Kate Briscoe

Inspired by the ancient and weathered Australian landscape, Kate Briscoe mixes sand into paint to create eroded geological cross sections and striations that capture the substance and sensuality of the earth. For Kate, landforms tell stories.

Sydney based artist Kate Briscoe has an extensive exhibition CV, with 50 solo exhibitions, exhibiting throughout Australia as well as Korea, Beijing, the UK and the USA. She trained in the UK before migrating to Australia in 1968, completing her Masters of Fine Art at COFA. Briscoe has been a finalist in many prizes including the Blake, the Fleurieu Prize, the NSW Plein Air Prize, the Calleen Art prize, the Paddington Landscape Prize and the Wynne Prize on various occasions. She and has shown at KIAF in Seoul, the Melbourne Art Fair, Sydney Contemporary Art Fair and Art Central Art Fair Hong Kong.

Studio-photo-Andre-Smits

Briscoe’s work is included in major public collections including NSW Parliament House, Parliament House Canberra, and many corporate collections including General Motors New York, Sejong General Hospital -Seoul, Rabobank, Barclays Capitol, Westin Hotels.

Respected art writers and critics including Sasha Grishin, Joanna Mendelssohn and Courtney Kidd have reviewed her practice. She is included in the 1998 OUP compendium, Australian Feminism and the Dictionary of Women Artists by Max Germaine. ‘Fire and Shadow’ {Spirituality in Contemporary Australian Art] by Neville Drury and Anna Voight, ‘New visions New Perspectives’ [Contemporary Australian Women Artists].10 Group published her book ‘Geologica’, in 2015, which illustrates the 10 previous years of her practice, working from the landscape of The Kimberley in WA.

Kate Briscoe has refined a unique technique for creating her paintings, working sand, acrylic and pigment across the canvas to create layering and textures reminiscent of the rock faces that inspire her. Joanna Mendelssohn writes: “the best way to describe these paintings is to say that they were born old – their toughness, monumentality and their rugged surface give the impression that in these works Briscoe has captured the ultimate essence of an ancient land.”


Recent solo exhibitions include Art Atrium Sydney 2020, VMG Melbourne and &Gallery Victoria 2021.