Jennifer Wray - Motif

Jennifer Wray

Motif

Motif brings together drawings and paintings that explore the visual elements that recur throughout Jennifer Wray’s practice — the shapes, objects and places that return, again and again, as quiet points of focus.

By painting these subjects individually, Wray draws attention to the presence — and the deeper resonance — of each motif. Shifts in light and colour from work to work shape how the subject is experienced, revealing it anew and inviting fresh interpretation.

Buildings, everyday objects, cars and landscapes are presented in their own atmosphere, suggesting themes of isolation, nostalgia and environmental decay. Wray’s intention is simple and powerful: that a viewer might recognise something — and feel a memory, a moment, or a sense of time stirred into motion.

Biography

Jennifer Wray (b. 1959, Mildura, Victoria) is a Gippsland artist who works from her studio in Yinnar. She spent five years on South Australia’s remote Eyre Peninsula and has also lived in Queensland. She completed a Master of Arts (Visual Arts) by Research at Monash University (Gippsland) in 1995.

Her solo exhibitions include Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne; Greenhill Galleries, Adelaide; Latrobe Regional Gallery, Morwell; and Gippsland Art Gallery, Sale. Her work has featured in numerous group exhibitions including the Jacaranda Acquisitive Drawing Award (Grafton Regional Gallery, NSW), the Portia Geach Memorial Award (S.H. Ervin Gallery, Sydney), the Biennial Spring Festival of Drawing (Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery), and the ARC Yinnar Biennial Drawing Prize (Yinnar).

Her work is represented in public collections including Latrobe Regional Gallery, Gippsland Art Gallery and the Council of Adult Education (Melbourne), as well as private collections.