The Clayton Utz Art Partnership brings together a unique collaboration between two outstanding Australian artists and our firm.
Read more about this collaboration in an article published in Issue 43 of Artist Profile.
Each exhibition presents an opportunity to showcase the work of two contemporary artists in the offices of Clayton Utz. Our exhibition space offers a unique visual art experience for clients to get up close and personal with an amazing array of artwork. The uniquely curated program allows both artists to explore and display their work in one of Australia's leading corporate environments. Guests visiting the exhibition will have an opportunity to explore the artwork in an intimate and innovative environment.
Complementing the exhibition is an Artist-in-Residence experience within the Clayton Utz offices. This opportunity provides both artists and Clayton Utz a collaborative platform to explore the artistic process and allows us and our clients exclusive access to the artist and the creative process.
The Clayton Utz Art Partnership is a truly exciting initiative and demonstrates our pride as an Australian firm committed to the cultural sector, and the broader creative communities in which we live and work. We hope you enjoy being part of it.
Current Sydney Exhibition
Our Sydney office is pleased to present a duo of exhibitions by Ann Thomson and Madeleine Pfull. This intriguing pair of exhibitions celebrates two pioneering female Australian artists, generations apart, each expressive and gestural painters with unique visions in either landscape or portrait painting.
Ann Thomson is one of the most respected practising artists in Australia, a pioneer in person and practice.
Thomson rose to prominence in a period with only minimal recognition given to female artists – her peers were the likes of Fred Williams, Charles Blackman, Brett Whitely and John Olsen. She was one of the first artists to show at the iconic Watters Gallery, and also taught in all the major art schools. Thomson's career is “rich in experimentation and invention”– for her painting is about creativity and the quest to understand where creativity comes from. Her landscapes are not about specific places – they come more from memory and “having the knowledge that when you start painting the creative process begins.”
Impressively, young career artist Madeleine Pfull is herself a pioneer but on the international stage, having obtained representation by leading US gallery Salon Nino Mier even before her Australian career had gained full force. Experimentation and expressive creativity is also present in the works of Madeleine Pfull, who paints portraits of female characters caught in the midst of everyday activities. Pfull often creates dual portraits to explore the idea of the animated painting; this results in pictures that seem to come alive, whilst also slowing down the process of looking for the viewer.
As with Thomson's practice, process and development is of utmost importance to Madeleine Pfull. Sourcing costumes and props, dressing up, and photography are all part of Pfull's ‘pre-painting’ practice, with the resulting paintings a display of the complexity and richness of life.
Artists: Ann Thomson and Madeleine Pfull
Ann Thomson
Madeleine Pfull