Anwen Keeling (b.1976, Sydney) completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts (First Class Honours) at the Australian National University, Canberra (1998). Keeling continued her studies, completing a Masters of Art (European Fine Art) from the Winchester School of Art, South Hampton University, Barcelona, Spain (2001).
Anwen Keeling’s realist paintings capture suspended moments in fictional lives with a reverence for the classic Hollywood / Hitchcockian film noir genre of the early 1940s and late 1950s. As an accomplished technician, her genre of heightened realism reveals an adept skill in truthfully depicting the body in space through the use of linear perspective and tight composition. Working largely from photographs and sketches of models, Keeling captures the intensity of the female and male figures in isolated interiors. The rich chiaroscuro effects of subtle light and deep, inky shadows accentuate the drama and suggest an emotional and physiological undercurrent. Despite her painting’s almost photo-realist quality, Keeling never denies the painterly quality of her works whereby the brushwork and the thin layering of oil and varnish still remain present on the surface.
Keeling has been a regular participant in group shows and prizes. Keeling’s painting have been selected for The Year in Art (2003), and the Salon des Refuses (2004) at the SH Ervin Gallery, The National Trust, Sydney. The portrait of the Sydney radio hosts Merrick Watts and Tim Ross (Merrick and Rosso) was exhibited in the Doug Moran National Portrait Prize (2004) at the State Library of New South Wales. She was awarded the ABN AMRO Emerging Artist Award (Employee’s Choice) (2007) for her painting, Marnie, and was selected as finalist in the Sulman Prize (2010) at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, and once again in 2011 for her painting of the elite sport horse Copabella Visage.
In late 2010, Keeling was commissioned by the University of Notre Dame to paint the Chancellery – His Eminence Cardinal Pell, the Honourable John Howard and the Vice Chancellor Emeritus Professor Peter Tannock.
Keeling has exhibited her work in numerous solo exhibitions including Swathered (1999) at Span Galleries, Melbourne; Allegory (2001) at Panorama Gallery, Barcelona, Spain; Languor (2005) at Art Galleries Schubert, Queensland; and The Falling Dark (2007), Shadow of a Doubt (2009) and Sporthorse (2011) at Liverpool Street Gallery, Sydney.
Keeling’s work is represented in the collections of the National Australia Bank and the Australian National University, Canberra, regional galleries including Tweed River Regional Art Gallery and the Gold Coast City Art Gallery, as well as private collections in Australia, the United States of America, Hong Kong and the United Kingdom.
Anwen Keeling lives and works in Sydney and is a lecturer in painting and life drawing at The College of Fine Arts, University of New South Wales and The National Art School, Sydney.
- Writers:
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liverpoolstreetgallery
- Date written:
- 2013
- Last updated:
- 2013
