Art2Muse

Artworks available to view in Sydney

Upcoming Exhibitions

• Art2Muse Exhibition at the Washhouse Gallery, Rozelle, Sydney 12th – 31st August 2008

• Art2Muse Exhibition at the Tom Dunne Gallery, Darlinghurst, Sydney 9th – 21st September 2008

Meredith Gaston is receiving international recognition for her enchanting paintings which are about telling stories, traveling and imagining - woven through recurrent themes of unusual animals, landscapes, and human relationships. Her travels in Italy and France are important creative references, and have in part inspired her paintings apparent in the warm, bold colours and the simplicity of form.


"This year's body of work celebrates my recent swan fetish and preoccupation with the similarities between us humans and our animal friends. On a recent trip to Berlin I fell in love with a group of Swans that were hanging out on a river in the trendy quarters of Kreuzberg. While I was having a picnic I watched the swans and was intrigued by their movements and their obvious personality. It didn't take long before the swans gathered almost at the end of the picnic rug, wanting to partake in some lasagna and cupcakes! I took regular walks down to visit them and have since developed a new character in my series: Ms Swan. Ms Swan is graceful and charming but a little cheeky. She loves long brunches, petal costumes and perhaps most of all she loves Mr Moose! Mr Moose is Ms Swan's love interest.. and while nothing more than the odd breakfast has been shared by the very well suited pair there is definitely talk about town!...

The saucepan folk were born from an interest in looking at how humans interact with, use and reinvent inanimate objects. I have recently been drawing faces as parts of commonplace household objects to show how there is always a little magic to be found in every little thing..no matter how banal it may initially seem. The recurring floral and gardenish imagery has been inspired by my grandmother Nora Gaston's wonderful garden where I find myself surrounded by prolific camelias and other marvellous and healthy blooms. There is a lovely pond full of fish, bird houses tucked in trees and a lovely old ladder to take you up to the top of the rock face where you can get a birds eye view of the flora and fauna below. Magic!

My art is about happiness and celebrates magic in its everyday sense. Much of the imagery links me to my childhood. Albert Camus said that as artists we are simply reproducing and expressing the first few images that touched us as children, or that first accessed our hearts. I am still enchanted by birds up in trees, people interacting with animals, houses tucked up on hillsides and of course faces and the way they communicate with other faces and environments. Travelling in wonderful places is also food for my imagination. My travels through Europe have been key visual references and have showed me many colours and shapes that have since organically appeared in my work.

I have been drawing faces since I could hold pencils and in their evolution these faces have become simplified. Their expressions are very sensitive. Sometimes it is a matter of centimeters between the eyes that render a look devastatingly sad or cheeky inquisitive or sleepy. Dick Bruna, the creator of Miffy, said the same thing about drawing his iconic rabbit, simple as two dots for eyes and a cross for a mouth. Sometimes I am moved by the expression that appears, loaded with pathos, boldness or loneliness, even sensuality.

I am also inspired by other female artists who explore and document their lives through their art. I am currently reading the autobiography of Melbourne artist Mirka Mora. Her journals are wonderful and divulge tales of love and clutter and commissions. Her loose, uninhibited lines and bold colour are gorgeous and brave. Joy Hester's inky faces and the naughty faces of Japanese illustrator/artist Yoshitomo Nara also inspire me. The published journals of Sabrina Ward Harrison are particularly special and always refresh me with their honesty and obvious homemadeness. I also admire wholeheartedly the whimsical subject matter and style of Marc Chagall and Cy Twombly.

I have had a very exciting year illustrating a cookbook alongside writer Monica Trapaga to be published next year with Penguin books. Drawing food has become a real passion and you might notice some eggs, peas and bacon stuck up "The Dreaming Tree" or a bit of crockery alongside the aforementioned lovebirds. I have been working on a number of exhibitions in Sydney, while selling work overseas with commissions from London, Tokyo, New Zealand, New York and Berlin. I have been fortunate to be included in such publications as Vogue Living, Harper's Bazaar, Inside Out magazine, Junior, Australian Parenting, The Village voice, MX, and several online American journals where my work was voted in the top 10 best gifts for children.

Over the last couple of months I have set up a studio in an old attic space in Kreuzberg, Berlin, from which I am currently working. Berlin is a beautiful and buzzing city that continues to inspire me daily with its unusual charms.

I endeavour to set off on more travels to gather images to draw and paint in the coming years, and to keep representing and documenting my life as an experience of unexplainable magic and beauty."

• Meredith Gaston

Selected Exhibitions

Meredith Gaston & Lyndal Campbell - Art2Muse at the MLC Gallery 3rd - 9th September 2007

Balmain Art Show 2007

Melbourne 07 Royal Exhibition Centre, Carlton Gardens, April 2007 (with Manyung Gallery, Mt Eliza)

Canterbury Art Show, Feature Artist, Canterbury Primary School, Melbourne May 4-7 2007

September 2005 - Dissonance Women's Exhibition- Kudos Gallery Paddington

November 2005 - Manyung Gallery, Mt Eliza, Mornington Peninsular Victoria

February 2006 - Brian Moore (Harrison Galleries) February Show, Paddington

April 2006 - Affordable Art Show, Royal Exhibition Centre, Carlton Gardens Victoria

May 2006 - Canterbury Art Show, Canterbury Primary School, Canterbury Victoria

August 2006, Solo show Manyung Gallery, Mt Eliza, Mornington Peninsular, Victoria

June 2006, Art2Muse, Simmer on the Bay, Sydney

June 2006, Art Sydney 06, Horden Pavillion, Sydney

Balmain Art Show 2006

Meredith Gaston's publicity