Biography
Jane Reynolds is a Sydney-based still life painter whose poised compositions investigate the relationships between colour, form and light. A consummate colourist, Reynolds revels in chromatic clashes and visually satisfying progressions, investing everyday objects with vibrance and visual delight. She paints these objects with stunning realism and places them into highly orchestrated groups, inventing arrangements that strike a balance between restraint and play. Through this, she gravitates towards abstraction, exploring still life as an interlocking system of formal elements.
Within Reynolds’ subtly hyperreal compositions, commonplace objects appear familiar but idealised. She reduces a watering can or a biscuit box into simple, elegant forms with softened edges and no unwarranted creases or cracks. In this way, Reynolds dispenses with narrative to invite viewers to pause on formal beauty and complexity. And yet, she also ensures that these forms always feel tangible, rather than moving entirely into abstraction. Gently arranged into tight, orderly stacks or thrown into a dynamic jumble, her objects summon the urge to reach into the painted space and grasp the handle or topple the sphere.
Influenced by mid-century design and hard-edge abstraction, Reynolds explores the optical play between flat plane and sculptural illusion. This is grounded in her two decades’ experience in traditional animation and visual effects, training in technical sleight-of-hand to create lifelike spaces through colour and light. In 2020, Reynolds commenced a full-time artistic practice, fusing a sophisticated understanding of tonal modelling and formal precision with the clarity and luminosity of oil painting.
CV
2023
New Arrangements - solo exhibition, Michael Reid Sydney
Bluethumb Art Prize - finalist, online
Hornsby Art Prize - finalist, Wallarobba Arts and Cultural Centre, Hornsby
Kennedy Prize - finalist, Kennedy Arts Foundation, Adelaide
Gosford Art Prize - finalist, Gosford Regional Gallery
Omnia Art Prize - finalist, St Kevins College, Melbourne
Into The Pink - group show, Stala Contemporary, Perth
Metaphorical Landscapes - group show, Fletcher Art, Melbourne
Surface Tension - solo exhibition, Michael Reid Murrurundi
2022
The Insiders - group show, Broker Gallery, Queenstown, New Zealand
Pop Up - solo exhibition, Michael Reid Sydney
Four Pillars Australian Christmas Gin Campaign 2022
Bluethumb Art Prize 2022 - Still Life finalist, online
Sydney Contemporary - Michael Reid Murrurundi, Carriageworks
Arrangements - solo exhibition, Fletcher Arts, Melbourne
Exploration 2022 - finalist, Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne
Grammar Art Show - group show, Toowoomba Grammar School
Shelf Life - solo exhibition, Michael Reid Murrurundi
2021
Murra Month - group exhibition, Michael Reid Murrurundi, online
Gosford Art Prize - finalist, Gosford Regional Gallery
Random Order - solo exhibition, Michael Reid Murrurundi, online
National Capital Art Prize 2021 - finalist, Canberra, ACT
Bluethumb Art Prize 2020 Winners Collection - group exhibition, 1 Denison, North Sydney
St Kevins Art Show - finalist, St Kevins College, Melbourne
Formal Arrangements - solo exhibition, Michael Reid Online
Muswellbrook Art Prize 2021 - finalist, Muswellbrook Regional Arts Centre, Muswellbrook
2020
Darlings - group exhibition, Curatorial+Co, Redfern
Bluethumb Art Prize 2020 - category winner - Still Life, Bluethumb Gallery, online
Swan Hill Print and Drawing Award - finalist, Swan Hill Regional Gallery, Swan Hill
Waverley Art Prize 2020 - finalist, Waverley Art School, Online
Belle ArtStart 2020, emerging artist awards - 2nd place, Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney
Fine Line - group exhibition, Brunswick Street Gallery, Melbourne
2011
Works on Paper - group exhibition, Brunswick Street Gallery, Melbourne
Drawing 11a - group exhibition, Brunswick Street Gallery, Melbourne
Down the Rabbit Hole - group exhibition, Brunswick Street Gallery, Melbourne
Camberwell Art Show - Camberwell Girls Grammar, Melbourne
BSG Small Works - 2nd place, Brunswick Street Gallery, Melbourne
Drawn Again - group exhibition, Brunswick Street Gallery, Melbourne
No More No Less - Solo exhibition, Brunswick Street Gallery, Melbourne
2010
Linden Postcard Show - finalist, Linden New Art
BSG Small Works - finalist, Brunswick Street Gallery, Melbourne
PRESS
Four Pillars Christmas Gin 2022