Collection: Vanessa Stockard

Vanessa Stockard (born 1975) is a distinguished Australian painter whose work reinvents the language of classical portraiture with wit, psychological nuance, and technical mastery. Seamlessly blending baroque drama with contemporary irony, her paintings evoke the weight of art history while subverting its conventions—often through the unexpected presence of Kevin, her enigmatic black cat and recurring muse.

Stockard’s art is both arresting and intimate, confronting themes of identity, motherhood, and the subconscious with emotional intelligence and painterly boldness. Her chiaroscuro-rich compositions recall the Old Masters, yet are imbued with a distinctly modern tension—balancing beauty, absurdity, and depth in equal measure.

Born in Sydney and raised on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales, Stockard earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts from the College of Fine Arts (COFA) in 1998. She later studied life drawing at the Julian Ashton Art School and apprenticed in gilding and carving in the United States, developing a rare sensitivity to both form and material.

Her work has been exhibited widely in international art centers including New York, Milan, Hong Kong, and Los Angeles. A three-time finalist for the Archibald Prize, Stockard is regarded as one of the most compelling voices in contemporary Australian painting. Her portraits and surreal tableaux continue to captivate collectors, critics, and institutions around the world—offering a vision that is at once haunting, humorous, and profoundly human.