Kaylene Whiskey’s joyous, detailed paintings are widely recognised for their celebration of strong kungkas (women) — often pop culture icons including Wonder Woman, Tina Turner, Cher and Dolly Parton — who are painted into remote desert community landscapes, interacting with native plants and wildlife, and engaging in traditional Anangu activities like hunting, collecting bush tucker and cultivating mingkulpa, a native tobacco plant. Linking the traditional with the contemporary, the combination of these two different cultures and two generations are portrayed with an irreverent humour and desire to have fun, to create richly layered works that are both playful and an intriguing comment on contemporary Indigenous life.
Installation view, Kaylene Whiskey, ‘Kaylene TV’, 2024, mixed media, dimensions variable, at the 24th Biennale of Sydney: Ten Thousand Suns
Kaylene Whiskey, Ngura Pukulpa - Happy Place (still), 2022, single channel digital video with sound, 8 minutes 8 seconds, Edition of 3 + 2 AP
Kaylene Whiskey, Kaylene is on TV, 2023, acrylic on linen, 112 x 198 cm
Kaylene Whiskey, Dolly Parton and Tina Turner, 2019, acrylic on linen, 91 x 122 cm
Kaylene Whiskey, Do You Believe in Love?, 2019, acrylic on linen, 167 x 198 cm
Kaylene Whiskey, Tina, 2019, acrylic on linen, 67 x 91 cm
Kaylene Whiskey, I Love the Flag, 2019, acrylic on linen, 91 x 122 cm
Kaylene Whiskey Indulkana Soup
Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, 2024-25
Ten Thousand Suns
24th Biennale of Sydney, 2024
Group Show, The First 40 Years
Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, 2024
Kaylene Whiskey From Comic to Canvas
Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, 2023
Kaylene Whiskey
b. 1976, Mpartnwe (Alice Springs)
Lives and works in Indulkana Community, Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands
NT Language group: Yankunytjatjara
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
Super Kaylene Whiskey, National Portrait Gallery, Canberra
From Comic to Canvas, Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney
Sistas, Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney
Wonder Women, Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney
Super Anangu, presented by blackartprojects, NeoSpace, Melbourne
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
65,000 Years: A Short History of Australian Art, curated by Marcia Langton, Judith Ryan and Shanysa McConville, Potter Museum of Art, the University of Melbourne, Melbourne
The power of colour, Bendigo Art Gallery, Victoria
Melbourne Art Fair, Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre
The First 40 Years, Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney
Kungka Kuṉpu (Strong Women), Bunjil Place Gallery, Narre Warren, VIC
Ten Thousand Suns, 24th Biennale of Sydney, Sydney
In the arms of unconsciousness: Women, feminism and the surreal, Hazelhurst Arts Centre, New South Wales, Australia
Portrait23: Identity, National Portrait Gallery, Canberra
O Quilombismo, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin
Sir John Sulman Prize 2023, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
Wynne Prize 2023, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
Kungka Kuṉpu (Strong Women), Maitland Regional Art Gallery, Maitland, NSW; HOTA Gallery, Gold Coast, Queensland; Geelong Gallery, Geelong, Victoria
22nd Biennial Sesc_Videobrasil, Memory is an Editing Station, São Paulo, Brazil (forthcoming)
Between the Details: Video Art from the ACMI Collection, ACMI, Melbourne
Kungka Kunpu, Ngununggula, Southern Highlands Regional Gallery, Bowral, NSW
52 ACTIONS, Artspace, Sydney
Iwantja Rock n Roll, Iwantja Arts, Fort Gansevoort, New York, USA
Zombie Eaters, Murray Art Museum Albury, Victoria
Aichi Triennale, Aichi Arts Center, Aichi, Japan
Who Are You: Australian Portraiture, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Global Positioning, JCDecaux bus shelters, New York City, Chicago, Boston, USA
