Australian artist Carolyn Donovan’s work is a visual journal of wild and beautiful terrain, and an ethical approach to nature and the environment is evident in all her paintings. There is a power in every mark and brush stroke that draws you in closer. The multitude of layers gives a deliciously rich texture to the painted surfaces, leaving the viewer with an urge to reach out and touch the art with a curiosity and lingering wonder about the process, connecting them with a myriad layered emotional and physical experience. 

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Known predominately for her landscape, eco-themed and environmentally conscious stance, a strong emphasis on upcycling and anti-waste practises, heavily layered with a love of ecology and vibrant colours, has made her work both emotive statement pieces and highly desirable, featuring in numerous private Australian and international collections.

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Beginning art tuition at a very young age, a strong artistic environment saw her sketching recognisable portraits at the age of two. Surrounded by artists – her uncle, George Duncan, and aunt, Alison Rehfisch, forming part of the close-knit bohemian artist pack that included other regarded Australian artists, like Norman Lindsay, William Dobell, and Grace Cossington Smith.  “I know they held wild parties in their city studio,” Donovan recalls being told of one such risqué fancy-dress studio party where Lindsay famously made a painting of a bare-breasted Rehfisch dancing in a grass skirt - which is still exhibited today.

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Growing up in Sydney, Donovan completed her education at CAPA (Northmead Creative and Performing Arts School). Even in childhood, she was being commissioned to sketch, illustrate and paint. "There isn't a point where I recall starting to draw,” she says. “It was something I felt I was born being able to do. My earliest memories are painting, sculpting, drawing and writing stories about it all - it was my entire life. It surrounded me and consumed our family activities. I went to an artistic school, and as a family, we were always in galleries or in the garage making things. I was always creating or being inspired by what others were creating."

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Donovan’s early career influences were garnered in the ever-changing vibrancy of the fashion industry. Living in Tokyo, Paris, and Los Angeles, she frequented traditional art tuition classes, consistently drawn to the central, inspiring pulse of museums, galleries and the global creative community at large.

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A multi-disciplinary artist, she works mainly as a painter and sculptor, often combining the two on bold canvases inspired by the landscapes surrounding her in an eco, sustainable bushland studio she shares with her husband on the outskirts of Brisbane, Australia. Here she can experiment with a range of different materials requiring industrial processes and machinery, while also collecting the fallen, broken and overlooked “beauties” she incorporates into, seemingly, delicate portrayals of the figure, life and nature.

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“I recently made a stalk of tubular wildflowers out of old copper drums,” Donovan says, “It was strong, solid metal and over three metres tall - made to stand on the beach, by the ocean - but my favourite thing was watching people come up and touch it like it was delicate petals,” she smiles. “A couple said they couldn’t resist because they thought it was made out of tissue paper.”

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“Making things people want to circumnavigate, stop and lean into brings me more joy than I ever thought possible. By doing that, it’s opening a conversation that transcends words, language, or anything we can contain in one space.”

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Her first solo exhibition was in New York. Featuring brightly coloured depictions of landscapes, viewed from helicopter photographs, the sell-out show became the backdrop for the UNGA (United Nations Global Awareness Summit), focussing on the environment in 2019. Further exhibitions were suspended as the global pandemic swept the world for the next couple of years, and many artworks have since been sold, and continue to sell, from the walls of her studio before they are even dry.

 
 
Of the Gods Eye View landscape series:
“From the sparkling edges of rugged coastlines, spanning across to the centre of one of the longest and oldest volcanic lines in the world, the Australian landscape is exhilarating when viewed from above: A vast, seemingly endless, sense of abundant inspiration.” 

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Of the Pave Paradise bitumen series:
“The lines from a Joni Mitchell song, ‘they paved paradise and put up a parking lot’ came to mind when I started using bitumen. This thick, dexterous material almost decides for itself how it will be painted, but the message behind this fresh new series lasts longer than the heady aroma of bitumen drying. Just as progress and industry is necessary in our rapidly expanding world, so is using and repurposing materials intentionally in ways to benefit and enhance our living.”  
– Carolyn Donovan