Featuring among her major solo exhibitions: The Shape of Things, SWAB Art Fair Barcelona, Olsen Irwin, Barcelona (2015), In my nature, Cat Street Gallery, Hong Kong (2015), What goes around comes around, Jan Murphy Gallery, Brisbane (2015), Doublethink, Karen Woodbury Gallery, Melbourne (2014); the ever changing nature of things, Gallery Ecosse, Southern Highlands, Sydney (2013); Seeing is believing, Jan Murphy Gallery at Sydney Contemporary (2013); invaders, Karen Woodbury Gallery at Block Projects, Melbourne (2012); every breath you take, Karen Woodbury Gallery, Melbourne (2010); still vast reserves, Kaliman Gallery, Sydney (2009); soft rock, Karen Woodbury Gallery, Melbourne (2007), To soon to tell, Kaliman Gallery, Sydney (2006); let’s get together, Karen Woodbury Gallery, Melbourne (2005); Upside down you turn me, Kaliman Gallery, Sydney (2004); Wish you were here, Kaliman Gallery, Sydney (2003); and No Hard Edges, Kaliman Gallery, Sydney (2002).
Lara has also participated in numerous group exhibitions most recently in Perceptions of Space: Justin Collection, Glen Eira City Council, Melbourne (2014); Wattle: Contemporary Australian Art, The Cat Street Gallery, Hong Kong (2011); the Salon des Refuses 2010, The Alternative Archibald & Wynne Prize Selection, the National Trust S.H. Ervin Gallery Sydney, The Shilo Project, Ian Potter Museum of Art, Melbourne (2009/10); Turbulent Terrain, Latrobe Regional Gallery, Melbourne (and touring) (2009/10) Other group exhibitions of note include, Newtown Diaries, Delmar Gallery, Sydney (2009); An Ever Expanding Universe, Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts, Perth (2008); Décor, Glen Eira City Council Gallery, Melbourne (2008); ABN AMRO Emerging Artist Award, ABN AMRO Melbourne & Sydney (2007); Against the Amnesiac Lifestyle Showroom, Gertrude Contemporary Art Spaces, Melbourne (2006); Portable model of… Plimsoll Gallery, Hobart and La Trobe Regional Gallery, Victoria (2005); Arrival/Departure, Bus Gallery Melbourne, collaboration with John Nicholson (2003); Helen Lemprière Traveling Art Scholarship, Artspace, Sydney (2002 and 1999); New Painting, Coffs Harbour Regional Art Gallery, New South Wales (2002); Fisher Ghost Festival Contemporary Art Award, Campbelltown City Art Gallery, New South Wales (2002 and 1996); and New Acquisitions, The Sir Hermann Black Gallery, University of Sydney (2000).
She has received various grants and awards such as The Freedman Foundation Traveling Scholarship for Emerging Artists (2001) and Willoughby City Art Prize (2001). Lara has recently been commissioned for various projects at the Victorian Tapestry Workshop for St Michaels Church, Melbourne (2010), and the Sofitel Hotel, Melbourne (2009), and is represented in the collections of the University of New South Wales, Sydney; the Bundanon Estate; Artbank, Melbourne; RACV; Sofitel Hotel; Macquarie Bank and UBS, Australia. Lara was recently commissioned by the St Regis Hotel in Chengdu, China (2014).
