artist Statement

Mia OatleyMy father instilled in me a love of the Impressionists and French culture when I was a child. I spent hours drawing from books on Degar and Manet. I studied visual art at the University of Western Sydney and then Fashion Design at East Sydney Tech. Taking all of the conceptual knowledge and design skills from the other 2 courses I then went on to study at the National art School, majoring in painting. Whilst studying I began traveling the world, and have visited Parts of South America, Asia and Europe. The essence of the people, and the textures from their surrounding environments have been a great source of inspiration to me. I traveled to Europe in 2005 and after traveling around France, Spain and Italy. I immediately fell in love with Paris, and almost directly after arriving I was offered a studio to work in, in a squat called La Generale. From June 2005 the city of Paris and its inhabitants have been my primary source of inspiration. In my first year I created a series of portraits and abstract landscapes inspired by people who were an important part of my life and also the textures, colours and materials from the Paris Metro. After exhibiting the work in Australia with Richard Martin I returned To Paris and have lived here and continued to expand on my work. Exploring different methods such as light box’s and collages as well as paintings that are inspired by People who have impacted my life here. I have also taken images of people from French Newspapers who are involved in current affairs events. Weather I know the person I am portraying personally or find them in the paper is irrelevant, it is the gravity of human experience that most interests me.

 

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Curriculum Vitae

Born Sydney, 1977

History

1995 University of Western Sydney (Visual Arts) 1996 - 1997 East Sydney Technical College (Fashion Design) 1998 Traveled and lived in South America 1999 Traveled to India and Nepal 2002 - 2004 The National Art School, Sydney (Fine Art)

Solo Exhibitions

2008 Nivet-carzon - “dog days” Paris 2008 Richard Martin Art, Sydney - “Hotel Paris” 2006 Richard Martin Art, Sydney - “Paris Metro” 2006 Belleville Art Festival, La General, Paris 2005 Orson & Blake Gallery, Sydney - “International Woman” 2004 Orson & Blake Gallery, Sydney - “Women & Fast Cars” 2003 Global Gallery, Sydney - “Monsoon”

Group Exhibitions

2009 Art Sydney Alphabet Foundation 2009 Art Melbourne Spring Street GalleryArt Quake, Charity Auction , Sydney 2008 spring street gallery 2006 Art Quake, Charity Auction , Sydney 2005 La Palais De Tokyo, Paris - Collaboration with Philippe Munda for Standard Magazine 2005 Richard Martin Art, Sydney - “Young Guns 05” 2005 Sydney Affordable Art Fair, Global Gallery, Sydney 2004 SH Ervin Gallery, Sydney - Portia Geach Memorial Award 2004 Waverly Art Prize Exhibition, Sydney 2004 FONAS Exhibition, Cell Block, National Art School, Sydney 2004 Medium Rare Gallery, Sydney - “Zipper Gripper” 2004 The National Art School, Sydney - “Does Size Matter” 2003 Global Gallery, Sydney – June Exhibition 2003 Global Gallery, Sydney – March Exhibition 2001 Tap Gallery, Sydney - “Poets & Painters” 2001 Tap Gallery, Sydney - “Fluro” 2001 Sky Gardens, Sydney - Group Exhibition

Residences

2005-2006 12 Month Residency - La General Art Collective, Paris

Awards

2004 The Chroma Paints Award, Sydney 2004 Finalist Paris Studio Residency - The National Art School, Sydney

Media Reviews

2008 19 Nov, Wentworth Courier - Collector, ‘Gallery shines a little radiance on bleak times’ Review 2008 5 Dec, Manly Daily - Alive, ‘Parisian Flair’ Review (Rod Bennet) 2008, Sunday Life, ‘GEN X-PAT’ Review (Klaudvna Morawski - Ed.) 2006 11 Oct, Wentworth Courier, ‘Paris Metro’ Review (Shaun Ellis) 2006 10 Oct, Radio interview - Eastside 89.7FM Arts Tuesday (Sean O’Brien) 2006 27 Sept, Sydney Morning Herald, ‘Paris Metro’ (James Cockington) 2006 22 Sept, Sydney Morning Herald, ‘Paris Metro’ (Jamie Pandaram) 2006 9 Sept, MX Magazine, “Paris Metro” (Shoboa Rao) 2006 28 Aug, The Daily Telegraph, “A Ticket to Ride” (Jenny Jones) 2005 9 Jun, The Daily Telegraph, In The Frame, “Young Guns” 2004 19 Mar, Sydney Morning Herald, Spotlight Modern Art, “Zipper Gripper” (Alan Mascarenhas) 2004 21 Feb, Sydney Morning Herald, Critics Choice, “Women and Fast Cars” (Dominique Angeloro)

Corporate Collections

Sirius International, Sydney; Believe Media, Los Angeles; Creative Artists Agency, Los Angeles; Down Town Productions, New York

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