Annette Bezor

In a career spanning almost four decades, award-winning Adelaide artist Annette Bezor has established herself as one of Australia’s most original and thought-provoking painters. Her exhibition at Hill Smith Gallery, entitled Ricochet, features major new works that build on her long-standing investigation of all things female. These works depict paintings within paintings creating multiple versions of the same subject. They are like a revolving door of imagery and include one work from 2003 to emphasise her ongoing fascination with these subjects and also pay homage to these models of the past.

Bezor has included images of herself within three works, positioning herself both as an observer and as an artist’s subject, echoing our duality as viewers and as objects of scrutiny especially within social media. Her work suggests that people exist merely as an evolving succession of images in varying contexts.

The large scale and elaborate framing of 3 major works mimic classical portraits of aristocracy, ironically suggesting that anyone can be elevated to high esteem though such elaborate presentation.

By Chris Reid

Selected Solo Exhibitions
2019
Ricochet, Hill Smith Gallery, Adelaide

2018
Cocktail, Australian Galleries, Melbourne

2016
Precious Luck, Hill Smith Gallery, Adelaide

2015     
Face Value, Hill Smith Gallery
Silent Violent Lifetimes in disguise, Australian Galleries. Melbourne

2014        
Inscrutable, Australian Galleries, Sydney

2013      
Survey show 1997 - 2013, Coffs Harbour Regional Gallery, NSW

2012      
Beautiful Ugly, Nellie Castan Gallery, Melbourne
At first sight, Greenhill Galleries, Perth

2011       
Lookers, Harrison Galleries, Sydney

2010     
It’s complicated….  Greenaway Gallery, Adelaide

2009    
Speaking silences, Nellie Castan Gallery, Melbourne
Silent Violent, Harrison Galleries, Sydney

2008    
Annette Bezor, Harrison Galleries, Sydney

2007     
Annette Bezor, Turner Galleries, Perth
Urban Turbans, Greenaway Art Gallery, Adelaide
Annette Bezor, Florence Lynch Gallery, New York

2006    
Mirror Face, Nellie Castan Gallery, Melbourne

2005     
Flogging the rocking horse, Greenaway Art Gallery, Adelaide

2004    
Witness, Nellie Castan Gallery, Melbourne
If Looks could Kill, Brian Moore Gallery, Sydney

2003     
Annette Bezor, Florence Lynch Gallery, New York

2002     
Cloning as ultimate appropriation, Greenaway Art Gallery, Adelaide
Blush, Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane

2001     
Robert Lindsay Gallery, Melbourne  

1999      
SurFace Tension, Robert Lindsay Gallery, Melbourne  

Selected Group Exhibitions
2019
Figurative Works, Annette Bezor & Anna Platten, Hill Smith Gallery, Adelaide
2018
She Talks To Rainbows, Adelaide Airport Art at T2

2017
Trace, Hill Smith Gallery, Adelaide
4 Decades, 6 Artists, Hill Smith Gallery, Adelaide

2016
Art Central Hong Kong, Hill Smith Gallery Booth, HK

2015
CACSA Contemporary, SALA Festival, Adelaide

2014      
Sugar Coat, Level One Gallery, Hilton Hotel, Adelaide.

2011       
Wattle, The Cat Street Gallery, Hong Kong

2010     
Signal 8, The Cat Street Gallery, Hong Kong
Doug Moran Portrait Prize, NSW and travelling

2009    
Sulman Prize Exhibition, Art gallery of NSW, Sydney

2008    
Sulman Prize Exhibition, Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney

2006    
Uneasy, Samstag Gallery, Adelaide

2005     
Snapshot, Experimental Art Foundation, Adelaide
Archibald Prize, Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney
True portraits, Adelaide Central Gallery

2004    
ARCO 2004 (International Art Fair), Greenaway Art Gallery, Madrid, Spain
Annette Bezor, Carolina Antich. Florence Lynch Gallery, New York
Taipei Art Fair, Greenaway Gallery, Adelaide

2002     
Sulman Prize Exhibition, Art Gallery NSW, Sydney
Erotica, Metro 5 Gallery, Melbourne

2001     
Orbit, SA Museum Gallery, Adelaide

Awards and Grants

2010     
ArtsSA Fellowship

2006    
New Work/International Presentation Grant. Arts SA

2003     
International Assistance Grant, Visual Arts Board of the Australia Council

2002     
New Work Grant. Visual Arts Board of the Australia Council

Collections

Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide
Michell Endowment, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Artbank, Sydney
Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
Broken Hill Regional Gallery, New South Wales
I.C.I. Collection
Wollongong Art Gallery, New South Wales
Auckland City Gallery, New Zealand
John Sands Collection
Sam & Minnie Smorgon Collection
Victor & Lottie Smorgan Collection
Tasmanian University Gallery
Rockhampton City Gallery
Yarra Collection, Victoria
BHP Billiton