Tonee Messiah builds her painted surfaces with various hard and soft forms that overlap and intersect in an archaeological drift. The effect is one of movement and agitation, closure and expansion, that draws the viewer towards the inner sub-structure of the painting. Eschewing fixed references, Messiah explores complex psychological experiences the cannot be easily defined. She considers painting like another form of thinking, and as her surfaces build, so does her response to the world around her.
Subtle colour balances and biomorphic forms have become signature features of Messiah’s work, and balancing the harmony and tension in an image by manipulating these elements is an ongoing concern for the young artist. In the studio she constantly challenges herself to create images that instil ‘a sense of curiosity in their unfamiliar structure’ yet are not ‘aesthetically repellent’. Messiah’s use of irregular forms derives from her fascination with the way ink bleeds into water and the unexpected shapes that are created when they combine.
– Jane Somerville from Artand Australia, August 2013
Tonee Messiah (b. 1983) lives and works in Sydney. She holds a Masters of Fine Art from UNSW Art & Design where she is a sessional lecturer as well as teaching at National Art School. Exhibiting with Gallery 9 since 2007, Messiah is represented in the collections of Monash University Museum of Art, Artbank, Allens Linklaters, Barker College and Campbelltown Hospital.
TONEE MESSIAH
Approachable Argument 2019
oil on linen
111 × 107 cm
TONEE MESSIAH
Augment and Halt 2019
oil on canvas
137 × 152 cm
TONEE MESSIAH
Blind For Looking 2019
oil on canvas
45 × 35.5 cm
TONEE MESSIAH
Call and Response 2019
oil on canvas
106.5 × 91.5 cm
TONEE MESSIAH
Demands of Modern Advantage 2019
oil on canvas
83 × 65 cm
TONEE MESSIAH
Family Tablecloth 2019
oil on canvas
56 × 60 cm
TONEE MESSIAH
Hieronymus for the Modern 2017
mixed media, on cotton rag paper
76 × 56 cm (framed)
TONEE MESSIAH
Left Side Living 2019
oil on canvas
91 × 107 cm
TONEE MESSIAH
Notice Once 2019
oil on linen
71 × 60 cm
TONEE MESSIAH
Notice twice 2019
oil on linen
107 × 101 cm
TONEE MESSIAH
Order of Nothing 2019
oil on canvas
55 × 65.5 cm
TONEE MESSIAH
Outsourcing A Way to See 2017
oil on canvas
76 × 71 cm
TONEE MESSIAH
Tend 2019
oil on canvas
41 × 35 cm
TONEE MESSIAH
Uninvested Record of Experience 2017
oil on linen
92 × 76 cm
TONEE MESSIAH
Welcome (Sometimes) 2019
oil on linen
122 × 107 cm
INFLATE, CONSUME, CAPSIZE
16 October – 09 November 2019
TONEE MESSIAH
SYDNEY CONTEMPORARY ART FAIR 2017
24 July – 24 July 2019
GROUP SHOW
MELBOURNE ART FAIR 2018
01 August – 05 August 2018
GROUP SHOW
AUCKLAND ART FAIR 2018
23 May – 27 May 2018
GROUP SHOW
SYDNEY CONTEMPORARY
07 September – 10 September 2017
GROUP SHOW
A NEW FAMINE
30 August – 23 September 2017
TONEE MESSIAH
9 ALMOST 10
31 August – 17 September 2016
GROUP SHOW
SPRING 1883
17 August – 21 August 2016
GROUP SHOW
OVER CONSIDERED
17 February – 05 March 2016
TONEE MESSIAH
GROUP SHOW
18 March – 02 April 2015
GROUP SHOW
MELBOURNE ART FAIR 2014
13 August – 17 August 2014
GROUP SHOW
START ART FAIR, SAATCHI GALLERY LONDON
26 June – 29 June 2014
GROUP SHOW
SORROWS BREAKFAST
12 March – 05 April 2014
TONEE MESSIAH
CONTEMPORARY PAINTING
07 May – 18 May 2013
GROUP SHOW
ALL THE THINGS I NOW ONLY JUST UNDERSTAND
12 September – 06 October 2012
TONEE MESSIAH
GROUP SHOW
27 January – 18 February 2012
GROUP SHOW
SIMPLY COULDN'T, ABSOLUTELY MUST
01 December – 18 December 2010
TONEE MESSIAH
SOCIETY OF ISLAND UNIVERSES
30 September – 17 October 2009
TONEE MESSIAH
YOU & YOURS
02 July – 19 July 2008
TONEE MESSIAH
MATEY, FITZROY & ALFRED
29 March – 14 April 2007
TONEE MESSIAH
INTERVIEW WITH TONEE MESSIAH
25 October 2019
TONEE MESSIAH