Kelly Doley | Queer Australian Art

Kelly Doley, Things Learnt About Feminism, 2014, Ink on 220gm fluorescent card 60 x 52cm (95 pieces). Cruthers Collection of Women's Art, The University of Western Australia.
Image courtesy of the artist.

Bio

Kelly Doley (b. 1984) is a visual artist whose practice encompasses drawing, painting, performance, and curatorial projects. Through a queer and feminist lens Doley's work has focused on artistic labour, authorship, historiography, and embodiment. The artist's works often draw on a grunge aesthetic using everyday, overlooked, or discarded materials with an awareness of the physicality and performativity of painting itself. Doley is known for an unapologetic approach to exploring themes of gender identity, sexuality, consumerism and the environment. Doley is a founding member of Barbara Cleveland, an Australian artist collective with artists Diana Baker Smith, Frances Barrett and Kate Blackmore. The collective takes their name from a fictional feminist performance artist recovered from the margins of Australian art history, a figure who has featured in their work since 2010.

Doley has been working on Gadigal land (Sydney) since the early 2000s, Doley was born in Naarm (Melbourne) and is of Scottish descent. Doley holds a Bachelor of Fine Art from UNSW and a Masters in Visual Art from University of Sydney. Doley's thesis explored the interconnections between performance and painting. In addition to formal training, Doley was taught from a young age the craft of signwriting by her father whose occupation was a commercial artist for TV and theatre. Doley is an Alumni of the Australia Council Arts Leaders Program (2016) and artist in residence at the NSW Creative Industry Residency Program, Museum of Art & Applied Sciences, Ultimo. Recently Doley has exhibited a commission In Memory at Bus Projects, Thinking Business at Goulburn Regional Art Gallery (touring nationally), Unfinished Business: Perspectives on art and feminism at the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, MUMA’s Art You Can Wear project and created a collection for the NGV Design Store. Doley's works are held in various collections including the ABC, Sheila Foundation, Artbank, Museum of Contemporary Art and the Art Gallery of NSW.