Del Kathryn Barton has created twenty-two dazzling portraits that provide intimate windows into the artist’s personal world. In her new series of works on paper, the faces of young women, friends and the artist’s multiple selves stare out at us, daubed with pops of vivid colour from within glitzy frames.

Exhibition Dates: 6 October – 28 October 2017

In soft river yr girl, Del Kathryn Barton has created twenty-two dazzling portraits that provide intimate windows into the artist’s personal world. In her new series of works on paper, the faces of young women, friends and the artist’s multiple selves stare out at us, daubed with pops of vivid colour from within glitzy frames. 

With broader brushstrokes and wet visceral lines, Barton has moved away from the detailed galaxies of tessellated expanses, letting go of strict formalities to employ thicker, expressive lines that draw attention to the wide-eyed gaze of her fantasy figures. As we look at them and they look at us, the gaze compels the viewer to consider their own position within the work, allowing us into the artist’s world with freer expression.

For Barton, the eye has always been a significant symbol and we are often dazzled with multiple seeing eyes: an eye into the artist’s fantastical world, an inner eye, a spiritual, watchful eye always looking and ultimately signalling a subversion of the expected viewer /subject relationship as well as providing an entry point into an alternate realm. Here these flat, pressed-to-glass women  - whimsical creatures  - staring glassy eyed at the viewer – also allude to a younger self, a naivety, a time gone by, the transition to womanhood and ultimately feminine mystery and power.

As line and brushstroke take precedence over narrative, the artist finds release from her own traditions and we discover the addition of new materials – spray paint scattered across the picture surface and over the frames, together with the use of blank, empty space. Stripped back, liberated and unrestrained, soft river yr girl provides insight into the artist’s own life, figures from real-life fairy tales as well as the artist’s own personal and creative anguish. Touching on themes of loss and grief, the work is potently self-referential and personal, yet like all of Barton’s work it bubbles with boundless energy and magic.

—Victoria Scott



Del Kathryn Barton will present a major solo exhibition titled The Highway is a Disco at the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne in November of this year (2017). Earlier this year, Barton debuted her latest film RED at the Art Gallery of South Australia as part of the Adelaide Festival, later exhibited as part of the Sydney Film Festival and Melbourne International Film Festival (2017). In 2013, Barton was awarded the Art Gallery of New South Wales’ Archibald Prize for the second time with a portrait of actor Hugo Weaving. In 2012, a solo exhibition of Barton’s work was presented at the Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne. She has also been included in notable group exhibitions, such as Dark Heart, 2014 Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide (2014), Express Yourself, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne (2014), Australia: Contemporary Voices, The Fine Art Society, London. (2013), Louise Bourgeois and Australian Artists, Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne (2012), Theatre of the World, Museum of Old and New Art, Hobart (2012), Lightness and Gravity, Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane (2012), Wilderness, Balnaves Contemporary Painting, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney (2010), Feminism Never Happened, Institute of Modern Art (IMA), Brisbane (2010) and Contemporary Australia: Optimism, Queensland Art Gallery Triennale, Queensland (2009). In 2015, Barton was awarded the AFTRS Creative Fellowship, following on from her directorial debut with The Nightingale and the Rose (2015). This film was presented in Barton’s major solo exhibition Del Kathryn Barton: The Nightingale and the Rose with the Australian Centre for the Moving Image, Melbourne (2016). Barton was awarded Screen Australia’s Gender Matters funding in 2016 and selected as a finalist in the Bowness Prize, 2017.

Barton’s work is represented in major museum collections in Australia, including the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane, the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, the Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide and the Museum of Old and New Art, Tasmania.