C.V
Born 1971, Melbourne, Australia
Lives and works in Sydney, Australia
Education
1997 Master of Arts (Painting), The College of Fine Arts, UNSW
1996 Bachelor of Fine Arts, The College of Fine Arts, UNSW
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2016 Casus Fortuitus, Karen Woodbury Gallery, Melbourne
2015 The Shape of Things, Swab Art Fair Barcelona, Olsen Irwin
2015 In My Nature, Cat Street Gallery, Hong Kong
2015 What goes around comes around, Jan Murphy Gallery, Brisbane
2014 Double Think, Karen Woodbury Gallery, Melbourne
2013 Sydney Contemporary, Jan Murphy Gallery, Sydney
2013 The ever changing nature of things, 28th September – 7th November, gallery ecosse, Southern Highlands, NSW
2013 Seeing is believing, 19th – 22nd September, Jan Murphy Gallery at Sydney Contemporary, Sydney
2012 Made of everything, Jan Murphy Gallery, Brisbane
2012 Be my inside looking out, 21st June – 5th August, Cat Street Gallery, Hong Kong
2012 Invaders, 4th – 28th April, Blockprojects, Melbourne
2010 Every breath you take, Karen Woodbury Gallery
2009 Still vast reserves, Kaliman Gallery, Sydney
2007 Soft rock, Karen Woodbury Gallery, Melbourne
2006 To soon to tell, Kaliman Gallery, Sydney
2005 Let’s get together, Karen Woodbury Gallery, Melbourne
2004 Upside down you turn me, Kaliman Gallery, Sydney
2003 Wish you were here, Kaliman Gallery, Sydney
2002 No Hard Edges, Kaliman Gallery, Sydney
1998 Leftfield, Crawford Gallery, Sydney
Selected Group Exhibitions
2017 Superposition of three types, Artspace, Sydney
2016 Paint16, Artereal Gallery, Sydney
2016 MCA Artbar curated by Huseyin Sami
2016 Studio Wars curated by Lara Merrett, Jan Murphy Gallery
2015 Spring 1883 Art Fair, The Establishment Hotel, Karen Woodbury Gallery
2014 Perceptions of Space, Justin Collection, Glen Eria City Council Gallery, Glen Eira
2011 Wattle, Cat Street Gallery, Hong Kong.
2010 Salon des Refuses 2010, The Alternative Archibald & Wynne Prize Selection, National Trust S.H. Ervin Gallery, Sydney
2010 Melbourne Art Fair, Karen Woodbury Gallery, Melbourne
2009/10 The Shilo Project, Ian Potter Museum of Art, Melbourne
2009 Turbulent Terrain, Latrobe Regional Gallery, Melbourne (and touring)
2009 Newtown Diaries, Delmar Gallery, Sydney
2008 Victorian Tapestry Workshop for St. Michaels Church, Collins Street, Melbourne
2008 An Ever Expanding Universe, Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts, Perth
2008 Décor, Glen Eira City Council Gallery, Melbourne
2007 ABN AMRO Emerging Artist Award, Melbourne and Sydney
2006 Against the Amnesiac Lifestyle Showroom, Gertrude Contemporary Art Spaces, Melbourne
2005 Portable model of…, Plimsoll Gallery, Hobart and La Trobe Regional Gallery, VIC
2003 11th A4 Art, West Space, Melbourne
2003 Arrival/Departure, (collaboration with John Nicholson), Bus Gallery, Melbourne
2002 Art on Paper: 02, Kaliman Gallery, Sydney
2002 The Freedman Foundation Travelling Art Scholarship, Sir Hermann Black Gallery, Sydney University, Sydney
2002 Helen Lempriere Travelling Art Scholarship, Artspace, Sydney
2002 Even Better than the Real Thing, Penthouse & Pavement, Melbourne
2002 New Painting, Coffs Harbour Regional Art Gallery, NSW
2002 Gallery 4A Xmas show, 4A Gallery, Sydney
2002 Fisher Ghost Festival Contemporary Art Award, Campbelltown City Art Gallery, NSW
2001 Something for the Ladies, Penthouse & Pavement, Melbourne
2001 Painting Now, Kaliman Gallery, Sydney
2001 Same but different, Global Gallery, Sydney
2001 Hi-Lo 4, Deutscher Menzies Gallery, Sydney
2000 Christmas show, Snow Gallery, London
2000 New Acquisitions, Sir Herman Black Gallery, Sydney University, Sydney
2000 Hi-Lo 3, Snow Gallery London
1999 Creation, Astro, Sydney
1999 Hi-Lo 2, Astro, Sydney
1999 Helen Lempriere Travelling Art Scholarship, Artspace, Sydney
1999 Jenny Birt Award, College of Fine Arts, University of New South Wales, Sydney
1997 Graduate Exhibition, College of Fine Arts, University of New South Wales, Sydney
1996 Fisher Ghost Festival Art Award, Campbelltown City Art Gallery, NSW
1996 Landscape & Abstraction (2 person show), Crawford Gallery, Sydney
1996 Jenny Birt Award, College of Fine Arts, University of New South Wales, Sydney
Grants, Awards and Residencies
2011 Artspace Sydney, Studio Artist Residency
2004 Bundanon, Arthur Boyd Shoalhaven NSW Residency
2003 The Pat Corrigan Artists Grant
2002 The NSW Artists Marketing Grant
2001 Kanoria Centre for the Arts, Ahmedadbad, India Residency
2001 The Freedman Foundation Travelling Scholarship for Emerging Artists
2001 NSW Marketing Grant
2001 1st Prize, Willoughby City Art Prize
1998 Chroma Australia Art Prize
1998 Young Artists Painting Prize, Berrima Art Society
Commissions
2010 Victorian Tapestry Workshop for St Michaels Church, Collins Street, Melbourne
2009 Sofitel Hotel, Collins Street, Melbourne
Collections
Artbank, Melbourne and Sydney
University of New South Wales, Sydney
Bundanon Estate
Charles and Leah Justin Collection, Melbourne
RACV
Sofitel Hotel, Melbourne
Macquarie Bank
UBS Australia
Selected Bibliography
2017 superposition three types – frieze.com
2016 ‘Casus Fortuitus’ , Essay by Chloé Wolifson
2010 Artist Profile Issue 12
2010 ‘What Now?’, Australia Art Collector, April-June 2010, pp.124-125
2010 Martin, L; ‘Romanticism and a Gothic sensibility’, Profile, Australian Art Review, Feb/Apr, pp.36-7
2009 Nainby, B; ‘Beyond imagination, into the abyss’, Turbulent Terrain: Manifestations of the sublime in
contemporary art, Exhibition catalogue, Latrobe Regional Gallery, Morwell, Victoria
2008 Keys, M; An Ever Expanding Universe catalogue essay, Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts
2008 Johnson, F; Interior Perspective, Sightlines, The Age,
2007 Byrne, L; Soft rock catalogue essay, Karen Woodbury Gallery
2006 Crawford, A; Against the Amnesiac Lifestyle Showroom, The Age, Preview, Arts, 10 Sep, p.35
2006 Rohde, K; Drop marks the spot, Lets Get Together catalogue essay, Karen Woodbury Gallery
2005 Events, Lara Merrett, Vogue Living, July/August, p.62
2005 Lara Merrett, Let’s Get Together, Profiles, Art Almanac, July, p.173
2005 Lara Merrett, The List, Museums & Galleries, Melbourne, Issue 031, July, p.84
2005 Portable model of… catalogue essay, Plimsoll Gallery
2004 Loxley, A; Sydney Morning Herald, The Arts, 6 Apr
2003 Low, L.A; Sydney Morning Herald, Metro, review, 2-4 May
2003 Kate Rohde and Lara Merrett, Critic’s picks, Metro, 4-10 April
2003 Lara Merrett: Wish You Were Here, Domain, p.3, 3 April
2002 Glass, A; Eye Candy, Australian Style, Number 62, May, p.48
2002 Hynes, V; Sydney Morning Herald, Metro, Critics Picks, 26 Apr
2002 Low, L.A; Sydney Morning Herald, Metro, 3-4 May
2002 Glass, A; Australian Style, May, p.48
2001 Hynes, V; Sydney Morning Herald, Metro, 7 Sep
2001 Itiyar, I; Catalogue Magazine, Interview, Sep
2000 Keenan, C; Seven talents granted a passport to the world, Metropolitan, 22 December, p.13
2000 Coomer, M; Time Out London, Art Review, 5-12 Jul, #1559, p. 55
2000 Oyster, World News, Winter, Jun/Jul, #30, p.20
2000 Creative Review (UK), Jun, Vol.20, #6 p.88
1999 Campaign Magazine, Gallery, Jan, pp.31-35
1996 James, B; Sydney Morning Herald, The Galleries, Jan