DEBRA DAWES
  • Exhibitions
    • Skin Deep
    • Measure
    • At Her Majesty's Pleasure
    • Complete?
    • Blind Faith
    • Double-dealing
    • Cover up
    • Everydaynow
    • clock wise
    • Afterthought Series 2
    • Glare
    • Lifting the Sky
    • Trace of Passage
    • Afterthought Series 1
    • Gray Spectra
    • Gingham
    • Starlite
    • On the Edge
    • Dazzle
    • Houndstooth
    • Anticipating
    • Between Certitude & Flux
    • Abstract Painting 1989
    • Abstract Painting 1988
  • Catalogues
  • CV
  • Bibliography
  • Contact

​BIOGRAPHY

1955


EDUCATION
1994 - 2000
1984 - 85
1980 - 82
1979

SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2020
​2018
2017
​2015
​
2014
​2012
2010
                      

2008
2006
2005

2004
2002
2001
2000
1999
1997
1996
1995
1993
1992 
1991
1989
1988
1987
1986
1983

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2017-2019


​
​2016 -2017
​
2016
​​
2015​

​​
2014

​
​​2013 - 2015



2013




2012






​2011

2010





2008


2007


2006


2005
2004



​
2003
2002

2001



2000 

1998

1997-1998
1996-1998
1997

1996
1994

1992
1991

1990 -1991
1990
​1989
1987
1985
1984
1983
1982





​

Born Goondiwindi, Queensland, Australia
Currently lives and works in Coledale, Murrurundi and Sydney, New South Wales


Doctor of Creative Arts, University of Wollongong
Postgraduate Diploma in Painting, Sydney College of the Arts
Diploma in Art, Newcastle College of Advanced Education
Art Certificate, Newcastle TAFE


Skin Deep, ​Yavuz Gallery, Sydney
​Measure (ii), ​Survey Exhibition, Wollongong Art Gallery
​Measure, Survey Exhibition, Tamworth Regional Gallery
Neurotica, Folonomo, Sydney
Debra Dawes, Weswal Gallery, Tamworth

​At Her Majesty’s Pleasure: Tattoo Gun, Drawing Room, Sydney
​At Her Majesty’s Pleasure 2011, Turner Galleries, Perth
At Her Majesty’s Pleasure 2010, Gallery Barry Keldoulis, Sydney
Complete?, Gallery Barry Keldoulis, Sydney
Open studio – Untitled, Gallery Barry Keldoulis, Sydney
Blind Faith, Gallery Barry Keldoulis, Sydney
Cover up, Gallery Barry Keldoulis, Sydney
Everydaynow, Drill Hall Gallery, Australian National University, Canberra
clock wise, SCA Galleries, University of Sydney
clock wise, Gallery Barry Keldoulis, Sydney
Afterthought, Sherman Galleries Hargrave, Sydney
Glare, Sherman Galleries Goodhope, Sydney
Afterthought, Robert Lindsay Gallery, Melbourne
Lifting the Sky, Sherman Galleries Goodhope, Sydney
Trace of Passage, Robert Lindsay Gallery, Melbourne
Gray Spectra, Sherman Galleries Goodhope, Sydney
Gingham, Robert Lindsay Gallery, Melbourne
Starlite, Art Gallery of New South Wales & Wollongong City Gallery
On the Edge, Deutscher Fine Art, Melbourne
Houndstooth, Mori Gallery, Sydney
Abstract Painting 1989, Mori Gallery, Sydney
Abstract Paintings, Mori Gallery & George Paton Gallery, Melbourne
Psychedelia and Other States, Mori Gallery 
Three Narratives: An Autobiography, Union Street Gallery, Sydney
Drawing and Paintings, A-Weg Gallery, Groningen, The Netherlands



