Kerry Inkster

Kerry Inkster is an Australian contemporary artist known for distinctive figurative paintings exploring women, water, colour and the natural world. Working predominantly with acrylic and mixed media, Inkster combines strong figurative forms with expressive colour, layered surfaces and fluid mark making.

Women have remained central to Inkster’s practice, particularly through her ongoing Women Underwater series, which began in 2014. Water is more than a setting within these works. For Inkster, it represents cleansing, renewal, freedom and weightlessness, while the female figure provides a means of exploring identity, independence and personal transformation.

Over more than a decade, Women Underwater has evolved across painting, photography and mixed media. Inkster often works from original underwater photography before reinterpreting her subjects through drawing and painting. Her contemporary techniques include elements of action painting, expressionism and stencil art, with particular attention given to colour relationships, tonal contrast and texture.

More recently, Inkster has explored the visual language of Japanese Ukiyo e woodblock prints, connecting her interest in printmaking and travels through Japan with her established fascination with women and water. These works can incorporate Japanese rice paper, acrylic paint, mixed media, gold paint and gold foil, creating highly textural surfaces with a contemporary finish.

Inkster graduated from the University of South Australia with a Bachelor of Visual Arts, majoring in Painting and minoring in Drawing, and was awarded the University of South Australia Medal for outstanding academic achievement. Her career has included selection for the Helpmann Academy Graduate Exhibition, art prize finalist recognition, exhibitions in Australia and Germany, and an artist residency in Germany.

Her influences are broad, ranging from Helen Frankenthaler, Jackson Pollock and Henri Matisse to Frida Kahlo, Cindy Sherman, Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein. This diversity can be seen in Inkster’s own balance of expressive painting, bold colour, graphic elements and contemporary figurative imagery.

Kerry Inkster’s original artworks have a natural place within contemporary interiors. Her combination of the female form, water, colour and texture particularly complements eclectic spaces and relaxed coastal cool interiors, while remaining unmistakably contemporary art.

Kerry Inkster is represented by KAB Gallery. Explore available original Kerry Inkster artworks online and at KAB Gallery.