Cathy Blanchflower

Cathy Blanchflower is known for her vibrant paintings which explore the use of colour, movement, space and light. She is fascinated by the rich and diverse use of patterns found in visual culture throughout human history, and how these patterns link back to ancient times then carry through into contemporary art and life. Her process of layering organic patterns and fields of colour seeks ‘in-between spaces’ created by the reaction of each layer to the other. These spaces are intangible and unpredictable, only emerging when the layers are in harmony with each other. Her paintings are an attempt to find balance between order and disorder, stillness and movement, presence and absence.

Cathy was born in Brighton, UK and grew up in Perth, Western Australia where she attained her Bachelor of Fine Arts at Curtin University in 1994. Since then she has exhibited regularly in Australia and shown her work internationally, including New York, USA, Phillipines, Netherlands, Spain and Thailand. She has been included in major curated exhibitions of abstract art at the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra; Museum of Modern Art at Heide, Victoria; Art Gallery of New South Wales and Art Gallery of Western Australia. A large mid-career survey of her work was held at John Curtin Gallery, Curtin University, Perth, in 2009.

Cathy’s work can be found in many public collections including Art Gallery of Western Australia, National Gallery of Australia, University of Sydney, Artbank, Wesfarmers, Curtin University of Technology, Edith Cowan University, University of Western Australia as well as private national and international collections.

Cathy will continue working on her new series of paintings entitled Kanok begun at Matdot in Bangkok in early 2025 which draw inspiration from the gold pigment and line-work found in local temple decorations. These works also aim to reflect upon the experience of light, flow, movement and energy experienced in the city. Flecks and pools of pigment drift across layered gestural marks, forming organic, ever-shifting fields that hover between stillness and motion. A free space is sought through the movement of brushwork and scattered nature of the patterning. 

This residency also feeds into the Structured Visions project – a series of exhibitions Cathy has organised featuring Australian and Thai artists working within the field of abstraction. These exhibitions build links at a grass-roots level between arts communities and audiences in Thailand and Australia, promoting a crossover of ideas and cultural exchange.