This survey presents Aida Tomescu’s recent large-scale paintings alongside selected key works from the last 25 years. While some are impressive in their scale and potency, others offer quieter counterpoints yet with comparable presence.

Working closely with Tomescu, the selection is intended as a non-linear gathering of works with an emphasis on the internal conversations within each piece, while making apparent the relationships between paintings from different time periods. This arrangement more closely reflects Tomescu’s concern for the inner life and identity of each painting rather than a chronological sequence of works.

Born in Bucharest in 1955, Aida Tomescu grew up in the Socialist Republic of Romania where she lived until the age of 23 years.

Since arriving in Sydney in 1980, Tomescu has established a compelling and undeniable presence in Australian art, with work held in state galleries, the National Gallery of Australia and a host of regional and international collections, including the British Museum, London.

She has presented 40 solo exhibitions and won the Sulman Prize in 1996, the Wynne Prize in 2001 and the Dobell Prize for Drawing in 2003 at the Art Gallery of New South Wales. She is also the winner of the inaugural LFSA Arts 21 Fellowship in 1996 at the Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne.

For Tomescu, painting is a form of thinking- the studio being a place for reflection and for concentrating on the development of new painting vocabulary. It is where she is able to fully attend to the actions and considerations she makes—layering and excavating until the painting reaches a state of resolution in which all the elements in the work cohere into a unified presence with structure at its essence.

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