The Art of Audrey Rhoda

From the onset of her career, Audrey Rhoda has defined her paintings as personal, metaphorical narratives. Her subject matter is completely autobiographical and, with her unique way of painting with the layering of beeswax and oils, a metaphor of her life - the complex accumulation of experiences producing unusual, varied results.

This recent work is a continuation to her Childhood Solitudes series, which was exhibited at Figureworks in 2005. Her imagery references the recurrence of childhood in adulthood - vignettes filled with personas big and little, human and animal, scary and friendly, playful and serious. All are in curious encounters with other strange creatures that are born of her childhood fantasies. She states, "In the tranquil reverie of my art making I find myself returning again and again to my childhood solitudes. And through this dreaming I marvel at how the long forgotten imaginings of these solitudes resurface in my adult-infused imagery. My painting is a narrative of the growth of my identity as a single, divorced woman with an awakened sense of persona and all I have learnt from getting out there on my own".

Born into Apartheid's Johannesburg in 1949, Audrey Rhoda immigrated to Australia in 1983. In Sydney , she achieved her Fine Arts Degree and Masters of Art.   Rhoda has exhibited extensively in Sydney as well as in Melbourne, New York, Paris and Los Angeles, She is represented by the Charles Hewitt Gallery (Sydney), Gallery 10ll (Melbourne) and Figureworks, (New York).

Living By Numbers VI
Oil and Wax on Canvas
8" x 10"


Self Portrait in Spring
Oil and wax on board
15" x 16"

There Are Good Days, There Are Bad Days
Oil and wax on board
27" x 44"

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