Tracey-Maree Smith

Finalist in the Wynne Prize for 2016.
I engage in art as an attempt to bypass
the intellectual, to tear apart and peel back the self imposed veneer—almost brutally
at times. And, with hope, reveal
a consciousness that has no predetermined idea or thought sequence.
I want to eliminate the falseness and limited intelligence of thought and expose the beauty and truth of feeling and absolute knowing which comes from the heart.

The process I use is a metaphor for my own continual transformation.

I begin my expression with excessively
thick layers of paint and colour
as representations of ego and identity.
This process has no real basis in reality but is a construct of my beliefs—
both cultural and personal.

The initial layering of paint is a quick, reckless process tinged with fear, doubt and calculation, again a metaphor for life's moments...but it is the courage to remove the initial unconscious past that gives my art depth and connectedness.

I then attempt to peel back these false layers using the often harsh, graceless process
of elimination. This is where time consumes me—within the very physical process that is my transformational practice.
Sometimes it is painful, and emotionally revealing. At oth...

1988–1989 BA Communications Newcastle University

1989-1992 BA Arts (Graphic Design) Newcastle University

1992-1995 Graphic Designer Peach Advertising, Newcastle

1994 Award School Sydney

1995-1996 Graphic Designer Horniak & Canny, Sydney

1996-2002 Director, Founder and Creative Director/Design satellite ink

2002-2004 BA Arts, Visual Arts Newcastle University

2003 Group exhibition Newcastle University Watt Space Gallery

2011 Joint Exhibition Tyler Gallery, Islington Newcastle

2013 Artist, Mum and freelance graphic designer

2013 Solo Exhibition Truevision Gallery Redhead

2014 Finalist (top 30) in Saatchi Art 'Showdown' competion 'In Glorious Colour'.

2015 Joint exhibition Cooks Hill Galleries, Newcastle NSW Australia.

Represented by Cooks Hill Galleries.

2017 Solo Exhibition Cooks Hill Galleries

Finalist in the Wynne Prize 2016

Finalist in The Gosford Art Prize 2016

2016 Solo exhibition Cooks Hill Galleries, Newcastle NSW, Australia.

2015 Joint exhibition The Production Hub Newcastle NSW Australia.

2015 Joint exhibition Cooks Hill Galleries, Newcastle NSW Australia.

2014 Finalist (top 30) in Saatchi Art 'Showdown' competion 'In Glorious Colour'.

2013 Solo Exhibition Truevision Gallery Redhead

2011 Joint Exhibition Tyler Gallery, Islington Newcastle

2003 Group exhibition Newcastle University Watt Space Gallery