Sylvie Veness

Sylvie Veness is an emerging artist who is based on the South Coast of NSW. Specialising in drawing, printmaking and textiles, Veness creates abstract works on paper that juxtapose materials and gestures with symbols and non-semantic text. The resultant works are fractured narratives that explore the paradoxical aspects of inner life, such as tension and fear, silence and serenity.

Veness has recently graduated from the National Art School, Sydney with a Masters of Fine Art (2021). This qualification was aided by the East Sydney Doctors Scholarship (2020). Veness is the recipient of multiple awards including the University Medal for the Bachelor of Fine Arts degree (2017), The John Olsen Drawing Prize (2017), The Parkers Printmaking Prize (2017), The Australian Galleries Award (2021) and The Harvey Galleries Award (2021). She was also a finalist in 2018 for both the Meroogal and Waverley Art Prize.

17 | Sylvie Veness, Shadow, 2023, digital Print and thread on paper, 23 x 23 cm. $600.

18 | Sylvie Veness, Veil (II), 2023, digital Print and thread on paper, 23 x 23 cm. $600.

My latest works, Veil (II) and Shadow, involve a methodology I established during my MFA, whereby the underside of hand stitched work is scanned and digitally printed on paper. These illusory tromp l’oeil prints, are further re-worked with thread.

Accordingly, the entanglement of knots and threads subliminally cultivated by my own hand, serve as an entry point for my self-reflexive practice. My innate response to chaos is to subvert its power, however in this case the goal is to channel the unruly kinaesthetic sensations and subconscious memories that elude the body and mind. This objective, disrupts habitual modes of thinking through making and subsequently aims to expand my practice. As a result, the act of exposing and harnessing flaws is a challenging process, the outcome of which, in these works, appear like veiled forms or shifting shadows.