Abstraction: Celebrating Australian women abstract artists, curated by Lara Nicholls, ​National Gallery of Australia, touring nationally
Visions of Utopia,
​curated by Andrew Christofides, touring: Wollongong Art Gallery and Penrith Regional Art Gallery
​Op Art, Brenda May Gallery, Sydney
​Returning to the Field #2, SNO Contemporary Art Projects, Sydney
​Doing Time, Verge Gallery, Sydney, devised by Sydney Law School and the Sydney Institute of Criminology
​Tactical Imaginary, curated by Gary Sangster, SCA Galleries, Sydney College of the Arts, Sydney
​Painting 1, William Wright Artists Projects, Sydney
​Forcefields, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
de colori..., William Wright Artists Projects, Sydney
106: Returning to the Field, 
 SNO Contemporary Art Projects, Sydney
​Luminous World: Contemporary Art from the Wesfarmers Collection, 
curated by Helen Carroll Fairhall, Touring: Charles Darwin University Gallery, Darwin,
National Library of Australia, Canberra, Samstag Museum of Art, Adelaide, 
Ian Potter Museum of Art, Melbourne
Abstracting the Collection: From the Cruthers Collection of Women’s Art, 
Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery, University of Western Australia, Perth
Camouflage Cultures: Surveillance, Communities, Aesthetics & Animals, 
curated by Ann Elias and Nicholas Tsoutas, SCA Galleries, Sydney College of the Arts,
Sydney
Coral: art, science, life, curated by Jude Philp, collaboration with  Jacky Redgate,
Macleay Museum, Sydney University, Sydney 
The Baker’s Dozen, curated by Lorna Grear, UTS Gallery, University of Technology,
Sydney
New 2011: Selected recent acquisitions, curated by Michele Helmrich & Samantha Littley,
UQ Art Museum, St Lucia, Queensland
Abstraction 11, Charles Nodrum Gallery, Melbourne
Twining: Weaving and Abstraction, curated by Fiona MacDonald and 
Karen Mills, 24hr Art, Darwin
SNO/ONS, SNO Contemporary Art Projects, Sydney
Redlands Westpac Art Prize, Mosman Art Gallery, Sydney
gbk @ Hong Kong Art Fair 
gbk @ Melbourne Art Fair
An Oeuvre both Abundant and Diverse, SCA Galleries, Sydney College of the Arts,
Sydney
gbk @ Hong Kong Art Fair
gbk @ Melbourne Art Fair
Open Gallery (retrospective), Art & About, City of Sydney, Sydney
Cross Currents: Focus on Contemporary Australian Art, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney
gbk @ Silvershot, Melbourne
Come hither: Interpretations of the boudoir, Wagga Wagga Art Gallery
21st Century Modern: 2006 Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art, Art Gallery of South
Australia, Adelaide
gbk @ Melbourne Art Fair, Royal Exhibition Building, Melbourne
International Painting on Paper, Gallery Barry Keldoulis, Sydney
Open Gallery, Art & About, 2004, City of Sydney
Sight-Seeing, War Memorial Art Gallery, Sydney College of the Arts
Talking About Abstraction, Ivan Dougherty Gallery, The University of New South Wales,
Sydney
Sight-Seeing, Central Academy of Fine Arts, Down Town Gallery, Beijing, China
Shangrila Collective, Artspace, Woolloomoloo, Sydney
Good Vibrations, Heidi Museum of Modern Art, Bulleen, Melbourne
Group Exhibition, Sherman Galleries, Sydney
Phenomena: New Painting in Australia, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Ian Potter Museum of Art, University of Melbourne 
Group Exhibition, Sherman Galleries, Sydney
Group Exhibition, Sherman Galleries, Sydney
Suburb, Museum of Sydney, Sydney
On The Brink: Abstraction of the 90s, Heide Museum of Modern Art, Bulleen, Melbourne
VERVE: An exhibition of Visual Poetry and Poetic Visuals, S. H. Ervin Gallery, 
National Trust of Australia, for the Sydney Writer’s Festival
Containment, Plimsoll Gallery, University of Tasmania, Hobart
Flagging the Republic, Sherman Galleries regional gallery tour
Geometric Painting in Australia 1941-1997, University Art Museum, University of Queensland, Brisbane
Ornamentalism, Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane, Cairns Regional Gallery
Anon, collaboration with Jacky Redgate, Sherman Galleries, Sydney 
The John McCaughey Memorial Art Prize, National Gallery of Victoria
Reinventing the Grid, Robert Lindsay Gallery, Melbourne
Wish Hard, Biennale of Sydney Satellite, Wollongong City Gallery
Rules for Drawing, Mori Gallery, Sydney
Microcosm, Garry Anderson Gallery, Sydney
The Subversive Stitch, Monash University Gallery Melbourne and Mori Annexe, Sydney
 Abstraction, Art Gallery of New South Wales and touring
Pure, Queensland College Art Gallery, Brisbane
Architecture of Light, Mori Gallery, Sydney
Pure, Mori Gallery, Sydney 
Australian Perspecta, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
Colour Blind, Mori Gallery, Sydney
​Feminist Narratives, George Paton Gallery, University of Melbourne
Joint Show, Union Street Gallery, Sydney
Last Past the Postism, Art Unit, Sydney
Installation in collaboration with Jelle van den Berg, Academia del Arte Florence, Italy
​Curatorial Committee and Exhibitor in Women and Arts Festival, Gallery 62, Newcastle

COLLECTIONS

National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth
Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane
New England Regional Art Museum, Armidale, NSW
Powerhouse Museum, Sydney
University of Wollongong, NSW
Murdoch University, Perth
UQ Art Museum, University of Queensland
Artbank, Sydney
Macquarie Bank, Sydney
Allen, Allen & Hemsley
News Limited, Australia
Wesfarmers Arts, Perth 
Cruthers Collection of Women’s Art, Perth

GRANTS & AWARDS

2010 Redlands Westpac Art Prize, Highly Commended
2004 Recipient of Australia Council Grant
1997 Recipient of Australia Council Grant
1994 Recipient of Australia Council Grant
1990 Recipient of Australia Council Grant