Saffron Newey
Saffron Newey is a Melbourne-based painter who also utilises digital media processes. In 2020 she was awarded a Ph.D in Fine Art at RMIT University, where she also lectures in the Painting program.
Having exhibited for 25 years, Newey is included in various private and public collections in Australia and abroad.
She has been a finalist in multiple Australian prizes for landscape and contemporary painting. A recent expansion to Newey’s practice is mural painting.
Saffron Newey's practice interrogates the effect of the Internet upon painting, in particular, the way in which it has disrupted art art-historical narrative. What was once considered a "timeline", the story of art history, now presents in the form of a matrix or database. Newey's recently completed Ph.D is entitled " The Sublime Network; Painterly Passage and Materiality in the Post Post-Internet Era. The research and artworks created investigated the ways in which art histories and artistic identities become confused, combined and recontextualised in the
online platform.
Newey's works represent her ongoing interest in "collaged" narratives, conflated
appropriations and interrogation of the "historical masterpiece".
Could you tell us more about your background and how you began creating art?
I began oil painting at the McClelland Gallery school at age 11, where I was taught traditional painting techniques. My mother is also a painter and has always been an inspiration. While I was growing up, we would visit galleries and talk about art often. I couldn’t wait to go to art school; becoming an artist was my only ambition.
What does your art aim to say to its viewers?
The work doesn’t have a specific message per se. The paintings feature hybridised images from art history, fantasy art and online image banks. Sometimes they’re kitsch, sometimes they’re romantic. Taste, value, history and genre are all ideas I like to play with.
In the end, I want the paintings to be beautiful and I hope the viewer finds them so too.
Can you tell us about the process of creating your work? What is your daily routine when working?
All of my paintings begin with collage. These are usually made digitally in Photoshop from Internet- sourced content. I enjoy the chance element of this process. On my studio days I paint from morning to evening. Sometimes I will work on multiple pieces at a time. Each painting is normally made over around 5 sessions, allowing each layer to dry.
What is the essential element in your art?
Despite the artworks looking rather manicured, there is a strong element of chance in the process of their making. To begin with, I use the Internet to randomly select my source material. In addition, the painting process incorporates chance. I sometimes relinquish control by dragging a large brush over the surface, disrupting the painterly detail. It can be terrifying and revelatory at the same time.
In your opinion, what role does the artist have in society?
To quote a great mentor of mine, Peter Ellis, “artists are chroniclers of our times”.
