Ep 56: Jacqui Stockdale

Jacqui Stockdale paints, sculpts, collages, creates animations, has staged live performances and produces exquisite portrait photography.

When I visited her Melbourne studio I was bowled over by a huge horse she had sculpted – a life-sized Phar Lap in the middle of the studio piled high with a large collection of masks on its back; masquerade masks which she first came upon on a trip to india and kept collecting. Bright, expressive and slightly creepy.

Horses and masks feature again and again but her work is never predictable. She’s always shaking it up a bit, adding a touch of shock value along the way. Her photographic art work ‘Historia’, of a topless female Ned Kelly, would have raised the eyebrows of one or two historians.

Over the time she spent in Sydney in the late 90s she painted prolifically and was awarded five art prizes in less than two years and has won several prizes since then including the Moran Contemporary Photograhic award. She has exhibited in 20 solo shows and has a show coming up at Sydney’s Olsen gallery in November 2018.

Stockdale’s work is held in public institutions including the National Gallery of Australia, many private collections, and has even been hung in the Louvre in Paris. She is also one of only 20 artists recently commissioned by the National Portrait Gallery to create work for its 20th anniversary.

This conversation was recorded before an audience at Town Hall Gallery in Melbourne on 22 September 2018 in the midst of a show brought together by the artist Ilona Nelson, through her creative project ