Vicki McInnes

Vicki McInnes                                                      Artist’s Statement                                                                                               

April 2019

Vicki McInnes is a Melbourne painter skilled in realistic painting anddrawing, working across various genres, and known primarily for her still lifepaintings in oils.

The low key, non-narrative imagery she employs allows the attention todwell on the formal and material aspects of representational painting, that is,to the arrangement of forms and tonal variance along with choice of subject andqualities of the paint itself. Her aim is to produce a more reflective andconsidered visual experience.

Vicki has a strong connection to home and memories ofchildhood and family. The family home was set in a rambling garden, and she grewup with a strong awareness of the seasons: the changes of fruit, vegetables andflowers signaling the year’s progress. This everyday and familiar harvest has astrong presence still, and is the source of themes she explores in paintingsand drawings.

Having studied Tonalist painting for quite a few yearswith Melbourne painter Don James at Montsalvat, Vicki follows this classic approachin painting, with no preliminary drawing, and always working directly from thesubject.

aboutthe artist

Vicki McInnes is originallyfrom Alphington in Melbourne’s inner northeast. Her parents’ house was builtnot far from the home and studio of her grandparents: William Beckwith McInneswho was awarded the Wynne landscape prize in 1918 and the first four Archibaldportrait prizes in 1921-1924, and went on to win it a further three times, and VioletMcInnes who also had a successful career as a highly regarded painter. 

Havingattained a Bachelor of Arts at Melbourne University in 1974, in the followingthree decades Vicki worked in fashion design and development, retail andmanufacturing management and more recently, interior design.

She firstexhibited at Montsalvat in 2013, then held another solo exhibition at The LightFactory Gallery in Eltham, and at Malvern Artists’ Society in September 2016. Awardsinclude Best Oil Painting Brighton Art Society 2017, Best Oil Painting MalvernArt Society 2016, AGRA Medallion 2012, Highly Commended Waterhouse NaturalScience Art Prize 2013.

Sheteaches and runs workshops in drawing and painting, and continues to exhibitregularly at The Victorian Artists’ Society, Malvern and Brighton Art Societyand selected art shows.