Clara Adolphs

Born in 1985 in Sydney, Australia.
Clara Adolphs lives and works in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales, on the lands of the Gundunggurra nation.
Clara Adolphs' work is based on a paradox. Painting, as a medium, always evokes the here and now. With her thick paint application and the strength of her graphic gestures, Adolphs' works seem to have just come out of the studio.
Conversely, the images that make up Adolphs's works are inspired by photographs of ski resorts, family vacations, and summer swimming pools. They represent a more innocent and elegant past, made up of simple pleasures. A bygone era. Yet, by painting these images, Adolphs manages to vividly bring this past back into our lives. The nostalgic atmosphere of his works is then transformed into a striking vitality and immediacy.
Adolphs graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of New South Wales in 2008. In 2017, she received the Eva Breuer Travel Grant, enabling her to undertake a residency at the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris. She also won the Mosman Art Prize for Emerging Young Artists. She has been a finalist multiple times for the Art Gallery of New South Wales' Archibald, Wynne, and Sulman Awards, as well as the Mosman Art Prize and the Brett Whiteley Travel Grant. In 2019, she had a major solo exhibition at the Goulburn Regional Gallery. In 2022, she had a solo exhibition at Art SG Singapore with the collective CHALK HORSE.
Recently, her work was selected for the cover of the New York Review of Books, and this year she graced the cover of the 63rd issue of Artist Profile. This year, Adolphs presented a new series of works at the 18th Adelaide Australian Art Biennial: Inner Sanctum, curated by José Da Silva. She will also have a solo exhibition titled Together Again at the Ngununggula Regional Gallery in the Southern Highlands.
Collections: ArtBank, Art Gallery of South Australia, Goulburn Regional Gallery, Gold Coast City Gallery, Australian Corporate Collection Board (board member); Museum of Contemporary Art, Art Month, Sydney, Art Gallery of South Australia, private collections in Australia and abroad.