Tony Curran (b.1984) is a visual artist. His paintings, drawings and digital media aim at the desire to be free in a cybernetically constrained age. His work combines painterly approaches and web 2.0 aesthetics through GUI (Graphical-User-Interface) abstraction. The digital wiggle is an enduring motif in Curran’s work and pivots around mobile devices as a pressure point of visual culture. His attention to colour, combined with the digital ‘wiggle’ provides an improvisational foil for systems-based, process-oriented art making.

CV

EDUCATION

2015 Doctor of Philosophy (Fine Art). Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga.
2011 Bachelor of Arts (VISUAL & Performing Arts) (Hons Div. 1), Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga.
2008 Masters of Art (Drawing). College of Fine Arts, University of New South Wales.
2006 Bachelor of Science (Psychology), Macquarie University, Sydney.

AWARDS AND GRANTS

2020 ArtsACT - HOMEfront Grant
2019 ArtsACT - Arts Activities Up to $5K
2016 Australia Council for the Arts - Development Grant
Australian National University School of Art - Vice Chancellor's College Visiting Artist Fellowship
2012 Australian Postgraduate Award - Charles Sturt University
2011 Country Arts Small Grants Program (CASP) from Regional Arts New South Wales
CSU Annual Perpetual Art Award - Coolamon Art Prize
2008 British Council Travelling Art Scholarship

RESIDENCIES

2019 Cicada Press. University of NSW, Sydney
2019
VCA Editions. Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne
2019 Megalo Print Studio + Gallery, Canberra ACT.
Visiting Artist, Cicada Press. University of New South Wales, Art and Design.
2015-16 Meeting Room 1 – Wagga Wagga Art Gallery. Wagga Wagga, NSW
2015 Visiting Artist – Australian National University School of Art
2014 Please Be Seated - Artist in Residence at Radford College. Canberra ACT
2013 As Long As You're Here (Visiting Artist) National Portrait Gallery of Australia. Canberra, ACT
2012 Identify, Identity, Identikit. Museum of the Riverina. Wagga Wagga, NSW
2010 AuralDynamics. Fraser Studios. Sydney, NSW

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2023 (scheduled) What a machine. Griffith Regional Art Gallery, NSW
2021 Colour Separations. Megalo Studio & Gallery, Canberra
2017 Random feels familiar. Wagga Wagga Art Gallery, NSW
Loop. Galerie Pompom, Sydney.
The unconscious is a rectangle. M16 Artspace, Canberra

Instances of Fixed Proportions. Nicholas Projects, Melbourne
Limiting Entropy duo-exhibition with Lachlan Brown - ANCA Gallery Canberra
2016 Nothing is Abstract. Wagga Wagga Art Gallery
Almost Illegible Canberra Contemporary Art Space, Gorman House. Braddon, ACT
2015 How you show yourself is how you’ll be seen. ANU School of Art Main Gallery. Australian National University School of Art. Acton, ACT
Excerpts from an Ouroboric Gaze. Art Atrium. Bondi Junction, Sydney, NSW
STAY. Links Gallery, Wagga Wagga Art Gallery, Wagga Wagga NSW
2013 Parts of You Are Dying. Art Atrium. Bondi Junction, Sydney, NSW
2012 Die Sektions. E3 Space. Civic Square, Wagga Wagga NSW.
Face Value. Annabel Wallace Gallery. Murringo, NSW.
2011 Finding Arthur Wicks. H. R. Gallop Gallery. Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga, NSW.

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2020 With Thunder Stroke and Rain. Artbank, Sydney
Mark Making: Abstract works by M16 Studio Artists. M16 Artspace, Canberra
Fake Nature, a dual exhibition with Waratah Lahy.  Tuggaranong Arts Centre, ACT.  
2019 M16 Drawing Prize.  M16 Artspace, Canberra
Looks Like Music Sounds Like Painting.  Gallery of Small Things, Canberra
Cicada Press.  Megalo Studio and Gallery, Canberra
Connections Part 2, CSIRO Discovery Centre, Canberra ACT
2018 M16 Drawing Prize.  M16 Artspace, Canberra
Painting Amongst Other Things.  ANU School of Art & Design Gallery, Canberra
The Fellows | Vice Chancellor's Artist Fellowship Scheme.  ANU School of Art & Design Gallery, Canberra
Bayside Acquisitive Art Prize.  Bayside Art Gallery, Melbourne
Salon des Refusés: The Alternative Archibald and Wynne Prize Selections.  S. H Ervin Gallery, Sydney
Straight Outta Canberra, curated by Alexander Boynes. May Space, Sydney
2017 M16 Drawing Prize.  M16 Artspace, Canberra
Material World. M16 Artspace, Canberra
Aura: Repetition, Reproduction and the Mark of the Artist. Manly Art Gallery & Museum, Sydney
Naturally Yours. ANU School of Art & Design Gallery, Canberra
A Walking Exhibition. The Garage, Canberra
Vice Chancellor's College Artist Fellowship Scheme (2016).  ANU School of Art & Design Gallery.
2015 Art Atrium at Sydney Contemporary. Carriageworks, Sydney
Archibald Prize 2015 exhibition of finalists. Art Gallery of New South Wales. Sydney
2014 Brett Whiteley Travelling Art Scholarship exhibition of finalists. Brett Whiteley Studio, Surry Hills, Sydney
Salon des Refusés: The Alternative Archibald and Wynne Prize Selections. S. H. Ervin Gallery, Sydney
2013 Art 3K. Art Atrium. Sydney
2012 Staff Show. Gallery 43. Riverina Institute of Tafe, Wagga Wagga, NSW
2010 Sydney Open: Artist in Residence Exhibition. Fraser Studios, Sydney
2009 Bucket. MOP Projects. Sydney NSW
2008 Icon Creative Summit. Brisbane Powerhouse. Brisbane, Qld
Mosman Art Prize Exhibition of Finalists. Mosman Art Gallery
By the Throat, Edinburgh School of Architecture Gallery, Edinburgh Scotland

PUBLIC COLLECTIONS

2021 Australian National University Art Collection, Canberra ACT
2019
Artbank, Sydney
2017  Charles Sturt University Art Collection, Wagga Wagga, NSW
2017, 2015  Wagga Wagga Art Gallery, NSW
2012  Museum of the Riverina, Wagga Wagga NSW

ARTIST TALKS

2016 Guest Lecture - Cyberculture Lecture Series - Australian National University, Canberra.
2015 Artforum guest lecture – Visiting Artist. Australian National University, Canberra.
STAY: Artist Floor Talk - Wagga Wagga Art Gallery, NSW
2015 A Contemporary poetics for portraiture. H.R. Gallop Gallery Seminar Series. Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga NSW.
2014 How can portraiture elicit participation? Australian Council for University Art and Design Schools. Victorian College of the Arts.
2013 Self Aesthetics: Towards an audience of one. Australian Council for University Art and Design Schools. College of Fine Arts, University of New South Wales, Sydney.
Digital Material - Guest Lecture. Australian National University, Canberra.
As Long As You're Here - Wednesday Gallery Talk October 16. National Portrait Gallery, Canberra.
2012 Self Aesthetic or the Aesthetic of Self: A Practice-led Enquiry into the Phenomenon of Self. H.R. Gallop Gallery Seminar Series. Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga NSW.