Kathrin Longhurst’s visual language collides with the starting point of her own journey, as a child of the cold-war era, who has been to both sides of the iron-curtain.
The contrast between war-propaganda imagery and glamorous promises of the other side of the wall, have been the inspirations of her early works. Longhurst reconsidered war propaganda aesthetics with ‘flying’ female warriors, in place of fearsome male figures of power. Her early works aim to bend the visual paradigm of men and women at war, imposed by the patriarchal power structures of the past. Longhurst’s initial approach is self-observational, rewriting the recent history to empower the idea of a gender-equal future.
‘Volatility’ has been given a new meaning with the arrival of the digital age, as the nuclear fear of the past has been suspended. Longhurst’s interest in the ethics of progression has inspired her to track the footsteps of other women’s journeys, to understand the future-challenges of digital natives. Women’s struggles are an important part of the undocumented history of our civilisation, carrying meaningful information to help analyse the mistakes of recent history and to avoid any fallacy of progression.
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2022
Mind-Field, Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne
2021
At the Edge of Realism, KIRK Gallery, Denmark
Fighting Spirit, Gallery One, Gold Coast
Indoctrinated, Nanda Hobbs Contemporary, Sydney
2020
Standing Strong, Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne
2019
Fighters and Dreamers, Gallery One, Gold Coast
Flights of Fancy, Nanda Hobbs Contemporary, Sydney
2018
Ode to Femme, Gallery One, Gold Coast
Protagonist, Nanda Hobbs Contemporary, Sydney
Into Thin Air, Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne
2016
Fading History, Nanda Hobbs Contemporary, Sydney
2014
Heroes and Villains, Art Equity, Sydney
2013
Women of the Revolution, Catherine Asquith Gallery, Melbourne
Children of the Revolution, Art Equity, Sydney
2012
Dear Comrade…, Catherine Asquith Gallery, Melbourne
2008
Dreams from Down Under, Dabbert Gallery, Florida
2007
Intimately, SOHO Galleries, Sydney
2006
Arthouse Hotel, Sydney
Tighes, Hill Gallery, Newcastle
La Belle Vie, SOHO Gallery, Sydney
2004
Divas, Salmon Galleries, Sydney
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2024
MIX 2024, KIRK Gallery, Aalborg, Denmark
2021
At the Edge of Realism, Kirk Gallery, Aalborg Denmark
Woman – Painting all over the World, European Museum of Contemporary Art (MEAM), Barcelona Spain
9×5, Nanda Hobbs, Sydney
2020
Summer Salon, Nanda Hobbs, Sydney
End of Year Exhibition, Gallery One, Queensland
The Portrait Project, Manly Art Gallery and Museum, Sydney
WOMAN, James Baird Gallery, Canada
Creator & Muse, online through 33 Contemporary, Chicago
Storytellers, Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne
2019
Painting the Figure Now, Wausau Museum of Contemporary Art, Wisconsin
Painting the Figure Now, Zhou B Art Centre, Chicago
The Nude, Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne
Secondary Meanings, Zhou B Art Centre, Chicago
Pintando Hoy – Painting Today, European Museum of Modern Art (MEAM), Barcelona
Mondo Tondo, Arcadia Gallery, Los Angeles
Beautiful Bizarre Prize Exhibition, Modern Eden Gallery, San Francisco
2018
About Peace, Maitland Regional Gallery, Hunter Valley
Animation Reimagined, Modern Eden Gallery, San Francisco
The Best of the Best, Gallery One, Gold Coast
2017
In Your Face, Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne
International Artist Grand Prix, Get Art Museum, Taipei, Taiwan
2015
Brave New World, Nanda Hobbs Contemporary, Sydney
Project [504], Sydney
2010
Divine Femme, Astras Galleries, Gold Coast
2008
Manyung Gallery, Mornington Peninsula
David Hart Galleries, Sunshine Coast, Queensland
2007
David Hart Galleries, Sunshine Coast, Queensland
2006
Contemporary Figures, Dabbert Gallery, Florida
2005
Looking inwards, Salmon Gallery, Sydney
2004
Figures, Faces and Landscapes, Tighes Hill Gallery, Newcastle
2003
Introducing the new SAUC, SAUC Gallery, Sydney
Splash, Manly Arts Festival, BASE Space, Sydney
Exhibiting with Portrait Artists Australia 2008 – 2013
Affordable Art Show/Art Sydney 2003, 2004, 2007, 2008
Affordable Art Show Melbourne 2004
COLLECTIONS
Kathrin’s work is included in corporate, public and private collections in Australia and internationally.
AWARDS
The Darling Prize 2020
Archibald Prize 2018, 2021 (winner Packing Room Prize 2021)
Doug Moran Portrait Prize 2017
Sir John Sulman Prize 2012
Percival Portrait Painting Prize 2016
Portia Geach Memorial Prize 2011, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2017 (winner People’s Choice Prize 2017), 2018, 2019, 2020
Black Swan Prize 2008, 2009
Mosman Art Prize 2009, 2012, 2016
Shirley Hannan National Portrait Award 2008
Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize 2018
KAAF Art Prize 2013, 2017
Willoughby Art Prize 2003
Northern Beaches Art Prize 2020 (winner open category 2020)
