Criss Canning

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Criss Canning’s next exhibition at Metro will be in 2011.

Criss Canning, born in Melbourne 1947, is one of Australia’s leading still life artists. Her rich strong paintings are unmistakably her own. Incredibly accomplished technically her work is sumptuous in colour, complex in design and sensuous in effect. Canning’s paintings repay careful and repeated viewing. Each brushstroke is lovingly and lusciously applied. The objects in her work, the flowers, ceramics, trays and fabrics are arranged and rearranged until a wonderful balance and harmony is achieved. Only then does Canning put paint to canvas. In her next show, at Metro 5 Gallery, Canning’s love of colour has taken another leap in these exciting new paintings.

A 2007 major retrospective of Criss Canning’s work at the Ballarat Fine Art Gallery broke all records with 22,700 visitors to the exhibition. The retrospective moved to the Mornington Peninsula regional Art Gallery where again there was a terrific response.

David Thomas’s lavishly illustrated and beautifully written 2007 monograph “Criss Canning- The Pursuit of Beauty” published by Macmillan Art Publishing, sold out within a few months of its release. A second revised edition will be published this year and is to be launched at Canning’s exhibiton opening at Metro 5 Gallery on the 12th of November 2008.

Criss Canning is represented at the National Gallery of Australia, the Art Gallery of New South Wales, the Ballarat Fine Art Gallery and the Castlemaine Art Gallery. Canning’s work can be found in collections in London, Paris, Hong Kong, Japan, Canada, USA, Indonesia, Singapore and New Zealand.

CV

1947 Born Melbourne, Victoria

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2010 Philip Bacon Galleries, Brisbane
2008 Metro 5, Melbourne
2007 Major Retrospective, Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery
2007 Major Retrospective, Ballarat Regional Gallery, Victoria
2006 Philip Bacon Galleries, Brisbane
2004 Gould Galleries, Sydney
2002 Gould Galleries, Melbourne
2001 Philip Bacon Galleries, Brisbane
1999 ‘Recent Works’, Gould Galleries, Sydney
1998 ‘Reflecting on Still Life’, Gould Galleries, Sydney
1995 ‘In and Around Burnside’, Gould Galleries, Melbourne
1991 Melbourne Fine Art Gallery
1987, 89 Melbourne Art Exchange
1986 ‘Impressions of Greece’, Melbourne Art Exchange
1983, 84, 85 Melbourne Art Exchange
1983 Hut Gallery, Victoria
1982 Kalorama Gallery, Victoria

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2008 Contemporary Gallery Artists – Browse & Darby – London
2007 ‘Christmas Show’ – Browse & Darby – London
2006 Director’s Choice 2006, Gould Galleries, Melbourne,
2005 Delshan Gallery, Melbourne, March 2005 Swinburne Eclectics Exhibition
2005 Director’s Choice 2005, Gould Galleries, Melbourne, Gould Galleries, Sydney,
2002 Favourites, Margaret Olley and Jeffrey Smart Selections, S.H. Irvin Gallery, Sydney
1996 The Blooming Exhibition, Ballarat Fine Art Gallery
1995 There’s Still Life, Ballarat Fine Art Gallery
1993 Australian Women Artists, Melbourne Fine Art Gallery
1992 Melbourne Fine Art Gallery
1992 Australian Women Artists, Melbourne Fine Art Gallery
1991-96 A.M.E. Bale Award Exhibition (prize awarded)
1991-97 Gould Galleries, Hong Kong
1991-98 Views and Vision, Greenhill Galleries, South Australia
1990 Australian Flower Paintings 1890-1990 Trevor Bussell Gallery, Sydney
1987, 88 Melbourne Art Exchange
1987 Doug Moran Award (finalist)

COLLECTIONS

National Gallery of Australia
Art Gallery of New South Wales
Ballarat Fine Art Gallery
Castlemaine Art Gallery
Cairns Art Gallery
Artbank
Private collections; United Kingdom, United States of America, Canada, France, Singapore, Hong Kong and Australia.

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

2008 Banksia’s – Kevin Collins, Kathy Collins & Alex George. Cc – Illustration P.69 –
‘Winter Banksia’ Published ‘Blooming Books’.
2nd Revised edition ‘The Pursuit of Beauty’ 2008
‘The Pursuit of Beauty’– the Art of Criss Canning – monograph by David Thomas. Published by Macmillan Art Publishing 2007.
A.B.C. Arts Program – ‘Artworks’ – Presenter Amanda Smith March 2007 & December 2007.
Sasha Grishin – ‘Stepping out of the Shadows’ – Canberra Times – 28th July 2007
Art Almanac, ‘The Phoenix Tray’, featured on the cover, May 2004.
Z. Crawthorne ‘Blossoming Talent’, Herald Sun, Melbourne, 16 November 2002, p.12
R. Yallop, ‘Outcasts You Can Live With’, The Australian, 25 October 2002, p.15
G. Auty, ‘Review’, The Courier-Mail, Brisbane, October 2001.
S. McLean, ‘Beautiful Career is Blooming’, The Courier-Mail, Brisbane, October 2001
E. Yammin, ‘The Face’, The Australian, March 2001
A. Clabburn, Australian Garden History Journal (cover illustration & article)
C. Maddocks, ‘Picture This’, The Age, Good Weekend, 30 October 1999
‘Kunspen Down Under’ Hrymfaxe, Denmark, June 1998, pp.10-11.
A. Clabburn, ‘Quilting with Daylight’, catalogue essay, Gould Galleries, 29 May 1998
‘Still Life, With Garden’ The Australian Gardener, January/February 1998
S. Pascoe, ‘Criss Canning’, Art and Antiques, December, 1996
‘An Artist in the Garden’ Australian Garden Journal, Spring 1995
L. Landy, ‘Garden Artistry’, Australian Country Style, June 1995
E. Hamilton & J. Livingstone, Form and Feeling, Longman Cheshire, Melbourne, 1990 (cover illustration)
P. Shrubb, Living Alone, Hale & Ironmonger, Australia 1989 (cover illustration)
P. Williams, ‘Pushing Colour to the Limit’, Business Review Weekly, October 1989
‘Painting Still Life Oils in Colours that Sing’, Australian Artist, August 1988