Stephen Eastaugh
“I want to frame the beauty and chaos in another way. I collect, juggle, meld and ponder in order to interpret what I glean from this outlandish land of ice into art.”
- Stephen Eastaugh
Stephen Eastaugh is a Western Australian–based contemporary artist whose vibrant, semi-abstract mixed-media works are deeply shaped by decades of global travel and immersion in remote and extreme landscapes. Calling himself “geographically promiscuous,” Eastaugh has journeyed to nearly 100 countries, establishing studios in unlikely places—from Russian icebreakers in the Arctic to winter-isolated Antarctic stations and even a bus in the Sahara Desert.
A graduate of the Victorian College of the Arts, with further studies in Oslo and Tasmania, Eastaugh has held more than 100 solo and 140 group exhibitions worldwide. His extensive travels—including nine journeys to Antarctica, three as the official Australian Antarctic Arts Fellow—form the foundation of his long-running series Unstill Life, which translates memory, geography, dislocation, and human movement into richly layered compositions of thread, fabric, encaustic wax, paper, oilstick, and found materials.
Eastaugh’s works, which blur the boundaries of map and memory, are represented in major collections including the National Gallery of Australia, National Gallery of Victoria, Art Gallery of Western Australia, and the Australian Antarctic Division Collection.
Image: Artist
About the Artist
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Born 1960 in Melbourne, VIC. Lives and works in Western Australia
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Selected Solo Exhibitions
2025
Wonderlustful, Mulgrave Gallery, Cairns, Queensland, Australia2024
Remotelyclose. I Am No Longer Here, Geraldton Regional Art Gallery, Western Australia2023
Mongrelscape, VT Art Salon, Taipei, Taiwan
Inlandish, Short Street Gallery, Broome, Western Australia2022
ID, Block Projects, Melbourne, Victoria
Northern TAFE Art Residency Gallery, Perth, Western Australia2021
Bordering on Landscape, Broome Fringe Festival, Broome, Western Australia2019
We Will Know When We Get There, Block Projects, Melbourne, Victoria
Flag Waiving, Short Street Gallery, Broome, Western Australia2017
Undersea Signs, NKN Gallery, Melbourne, Victoria
Vessels, Suzanne Biederberg Gallery, Amsterdam, Netherlands2016
Simulated Vehicles, Experimenta, Hong Kong, China
Ghost Ships, RAFT South, Hobart, Tasmania2015
Nopersonsland, NKN Gallery, Melbourne, Victoria2014
Paddle Your Boat, Suzanne Biederberg Gallery, Amsterdam, Netherlands2013
Greenice, Damien Minton Gallery, Sydney, New South Wales2012
An Awfully Beautiful Place, Visual Space, Beijing, China
Knot, Plymouth Art Centre, Plymouth, UK
An Awfully Beautiful Place, Carnegie Gallery, Hobart, Tasmania2011
Hutfever, Experimenta, Hong Kong, China
Winterover + Dumbshow, 24 HR Art, Darwin, Northern Territory
Winterover, Broken Hill Regional Gallery, New South Wales2010
Unstill Life, Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery, Victoria
Knots and Nunataks, Milani Gallery, Brisbane, Queensland
Blizzlines, William Mora Gallery, Melbourne, Victoria
A Good Day Tonight, Turner Gallery, Perth, Western Australia2009
A.A.T.W.O.P., Mawson Station, Antarctica
Selected Group Exhibitions
2025
Collie Art Prize, Collie Art Gallery, Western Australia2024
Artists to Ice, Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Hobart, Tasmania2023
Duavata, Lancaster Press Gallery, Sigatoka, Fiji
Maritime Art Prize, Mission to Seafarers, Melbourne, Victoria2022
Paul Guest National Drawing Prize, Bendigo Art Gallery, Victoria2021
The Latitudes of Art, Pulchri Gallery, The Hague, Netherlands2020
Paul Guest National Drawing Prize, Bendigo Art Gallery, Victoria2019
Genoa Biennale – The Latitudes of Art, Suzanne Biederberg Gallery, Genoa, Italy2018
Line of Enquiry, Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery, Victoria2017
Sydney Contemporary Art Fair, Sydney, New South Wales2016
Mapping Australia, AAMU, Utrecht, Netherlands2015
Beyond Words, Artspace Mackay, Queensland2014
Drunken Trees in a Distorted Landscape, 2.04 Gallery, St Petersburg, Russia2013
Intimate Geography, PUFF Underground Film Festival, Hong Kong, China2012
IV Antarctic Art + Culture Festival, Chancellery Hall, Buenos Aires, Argentina2011
Islands to Ice, Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Hobart, Tasmania2009
Festival of Art Outsiders, Maison Européenne de la Photographie, Paris, France
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Collections
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, ACT
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Victoria
Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia
Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne, Victoria
Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, New South Wales
Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Hobart, Tasmania
Parliament House Art Collection, Canberra, ACT
Australian Antarctic Division Collection
Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery, Victoria
Gold Coast City Gallery, Gold Coast, Queensland
Artbank, Australia-wide
Hamilton Gallery, Hamilton, Victoria
Kerry Stokes Collection, Perth, Western Australia
Nevada Museum of Art, Reno, Nevada, USA
Grants
2021
Culture and the Arts WA, Arts Grant (DLGSC)2019
West Australian Creative Development Grant2018
Australia Council for the Arts2012
Asialink, Beijing Studio Residency Grant2007
Arts Victoria International Program / Australia–China Council
Formal Residencies
2023
Fiji Imprints Residency, Fiji
Treasure Hill Artist Village, Taipei, Taiwan2022
Fremantle Arts Centre Residency, Perth, Western Australia
Northern TAFE Residency, Perth, Western Australia2019
Cill Rialaig Project, County Kerry, Ireland
18th Street Arts Center, Los Angeles, USA2018
Maritime Residency, Indian Ocean2017
Rimbun Dahan, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
NKD, Dale i Sunnfjord, Norway2016
NSAF, Hue, Vietnam2014
Pushkinskaya-10, St Petersburg, Russia2012
24HR Art Beijing Residency, China
PAC, Plymouth Arts Centre, Plymouth, UK
Tanks Arts Centre, Cairns, Queensland, Australia2011
Hafnarborg Art Residency, Iceland2010
Retreat Residency, Upernavik, Greenland
Turner Gallery Residency, Perth, Western Australia2009
Australian Antarctic Division, Winter Residency, Mawson Station, Antarctica
27 x 29cm