Nicole Kelly
Born 1987, Sydney, Australia
Lives & Works – Woonona (Bellambi, Dharawal)
Kelly creates paintings that linger between the essence of a subject and the experience of being. Clouded by the romanticism of remembering, her paintings are imbued with experience captured in vibrant strokes of colour and with swift brushwork. Kelly’s works, informed by an interest in literature and the discipline of painting, cast moments of shared stillness in an atmosphere of light. She says of her works “my desire is to push painting beyond a surface likeness of any subject and into the realm of poetics”.
Winner of the prestigious Evelyn Chapman Art Award (2024), the Brett Whiteley Travelling Art Scholarship (2009) and the Hurford Hardwood Portrait Prize (2018), Kelly is well recognised for her landscape, portraiture and still life painting. She has undertaken residencies in France (2019, 2018, 2017, 2010) and Spain (2016) and has completed major public commissions for the Sutherland and St George Hospitals in Sydney. Her work has been selected for inclusion in the Lester Prize for Portraiture at the Art Gallery of WA (2019, 2018, 2017, 2015), Fisher's Ghost Art Award (2024, 2023), Goulburn Art Award (2024), Grace Cossington Smith Art Award (2023, 2022), Portia Geach Memorial Award (2021, 2020, 2019, 2015, 2014), Salon des Refusés (2023, 2020, 2019) and Wynne Prize at the Art Gallery of NSW (2015). Kelly’s work is held in the collections of the Moran Art Foundation and Lismore Regional Gallery, among others. She has also recently completed her Masters of Fine Art at the University of New South Wales researching contemporary painting and poetic literature.
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30 Years of Arthouse Gallery
7 - 21 December 2024Over the past three decades, Arthouse Gallery has distinguished itself as one of Australia's leading contemporary art galleries. Currently representing over forty artists, the gallery celebrates its 30th anniversary this...Read more -
Nicole Kelly
Changing Tides 30 May - 22 June 2024Nicole Kelly’s new series of paintings, ‘Changing Tides’, expands the artist’s ongoing exploration of her charged emotional response to being in the natural environment. Consistent with Kelly’s oeuvre, celebration rubs...Read more -
Arthouse Group Show
Summer – Part 1 9 - 27 January 2024Arthouse Gallery is delighted to begin 2024 with 'Summer' featuring a selection of new and exciting works from our stable of artists. This coming year features solo shows by newly–represented,...Read more -
Off–Site Exhibition
George Place 19 December 2023 - 29 February 2024George Place is an outstanding office precinct in the thriving hub of Sydney’s CBD. George Place hosts a series of inclusive events and activities to enhance the workday experience for...Read more
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Arthouse Group Show
Sydney Contemporary Collection 2023 – Booth F12 7 - 10 September 2023 -
Group Show
Paper 4 May - 10 June 2023'Paper & Clay' brings together the work of twenty-nine Australian artists traversing the timeless materiality of two enduring artforms. Unencumbered by dense conceptual wilderness, the works in this show posit...Read more -
Nicole Kelly
Margins of Imtimacy 18 August - 10 September 2022Nicole Kelly paints personal vignettes that materialise moments in time and space. Her beguiling scenes, both interior and landscape, form emotional and psychological cartographies tracing the artist’s own spatial experiences,...Read more -
Nicole Kelly
For What Binds 10 - 27 February 2021The deeply layered paintings of Nicole Kelly posit natural landscapes as receptacles of slanted human narratives. Her evolving visual language conjures emotional and psychological cartographies that trace the artist’s own...Read more
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Sydney Contemporary 2020 Group Show
1 - 24 October 2020 -
Nicole Kelly
It Remains 8 - 23 November 2019Nicole Kelly’s lyrical paintings limn land as a silent witness to multiple and overlapping human narratives. Based between Sydney and France, the artist reflects on how the landscape is a...Read more
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Nicole KellyBetween the two, 2024oil on polyester167.5 x 198 cm, 171 x 201 cm (framed)$16,000
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Nicole KellyWaterhole Gums, 2024oil on polyester167.5 x 198 cm, 171 x 201 cm (framed)$16,000
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Nicole KellyDance of march flies, 2024oil on polyester138 x 167 cm, 140.5 x 169.5 cm (framed)$11,500
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Nicole KellyOrange path, 2024oil on polyester138 x 167 cm, 140.5 x 169.5 cm (framed)$11,500
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Nicole KellyTraces of Winter, 2023oil on polyester121.5 x 137.5 cm, 123.5 x 139.5 cm (framed)$9,000
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Nicole KellySong To Bird Hour, 2023oil on polyester121.5 x 137.5 cm, 123.5 x 139.5 cm (framed)$9,000
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Nicole KellyTo the birds (Ribbon of River), 2019oil on polyester107 x 84.5 cm, 109.5 x 86.5 cm (framed)$6,800
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Nicole KellyWhite butterflies, 2024oil on polyester51 x 46 cm, 53.5 x 48.5 cm (framed)$4,500
