Born 1971, Melbourne, Australia
Lives and works in Sydney, Australia
Lara Merrett was born in Melbourne and lives and works in Sydney. Throughout her practice she has worked with and around the idea of landscape, and describes her work as ‘geographies of space, atmosphere and physicality’. With over twenty years experience exhibiting in commercial and institutional shows, Lara has also received major commissions including the Museum of Contemporary Art's Bella Room commission, and recently collaborated on a ready-to-wear collection with Australian fashion label Romance was Born. Lara draws the conceptual basis for her colour field paintings from literature, the environment, her Sydney/Gadigal and NSW South Coast/Jerrinja communities, and her activism, and has been an active participant in several community actions designed to use art and culture to advocate for more progressive and immediate policy responses to environmental destruction and the climate crisis. Her work is held in private collections across Australia and several significant public and corporate collections including Macquarie Bank, UBS, Bundanon Trust and Artbank.
EDUCATION
1997 Masters of Fine Arts, University of New South Wales, Sydney
1996 Bachelor of Fine Arts, University of New South Wales, Sydney
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2023 tissu tissue, Sullivan+Strumpf, Melbourne
2022 By my side walking, Sullivan+Strumpf, Sydney
Melbourne Art Fair, Jan Murphy
2021 Lara Merrett, Sumer, Tauranga, New Zealand
Petrichor, Jan Murphy Gallery, Brisbane
2019 Flip Side, Jan Murphy Gallery, Brisbane
2018 High Stakes, UQ Art Museum, Brisbane
Lady Luck, Tristian Koenig, Melbourne
High-Rise, COMA Gallery, Sydney
Paint me in, Bella Room, MCA, Sydney
2017 This is not a love song (B), Jan Murphy Gallery, Brisbane
This is not a love song (A), Carriageworks and Barangaroo, Sydney Contemporary
2016 Casus Fortuitus, Karen Woodbury Gallery, Melbourne
2015 What goes around comes around, Jan Murphy Gallery, Brisbane
In my nature, Cat Street Gallery, Hong Kong
The shape of things, Olsen Irwin Gallery, Swab Art Fair, Barcelona
2014 Double Think, Karen Woodbury Gallery, Sydney
2013 Jan Murphy Gallery, Sydney Contemporary
The ever changing nature of things, Gallery Ecosse, NSW
2012 Made of everything, Jan Murphy Gallery, Brisbane
Be my inside looking out, Cat Street Gallery, Hong Kong
Invaders, Karen Woodbury at Blockprojects, Melbourne
2010 Every Breath You Take, Karen Woodbury Gallery, Melbourne
2009 Still vast reserves, Kaliman Gallery, Sydney
2007 Soft rock, Karen Woodbury Gallery, Melbourne
2006 To soon to tell, Kaliman Gallery, Sydney
2005 Let’s get together, Karen Woodbury Gallery, Melbourne
2004 Upside down you turn me, Kaliman Gallery, Sydney
2003 Wish you were here, Kaliman Gallery, Sydney
2002 No Hard Edges, Kaliman Gallery, Sydney
1998 Leftfield, Crawford Gallery, Sydney
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2023 TERRA, Le Vieux Theatre, Beaune, France
Valerie Taylor Art Price for Ocean Advocacy, Carriageworks, Sydney
NOVA, Sumer, Auckland, New Zealand
Annual Group Show, Sullivan+Strumpf, Sydney
Annual Group Show, Sullivan+Strumpf, Melbourne
2022 Blue Island, Byron School of Art, NSW
Bright, Goulburn Regional Gallery, NSW
Art & Gender, Jahm Museum, Melbourne
Expanded Canvas, Town Hall Gallery, Hawthorn, Melbourne
2021 Jan Murphy Gallery at Hugo Michell Gallery, Hugo Michell Gallery, Adelaide
2020 Jan Murphy Gallery, Sydney Contemporary Art Fair online, Sydney
Wonder and Dread, Shoalhaven Regional Gallery, NSW
All around the world, Jan Murphy Gallery, Brisbane
Sumer Gallery (New Zealand Gallery), spring 1883, Sydney
2019 Spring 1883, Sumer Gallery, The Establishment Hotel, Sydney
2018 The Widening Gyre, Sumer Gallery, Tauranga, New Zealand
Things we do together (curated), Artbar, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney
2017 Superposition of three types, Artspace, Sydney
2016 MCA Artbar, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Lara Merrett, ‘Lara Merrett: Top 5’, Sullivan+Strumpf Magazine, Apr/May/Jun 2023
Daniel Mudie Cunningham, ‘Holding and Being Held’, Art Collector, #102 Oct/Dec 2022
Alexie Glass, ‘Lara Merrett: By my side, walking (Interview)’, Sullivan+Strumpf Magazine, Oct/Nov 2022
Lara Merrett, ‘Ties that bind’, Sullivan+Strumpf Magazine, Jun/Jul 2022
Peta Rake, ‘Introducing Lara Merrett’, Sullivan+Strumpf Magazine, Sep/Oct 2021
Karlie Verkerk, ‘The Art of Colour’, Inside Out, April 2019
Art Almanac, 'Lara Merrett announced as recipient for the 2018 Bella Room Commission', May 2018
