b. 1985 in Sydney, Australia
Lives and works in the Southern Highlands of NSW
Clara Adolphs’ work is based on a paradox. Painting as a medium always suggests the here and the now. With its thick paint and graphic strength gestures, Adolphs’ works feel like they have just been taken off the studio easel.
In contrast, the images in Adolphs’ work are based on photographs collected of ski resorts, family holidays, and summer pools. They represent a past that seems more innocent and elegant of simple pleasures. It seems a lost time. Yet by painting these images, Adolphs can bring this past strikingly into our own lives. The nostalgic atmosphere in the work now becomes one of vitality and immediacy.
Adolphs completed her Bachelor Degree in Fine Arts at the University of New South Wales in 2008. In 2017 Adolphs was the recipient of the Eva Breuer Traveling Scholarship, travelling to Paris for a residency at the Cite International des Arts and she was also the winner of the Mosman Art Prize Young Emerging Artist Award She has been a multiple time finalist in the Archibald, Wynne and Sulman Prizes at the Art Gallery of New South Wales as well as a finalist in the Mosman Art Prize and the Brett Whiteley Travelling Scholarship. In 2019 she presented a major solo exhibition at Goulburn Regional gallery. In 2022 Adolphs presented a solo exhibition at Art SG fair in Singapore with CHALK HORSE.
Recently her work has been selected for the cover of the New York Review of Books and this year she was chosen to be on the cover of the 63rd issue of Artist Profile. This year, Adolphs presented a new body of works in the 18th Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art: Inner Sanctum curated by José Da Silva and will be exhibiting a solo exhibition titled Together Again at
Ngununggula, Southern Highlands Regional Gallery.
Adolphs lives and works on the lands of the Gundunggurra Nation.
Collections: ArtBank, Art Gallery of South Australia, Goulburn Regional Gallery, Gold Coast City Gallery, Australian Corporate Collection Board member; Museum of Contemporary Art, Art Month, Sydney, Art Gallery of South Australia, Private Collections in Australia and Internationally
