There is something exhilarating about viewing Brennan’s works, like drawing for the first time. Compositions that render forms, not objects, as a relation. A psychological game – three orbs, two rings, slabs of colour, contrails of light. Encountering intellect and love humming with the vibration of colours juxtaposed or, at other times, muddied and mauled, these floating forms envelop, making me suspicious of my own implicit negativity. —Lisa Radford

Angela Brennan (b. 1960, l. Naarm/Melbourne) is an artist whose practice over four decades is a thesis in colour and its relationships. She creates exuberant, primordial experiences in paint. While predominantly abstract, her practice often extends to include figuration, portraiture and text. Her paintings, footnoted with external references in titles, text and figurative elements, "build a potent self-image of the artist, reflecting her various interests, beliefs and preferences" (Michael Graf). For art of such unbridled joy, Brennan’s work houses an erudite core. It is sensate, material, intellectual.

Key exhibitions

The Intelligence of Painting, curated by Suzanne Cotter and Manya Sellers, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Sydney, 2025 Angela Brennan: Tête-à-tête & Vis-à-vis, Art Gallery of Ballarat, Ballarat, 2024 Angela Brennan: Forms of Life, Ian Potter Museum of Art, The University of Melbourne, 2017 Painting. More Painting, curated by Max Delany and Hannah Mathews, at the Australian Centre of Contemporary Art, Melbourne, 2016 Melbourne Now, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 2013 Angela Brennan: Every morning I wake up on the wrong side of capitalism, curated by Max Delany and Kyla McFarlane, Monash University Museum of Art, Melbourne, 2006

Key readings

Lisa Radford, 'Quantum Colour, Angela Brennan’s Art Gallery of Ballarat Exhibition', The Saturday Paper, April 6-12, 2024 Amelia Winata, 'Tête-à-tête & Vis-à-vis', exhibition text, Art Gallery of Ballarat, 2024 Angela Brennan: 19 Desires and One Belief, 3-Ply, Melbourne, 2017, pp. 224 Angela Brennan: Forms of Life, exh. cat. Ian Potter Museum of Art, The University of Melbourne, 2017 Max Delany (ed.), Angela Brennan: every morning I wake up on the wrong side of capitalism, exh. cat., Monash University Museum of Art, Melbourne, 2006, pp.67

Collections

Allen, Allen and Hemsley

ANZ Bank

Artbank
Art Gallery of New South Wales

Art Gallery of South Australia

Australian Catholic University

Benalla Art Gallery

City of Melbourne

City of Yarra Collection

Cruthers Collection of Women’s Art, University of Western Australia

Council of Adult Education

Deakin University Collection

Deloitte Foundation

Goldman Sachs JBWere

KPMG

LaTrobe University

Leeuwin Estate

Monash University

Mont Blanc Art Collection CH

National Bank

National Gallery of Australia

National Portrait Gallery

National Gallery of Victoria

Powerhouse Museum

Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery

RACV
Susan Jones and Peter Taylor Collection

TarraWarra Museum of Art

The Arts Centre

The Vizard Foundation

Trinity Grammar School

University of Melbourne

University of Queensland Art Museum

University of Western Australia
Viktoria & Woods

Victorian Bar Portrait Collection

Western Mining Collection

World Bank US