Wes Hill, ‘Superposition of three types’, frieze.com, 6 April 2017
Chloé Wolifson, Catalogue essay for Casus Fortuitus, Karen Woodbury Gallery, 2016
Nick Galvin, ‘Birmingham Street Studios Bring Art and Soul to the City for Art Month’, Sydney Morning Herald, 1 March 2016
Gina Fairley, ‘Art Month Sydney Shifts Gear’, Arts Hub, 26 November 2014
Zoe Porter, ‘Colour Bombs: Artist Lara Merrett’, Iconic and Vintage Blog, 8 September 2015
‘Lara Merrett: Doublethink’, Art Almanac, 28 August 2014
Amita Kirpalani, ‘The Thought Fox’, Catalogue Essay for Doublethink, Karen Woodbury Gallery, 2014
Lucy Feagins, ‘Interview: Lara Merrett’, The Design Files, 30 March 2014
Dr Marcus Bunyan, ‘Alan Constable and the Highlights of the Melbourne Art Fair’ 2010, Art Blart, 8 August 2012
‘What now?’, Art Collector Australia, April/June 2010
Louise Martin-Chew, ‘Romanticism and a Gothic Sensibility’, Australian Art Review, 2010
February/April, Artist Profile, Issue 12, 2010
Byrony Nainby, ‘Beyond Imagination into the Abyss’, Catalogue Essay, Latrobe Regional Gallery, 2010
Melissa Keys, Catalogue Essay for An Ever Expanding Universe, Perth Institute of Contemporary Art, 2009
Frances Johnson, ‘Interior Perspective’, Sightlines, The Age, 2008
Lisa Byrne, Catalogue Essay for Soft Rock, Karen Woodbury Gallery, 2008
Ashley Crawford, ‘Against the Amnesiac Lifestyle Showroom’, The Age, 11 September 2007
Kate Rohde, Catalogue Essay for Drop Marks the Spot, Karen Woodbury Gallery, 2006
Lara Merrett, Vogue Living, July/August 2006
Lara Merrett, ‘Let’s get together’, Art Almanac, July 2006
Lara Merrett, ‘The List’, Museums and Galleries Melbourne, July 2005
Anne Loxley, ‘The Arts’, Sydney Morning Herald, 6 April 2005
Lenny Ann Low, ‘Review’, Sydney Morning Herald, 2-4 April 2004
‘Critic’s picks: Kate Rohde and Lara Merrett’, Sydney Morning Herald, 4-10 April 2003
‘Lara Merrett: Wish you were here’, Domain, 3 April 2003
Alexie Glass, ‘Eye Candy’, Australian Style, Issue 62, May 2003
Victoria Hynes, ‘Critic’s picks’, Sydney Morning Herald, 26 April 2002
Lenny Ann Low, Sydney Morning Herald, 3-4 May 2002
Victoria Hynes, Sydney Morning Herald, 7 September 2002
Ishil Itiyar, Interview, Catalogue Magazine, September 2001
C. Keenan, ‘Seven Talents Granted a Passport to the World’, Metropolitan, 22 December 2001
Martin Coomer, ‘Art Review’, Time Out London, 5-12 July 2000
World News, Oyster Magazine, June/July 2000
Creative Review UK, Issue 20, June 2000
Campaign Magazine, Gallery, Campaign Magazine, January 1999
B. James, ‘The Galleries’, Sydney Morning Herald, January 1999
AWARDS, GRANTS & RESIDENCIES
2023 Finalist: Valerie Taylor Art Prize for Ocean Advocacy
Winner: Sense of Place Grant, Shoalhaven City Council
Ethics Centre Residency, Dirt Witches, Sydney
2022 Winner: Create NSW Grant for Research and Development: By my side walking
Winner, Ravenswood Australian Women’s Art Prize
Finalist, Kings School Art Prize
2021 Barlow Street Forest, Dirt Witches, City Art Laneways, City of Sydney
2019 Temporary Studio Artist Residency, UQ Art Museum, Brisbane
2018 Paint me in, Bella Room Commission, MCA, Sydney
2011 Studio Artist Residency, Artspace, Sydney
2010 Australian Tapestry Workshop Residency, Melbourne
2004 Artist-In-Residence, Bundanon Trust, NSW
2003 The Pat Corrigan Artists Grant
2002 The NSW Artists Marketing Grant
2001 Kanoria Centre for the Arts (Residency), Ahmedabad, India
The Freedman Foundation Travelling Scholarship for Emerging Artists
1998 Winner: Chroma Australia Art Prize
Winner, Young Artists Painting Prize, Berrima Art Society
COMMISSIONS
2023 Barlow Street Forest, Dirt Witches, permanent microforest, City of Sydney
2022 Glebe Hill Village, Tasmania
2021 Barlow Street Forest, Dirt Witches, Laneway Art Project, City of Sydney
2020 'What we leave behind', WONDER + DREAD: Art in the land of Weather Extremes, Shoalhaven Regional Gallery, NSW
2019 'High Stakes', Unlearning, University of Queensland Art Museum, Brisbane
2018 Paint Me In, Bella Room, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney
2017 This is not a love song, Carriageworks and Barangaroo, Sydney Contemporary, Sydney
2015 Ovolo Hotel, Woolloomooloo, Sydney
2014 St Regis Hotel, Chengdu China
2010 Victorian Tapestry Workshop for St Michaels Church, Collins Street, Melbourne
2009 Sofitel Hotel, Collins Street, Melbourne
COLLECTIONS
Artbank
Bundanon Estate, NSW
Charles and Leah Justin Collection, Melbourne
Macquarie Bank RACV, Melbourne
RACV, Melbourne
Ritz Carlton Hotel, Melbourne
Sofitel Hotel, Melbourne
UBS Australia
University of New South Wales, Sydney