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Michaela James

My work starts with everyday objects—things like a glass, a coffee pot, or a piece of fruit. I don’t choose them because they have deep symbolic meanings, but because they have a certain emotional or sensory presence. When I paint them, I’m not trying to make them beautiful or important—I want them to just exist together, on equal footing, constantly shifting and interacting.

I don’t see still life as a traditional genre. For me, it’s a way to explore feeling rather than to simply represent objects. Painting isn’t about capturing how something looks, but about staying with the sensations it creates, the way it affects and connects with the world around it.

I want my work to create an experience, not to be decoded or explained. The meaning in my paintings doesn’t come from what an object symbolizes, but from how it relates to everything else—how it moves, changes, and creates energy within the painting. In this way, abstraction isn’t about escaping reality but about tuning in to its many layers and complexities. I use distortion, layering, and ambiguity not as a stylistic device, but to open the work up to multiple meanings and connections.

Everything—objects, space, background—blends together on one surface, where any part can connect to any other. At its core, I hope my practice is an ethical choice: to stay grounded in the material world without relying on fixed interpretations. I try to listen to what the everyday already tells us—not painting what something is, but what it does, how it feels, how it changes. I see it as a reflection on how the ordinary can hold rich, shifting possibilities, and how painting can reveal that.

EXHIBITIONS 

2026

2025

 2024:

2023:

 2022:

2021:

  • Creation in Isolation – The Entrance Gallery

2020:

  • Linden Postcard Show – Linden New Art, St Kilda
  • Make Your Mark – The Makers Studio Gosford Regional Gallery

2019:

2018:

2017:

2016:

1995:

1994:

  • “Kaleidescope”, Women’s College, University of Sydney
  • “Home”, Roys Famous, Sydney

1993:

1992 – 1986

  • Group Show, Burnie St Gallery, Sydney
  • Painting, Poets, Portables, Kelly Street Kollectiv
  • “Aliens Ate Billy”, Group Show, Rondeau Gallery, Sydney
  • Group Show, Kelly Street Kollectiv, Sydney
  • Solo Show, Balmain Loft Gallery, Sydney

PRIZES

  • 2025: Central Coast Artist of the Year
  • Finalist in Gosford Art Prize, Lane Cove Art Prize, Collabor8 Prize, ellipsis gallery, Little Things, Saint Cloche Gallery
  • 1995: Noel Chettle Prize for Painting and Drawing, University of Sydney

EDUCATION

  • Bachelor of Visual Arts, University of NSW Art & Design
  • Graduate Diploma, professional art practice, University of NSW Art & Design
  • Bachelor of Arts (Philosophy) Macquarie University
  • Postgraduate Certificate of Marketing, University of Sydney
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