Clare McFarlane

Image source Art Collective WA

Clare McFarlane was born in the small country town of Kojonup, but has lived on Perth since 1990. She has completed a Masters and an Honours Degree in Fine Art from Curtin University, where she also completed a Graduate Diploma in Cultural Heritage. She has held many solo exhibitions in Perth and Melbourne and participated in multiple group shows. She has also completed laneway and street art commissions for Form, the city of Perth and the City of Subiaco. Her work can be found in numerous collections including the City of Perth, Cruthers Collection at UWA, Janet Holmes à Court Collection, Edith Cowan University Collection, Curtin University, Artbank, City of Wanneroo, Joondalup Hospital, Bureau of Statistics, and Alinta Gas.

Clare’s paintings have been investigating William Morris inspired patterns as metaphors for a romanticised past. Into these paintings she incorporates elements of fragility and femininity from the past and the present, using Australian flora and fauna to signify the creation of a new Australian identity that doesn’t sit comfortably with the viewer.

Most of these paintings were created in painstaking detail, every feather, petal and butterfly wing captured in an extraordinary likeness. However, her work over the past three years reflects some of the changes in her life and has become looser, a freer approach to painting. Whist the paintings still contain patterning, birds, insects and plants, they are not as restrained and detailed as before.

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