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Nicole KellyBlue Moonah, 2024oil monoprint on paper76 x 56 cm, 90 x 71 cm (framed)$3,200
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Nicole KellyPink Clouds, 2024oil monoprint on paper76 x 56 cm, 90 x 71 cm (framed)$3,200
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Nicole KellyBlack Cockatoos, 2023oil monoprint on paper76 x 56 cm, 86 x 66 cm (framed)$3,200
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Nicole KellyBy Light, 2023oil monoprint on paper76 x 56 cm, 86 x 66 cm (framed)$3,200
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Nicole KellyPatterns in Red, 2023oil monoprint on paper76 x 56 cm, 86 x 66 cm (framed)$3,200
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Nicole KellyLake Holding, 2023oil monoprint on paper76 x 56 cm, 86 x 66 cm (framed)$3,200
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Nicole KellyBefore the Night, 2023oil monoprint on paper76 x 56 cm, 86 x 66 cm (framed)$3,200
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Nicole KellyLooking Back, 2023charcoal on paper76 x 56 cm, 86 x 66 cm (framed)
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Nicole KellyTrees Over River, 2023gouache on paper76 x 56 cm (unframed)Sold
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Nicole KellyFrom the Window, 2024oil monoprint on paper38 x 27.5 cm, 50.5 x 40 cm (framed)$1,800
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Nicole KellyIn Rain, 2024oil monoprint on paper38 x 27.5 cm, 50.5 x 40 cm (framed)$1,800
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Nicole KellyReflected Trees, 2024oil on antique tin22 x 22 x 4 cm$1,250
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Nicole KellyBooks and Windows, 2022oil on polyester168 x 198.5 cm, 170 x 200.5 cm (framed)$14,000
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Nicole KellyBrick Balcony, 2022oil on polyester168 x 198.5 cm, 170 x 200.5 cm (framed)$14,000
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Exhibition Calendar 2024
2024ARTHOUSE GALLERY ANNOUNCES A DYNAMIC AND EXCITING EXHIBITION CALENDAR FOR 2024 Arthouse Gallery is delighted to announce our dynamic exhibition program for 2024. This coming...Read more -
Nicole Kelly wins The Evelyn Chapman Art Award 2024
S.H. Ervin Gallery 25 October 2024We are thrilled to announce that Nicole Kelly has won the prestigious Evelyn Chapman Art Award. Presented to an Australian painter under 45 every two...Read more -
Multiple artists announced as finalists in the Fisher's Ghost Art Award 2024
Campbelltown Arts Centre 24 September 2024We are thrilled to share that ten of our artists have been announced as finalists in the prestigious Fisher's Ghost Art Award 2024. Congratulations to...Read more -
Nicole Kelly selected as a finalist for the Goulburn Art Award 2024
Goulburn Regional Art Gallery 17 May 2024Nicole Kelly has been announced as a finalist in the Goulburn Art Award 2024 for her stunning work 'Song to Bird Hour'. Judged by Bree...Read more
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Arthouse Gallery artists part of Women for Change
Sibyl Centre, Womens College at the University of Sydney. 22 February 2024Arthouse Gallery is delighted to be participating in a major fundraising event for Women for Change. The inaugural IGNITE Art Show is a silent auction...Read more -
Kate Dorrough and Nicole Kelly announced as finalists in the Grace Cossington Smith Art Award 2024
Grace Cossington Smith Gallery, Abbotsleigh 25 January, 2024Kate Dorrough and Nicole Kelly have been announced as finalists in the highly acclaimed Grace Cossington Smith Art Award 2024. The Grace Cossington Smith Art...Read more -
The Fishers Ghost Award selects multiple Arthouse Gallery artists as finalists
Susan Baird, Jo Bertini, Kate Dorrough, Nicole Kelly and Amelia Lynch 28 October – 8 December 2023The prestigious Fishers Ghost Award has announced its finalists for 2023 with five Arthouse Gallery artists announced in the selection. Susan Baird, Jo Bertini, Kate...Read more -
Nicole Kelly selected as a finalist in the Hazelhurst Art on Paper Award
Hazelhurst Arts Centre 16 September 2023Nicole Kelly has been announced as a finalist in the Hazelhurst Art on Paper Award, a highly acclaimed national art prize that aims to celebrate...Read more
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Nicole Kelly featured in group exhibition 'Life is Beautiful' in Singapore
Art Porters, Singapore 13 May — 2 July 2023On display at Art Porters, Singapore 13 May — 2 July 2023 Nicole Kelly is a feature artist in 'Life is Beautiful' a LGBTQ-friendly group...Read more -
Nicole Kelly & Joshua Yeldham Selected for Salon des Refusés
S.H. Ervin Gallery 6 May – 23 July 23Nicole Kelly All I See – Lauren, Poppy & Our Baby, oil on polyester, 122 x 137.5 cm The Salon des Refusés was initiated by...Read more
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Colourful identity emerges from shadowy figures
Adam Fulton, Sydney Morning Herald, 11 September 2009 -
Podcast Interview, Talking with Painters — Nicole Kelly
Maria Stoljar, Talking with Painters, 4 August 2019 -
Nicole Kelly — Issue 49
Eleanor Zeichner, Artist Profile, 1 November 2019 -
Artist Feature — Nicole Kelly
Cultiver, 9 November 2022