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Del Kathryn Barton skip to my lou, my darling, 2017; acrylic, spray paint on French linen; 100 x 80 cm; enquire
skip to my lou, my darling, 2017
acrylic, spray paint on French linen
100 x 80 cm
Del Kathryn Barton boom we go our separate ways, 2017; ink and acrylic on hot press paper; 80.5 x 60.5 cm; enquire
boom we go our separate ways, 2017
ink and acrylic on hot press paper
80.5 x 60.5 cm
Del Kathryn Barton and burst together, 2017; ink and acrylic on hot press paper; 80.5 x 60.5 cm; enquire
and burst together, 2017
ink and acrylic on hot press paper
80.5 x 60.5 cm
Del Kathryn Barton for realies...you killed my flow, 2017; ink and acrylic on hot press paper; 80.5 x 60.5 cm; enquire
for realies...you killed my flow, 2017
ink and acrylic on hot press paper
80.5 x 60.5 cm
Del Kathryn Barton if you leave with me - the big kids started hugging me, 2017; ink and acrylic on hot press paper; 80.5 x 60.5 cm; enquire
if you leave with me - the big kids started hugging me, 2017
ink and acrylic on hot press paper
80.5 x 60.5 cm
Del Kathryn Barton i would rather be crazy, 2017; acrylic, spray paint on French linen; 100 x 80 cm; enquire
i would rather be crazy, 2017
acrylic, spray paint on French linen
100 x 80 cm
Del Kathryn Barton thats me and mummy, 2017; ink and acrylic on hot press paper; 80.5 x 60.5 cm; enquire
thats me and mummy, 2017
ink and acrylic on hot press paper
80.5 x 60.5 cm
Del Kathryn Barton the end of it, 2017; ink and acrylic on hot press paper; 80.5 x 60.5 cm; enquire
the end of it, 2017
ink and acrylic on hot press paper
80.5 x 60.5 cm
Del Kathryn Barton turn it into a river - baby, 2017; ink and acrylic on hot press paper; 80.5 x 60.5 cm; enquire
turn it into a river - baby, 2017
ink and acrylic on hot press paper
80.5 x 60.5 cm
Del Kathryn Barton must get this right, 2017; ink and acrylic on hot press paper; 80.5 x 60.5 cm; enquire
must get this right, 2017
ink and acrylic on hot press paper
80.5 x 60.5 cm
Del Kathryn Barton she yrs for bubbles, 2017; ink and acrylic on hot press paper; 80.5 x 60.5 cm; enquire
she yrs for bubbles, 2017
ink and acrylic on hot press paper
80.5 x 60.5 cm
Del Kathryn Barton it's ok - it's ok - it's ok, 2017; ink and acrylic on hot press paper; 80.5 x 60.5 cm; enquire
it's ok - it's ok - it's ok, 2017
ink and acrylic on hot press paper
80.5 x 60.5 cm
Del Kathryn Barton come through with alcohol get in the pool some place nobody knows about, 2017; ink and acrylic on hot press paper; 80.5 x 60.5 cm; enquire
come through with alcohol get in the pool some place nobody knows about, 2017
ink and acrylic on hot press paper
80.5 x 60.5 cm
Del Kathryn Barton you are going to need a warm coat, 2017; ink and acrylic on hot press paper; 80.5 x 60.5 cm; enquire
you are going to need a warm coat, 2017
ink and acrylic on hot press paper
80.5 x 60.5 cm
Del Kathryn Barton would you still love me, 2017; ink and acrylic on hot press paper; 80.5 x 60.5 cm; enquire
would you still love me, 2017
ink and acrylic on hot press paper
80.5 x 60.5 cm
Del Kathryn Barton i love and value you so much - who are you - oh ok, 2017; ink and acrylic on hot press paper; 80.5 x 60.5 cm; enquire
i love and value you so much - who are you - oh ok, 2017
ink and acrylic on hot press paper
80.5 x 60.5 cm
Del Kathryn Barton just overwhelmed, 2017; ink and acrylic on hot press paper; 80.5 x 60.5 cm; enquire
just overwhelmed, 2017
ink and acrylic on hot press paper
80.5 x 60.5 cm
Del Kathryn Barton have her meet me there, 2017; ink and acrylic on hot press paper; 80.5 x 60.5 cm; enquire
have her meet me there, 2017
ink and acrylic on hot press paper
80.5 x 60.5 cm
Del Kathryn Barton the bright shiny girl - high gloss, 2017; ink and acrylic on hot press paper; 80.5 x 60.5 cm; enquire
the bright shiny girl - high gloss, 2017
ink and acrylic on hot press paper
80.5 x 60.5 cm
Del Kathryn Barton the kiss in her eyes, 2017; ink and acrylic on hot press paper; 80.5 x 60.5 cm; enquire
the kiss in her eyes, 2017
ink and acrylic on hot press paper
80.5 x 60.5 cm
Del Kathryn Barton the she - rainbowed joining, 2017; ink and acrylic on hot press paper; 80.5 x 60.5 cm; enquire
the she - rainbowed joining, 2017
ink and acrylic on hot press paper
80.5 x 60.5 cm
Del Kathryn Barton as a child - the light in the eyes of others, 2017; ink and acrylic on hot press paper; 80.5 x 60.5 cm; enquire
as a child - the light in the eyes of others, 2017
ink and acrylic on hot press paper
80.5 x 60.5 cm
Del Kathryn Barton who they were, 2017; ink and acrylic on hot press paper; 80.5 x 60.5 cm; enquire
who they were, 2017
ink and acrylic on hot press paper
80.5 x 60.5 cm
Del Kathryn Barton my lens is firmly fixed, 2017; ink and acrylic on hot press paper; 80.5 x 60.5 cm; enquire
my lens is firmly fixed, 2017
ink and acrylic on hot press paper
80.5 x 60.5 cm
Del Kathryn Barton soft river yr girl, 2017; sculpture medium - bronze; plinth medium - spray paint on wood; sculpture size - 64x 20 x 20cm; plinth size - 100 x 40 x 40x 40 cm; enquire
soft river yr girl, 2017
sculpture medium - bronze; plinth medium - spray paint on wood
sculpture size - 64x 20 x 20cm; plinth size - 100 x 40 x 40x 40 cm