del kathryn barton.

I received an email earlier today from one of my best friends who bravely traveled around the world, about a month ago, solo, to Australia. She sounds like she is having a marvelous time, so in honor of Amanda and her not being here for Christmas :( I wanted to share with you a contemporary Aussie artist that absolutely amazes me and will maybe fascinate you as well.
I first discovered Del Kathryn Barton when I was in school and came across a story about her in some art magazine. I tore the spreads out and have cherished the pages ever since. They were the only images I could find of her work at the time and only until 2008 when she was awarded the Archibald Prize has there been much info on her out there that I could get my hands on. I was initially drawn to work for it's line aesthetic (similar to Egon) and style, but her abrupt smuttiness certainly caught my attention. I have had the first picture below in a frame for quite some years now and you would be surprised how many people look at it and see right pass what it going on in there...

I believe many of the above paintings were done before Del had children or perhaps while she was pregnant. They have titles like, "As my own suckers began to swell & ripen I was anxious to learn from the other mothers" and "I was a little surprised to observe the mid-wife drive up in a hot-rod" and "the little one had become aware of the baby's presence".
Below are some works from her exhibitions at the Karen Woodbury Gallery.

And some more randoms... Oh I wish I could show them all! When is she going to publish a book? I would die to see the whole collection of her works, heck I might have to go to Australia just to see her work in person...well that wouldn't be so bad...

Merry Christmas Minger. ox