Karlee Rawkins
“I look at my paintings very intensely, searching for clues to the next step. The composition shifts and moves, layers are added and removed. Then suddenly it will become apparent and I know what to do next. It is a strange, exciting and instinctual process that finally ‘catches’ a painting.”
Karlee Rawkins is known for her striking, symbol-rich paintings of wildlife and flora. Her work blends representational imagery with abstraction—emphasizing colour, pattern, and gesture over anatomical realism—to explore themes of vulnerability, resilience, and mythic transformation. Drawing inspiration from nature, folklore, medieval tapestries, Hindu-Buddhist aesthetics, and ritual symbolism, Rawkins develops layered compositions that feel both dreamlike and grounded in the natural world
Rawkins received her Bachelor of Visual Art with Honours from Southern Cross University in Lismore in 1999, and rose to national recognition when she won the prestigious Brett Whiteley Travelling Art Scholarship in 2003—gaining a residency in Paris and producing the award-winning painting Bitch in India inspired by her travels in India and Nepal. Since the mid‑1990s, she has exhibited widely in solo and group shows across Australia, including The Other Side of the Mountain (Flinders Lane Gallery, 2022) and True Blue (2025), and has earned accolades like the 2019 Margaret Olley Commendation at the Mosman Art Prize, along with repeated finalist status in awards such as Fishers Ghost, Prometheus, Clayton Utz, and KAAF
About the Artist
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*1977, lives and works in Bellingen, NSW
1999 Bachelor of Visual Art with Honours, Southern Cross University, Lismore NSW -
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2025
True Blue, Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne2023
Never Neverland, Yarrila Arts Museum, Coffs Harbour, NSW2022
The Other Side of the Mountain, Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne2021
Hocus Pocus, Linton & Kay Galleries, Perth, WA2018
Kingdom of Plenty, Linton & Kay Galleries, Perth, WA2016
Pretty Wild, Linton & Kay Galleries, Perth, WA2015
Big River, Tweed Regional Art Gallery, Murwillumbah
Never Never River, Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne2014
Temples of Jasper, Linton & Kay Galleries, Perth, WA2013
Sky World, Linton & Kay Galleries, Subiaco, WA
Honey Gully, Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne2012
Wild Fox Garden, Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne2011
Dark Wood Land, Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne2010
Big Rock Candy Mountain, Iain Dawson Gallery, Sydney
Mekong Drift, Tweed River Gallery, Murwillumbah2009
Zoo Tomorrow, Iain Dawson Gallery, Sydney2005
Minor Migration, Byron Fine Art Gallery, Byron Bay2002
Amulet, Gallery Paul, St Kilda2000
Flying, Wood St Gallery, Darwin
Selected Group Exhibitions
2020
Spring Salon, Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne
Mosman Art Prize Finalists, Mosman Art Gallery2019
Mosman Art Prize Finalists, Mosman Art Gallery
The Whiteley at 20, S.H. Ervin Gallery, Sydney
Co.Lab.Arts: Work in Process, Coffs Harbour Regional Gallery2018
Clayton Utz Art Award, Lethbridge Gallery, Brisbane2015
The Piano Has Been Drinking (Not Me), Maitland Regional Art Gallery
KAAF Art Prize, Korean Cultural Centre, Sydney2014
Modern Women, Linton & Kay Galleries, Subiaco, WA2012
Inspiring Artists: Recipients of the Pat Corrigan Artists Grant, Maitland Regional Art Gallery
Greatest Hits Vol II, Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne
Studio Show, Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne
Fishers Ghost Art Award, Campbelltown Arts Centre2010
Big Paintings, Iain Dawson Gallery, Sydney2007
Brett Whiteley Travelling Art Scholarship: Past Winners, Brett Whiteley Studio, Sydney
Prometheus Art Award Finalists, Merrimac2006
Chrysalis: The Emergence of Northern Rivers Artists, Lismore Regional Gallery
Showcase, Piece Gallery, Mullumbimby
Oceans 11, Lismore Regional Gallery2005
Prometheus Art Award Finalists, Merrimac
This Place Our Town, Piece Gallery, Mullumbimby2004
Exposition, Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris, France2003
The Brett Whiteley Travelling Art Scholarship Finalists (Winner), Brett Whiteley Studio, Sydney1999
Odds On, Honours Graduate Exhibition, SCU, Lismore1998
11th Annual Bachelor of Arts Graduate Exhibition, SCU, Lismore
Selected Works, Museum of Contemporary Art, SCU, Lismore1995
Curator’s Choice, Visual Arts Gallery, USQ, Toowoomba
Indonesian/Australian Student Show, Visual Arts Gallery, USQ, Toowoomba1994
Minister for Education’s Excellence in Art Award, The Old Post Office Gallery, Toowoomba
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Awards and Residencies
2020
Mosman Art Prize, Finalist, Mosman Art Gallery2019
Mosman Art Prize, Margaret Olley Commendation Award, Mosman Art Gallery2018
Clayton Utz Art Award, Finalist2016
Now Shoalhaven Contemporary Art Prize, Finalist2015
KAAF Art Prize, Finalist2012
Fishers Ghost Art Award, Finalist2007
Prometheus Art Award, Finalist2005
Prometheus Art Award, Finalist2004
Residency, 5-month AGNSW Studio at Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris, France2003
Brett Whiteley Travelling Art Scholarship, Winner2001
Pat Corrigan Artists Grant, NAVA & Arts Council Australia1999
William Fletcher Trust Grant1994
Minister for Education’s Excellence in Art Award, Finalist
Collections
Maitland Regional Art Gallery
Mater Private Hospital, Brisbane
Sydney Children’s Hospitals Foundation