Tarnanthi, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide
Sweat, Haus der Kunst, Munich, Germany
Spirits, Popstars, and Royals, Fort Gansevort, Los Angeles, USA
The Multiverse, Bundoora Homestead Art Centre, VIC
52 Artists 52 Actions, Artspace Sydney
Archibald Prize, finalist, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
Joy, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
Bodywork, Fremantle Arts Centre, WA
Liberté. Egalité. Beyoncé, Haus der Kunst, Munich
Ravenswood Australian Women’s Art Prize, Gordon, NSW
The National: New Australian Art, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Sydney
Tarnanthi, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide
Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Awards (NATSIAA), winner, MAGNT, Darwin
Sir John Sulman Prize, winner, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
Sydney Contemporary, presented by blackartprojects, Carriageworks, Sydney
Hard Feelings, The Honeymoon Suite, Melbourne
A Lightness of Spirit is the Measure of Happiness, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne
Nganana Kuranyukutu Ma-Palyani, APY Gallery, Sydney
Next Matriarch, ACE Open, Tarnanthi Festival, Adelaide
Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Awards (NATSIAA), finalist, MAGNT, Darwin
Cossack Art Awards, Cossack WA
Desert Mob, Araluen Art Centre, Alice Springs
Nganampa Kililpil: Our Stars, Hazelhurst Regional Gallery, Gymea NSW
Women of the World, SA Artist Representative, Godinymayin Yijard Rivers Arts and Culture Centre, Katherine
Desert Mob, Araluen Art Centre, Alice Springs
Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Awards (NATSIAA), finalist, MAGNT, Darwin
Iwantja Artists Exhibition, Short St Gallery, Broome
East APY Exhibition, Outstation Gallery, Darwin
Desert Mob, Araluen Art Centre, Alice Springs
Salon des Refusés, Charles Darwin University with Outstation Gallery, Darwin
Desert Mob, Araluen Art Centre, Alice Springs
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Joanna Gilmour, ‘You are who’, Portrait 67, Winter, pg 8
Timmah Ball, ‘Country and Celebrity’, Art Guide, Jan – Feb, pg 80
Marcus Schutenko, ‘Critic’s Choice – Kaylene Whiskey’, Art Collector, Issue 97, pg 149
Olamiju Fajemisin, ‘Kaylene Whiskey’, Sweet Hausder Kunst, pg 258-259
Briony Downs, ‘Tastemakers’, Art Collector, Issue 99, pg 213
Talia Smith, 'Tina Dolly Cher Diana & Kaylene', VAULT Magazine, Issue 32, pg 49
Walter Marsh, ‘Tarnanthi 2019 program invites Australia to reflect on the past and pay the rent’, The Adelaide Review, September 16, 2019
Louise Martin-Chew, 'Kaylene Whiskey', Artist Profile, no. 48, 2019, pg. 80-83
Steven Schubert, ‘Indigenous artists stage sell-out show in Sydney to raise funds for leaking Iwantja Arts’, ABC News, 3 November 2018
PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
ACMI, Melbourne
Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide
Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth
Art Gallery of Ballarat, Victoria
Artbank, Sydney
Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, Canberra
Bendigo Art Gallery, Bendigo, VIC
Fondation Opale, Lens, Switzerland
Geelong Art Gallery, Geelong, VIC
Heathcote Cultural Precinct, Melville, WA
Kadist, Paris; San Francisco
Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Sydney
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
North Dakota Museum of Art, North Dakota
Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane
Saint Louis Art Museum, Missouri
Sims Dickson Collection, NSW
SELECTED GRANTS, AWARDS AND COMMISSIONS
Melbourne Art Foundation Commission, Melbourne
Sydney Modern Project Commission, Sydney
Winner: Digital Art Prize, Heathcote Cultural Precinct, Melville, WA
Winner: General Painting Award, Telstra NATSIAAs Awards, MAGNT, Darwin
Winner: Sir John Sulman Prize, AGNSW, Sydney
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