Veena Merchant

Based in Melbourne, Australia, Veena Merchant is a visual artist working with a range of mediums and techniques. Her works combine abstract, geometric and natural forms to create richly coloured compositions. Informed by both her Indian heritage and by her keen observations of nature and places, her painting reveals a wealth of personal experience and creative insights. Memories, experiences, impressions and perceptions all get filtered through her mind to be transformed into an highly individual body of work.
Veena particularly enjoys working with the water-based media: Acrylics, Watercolours and Gouache. Her explorations of watercolour on YUPO paper have enabled the development of a range of techniques that are distinct to her practice. Her technical facility adds to the unique qualities of her art, with their explosion of colours, patterns and textures.

Artist Statement
My art is very much shaped by my story.
I grew up in India with strong boundaries and high expectations from my traditional, loving and well meaning family. My artistic inclinations were discouraged in favour of academic pursuits which resulted in me obtaining my medical degree. Demands of work, family life, home and children followed and all took priority. For ...

*Bachelor of Medicine & Bachelor of Surgery (Bombay University)

*Diploma in Visual Arts (RMIT) 2019.

2022 solo exhibition ‘Looking Down on Creation’ @Red Gallery, Fitzroy North, Victoria.
2022. Solo exhibition ‘Allusions’ @ Tacit Gallery, Collingwood, Melbourne.
2019 Group Show. ‘Street, Rad, Lane’ @First Site Gallery, Melbourne.
2017. Solo exhibition ‘Lyrical Impressions’ at Oak Hill Gallery, Mornington.

Group Exhibitions
2020
Group Show, Oak Hill Gallery, Mornington
2019
Group Exhibition Street, Road, Lane at the First Site Gallery, Melbourne
Group show RMIT Visual Arts
Group Exhibition Oak Hill Gallery, Mornington
2018
Group Exhibition Oak Hill Gallery, Mornington
CSBC Group exhibition ‘A Place at the Table’
King Valley Art Show
2017
Camberwell Art Show
CSBC group show 'Salt of the Earth'
John Shaw Neilson Acquisitive art prize show
Group Exhibition Oak Hill Gallery, Mornington
Group Exhibition, John Shaw Neilson Acquisitive Prize, Penola, S.A
2016
Group Show: Art on Burgundy
Group show CSBC Exhibition ‘Fire and Life’, (Finalist and a prizewinner)
Camberwell Art Show
The Bayside Art Show
Belle Arti Prize Group Show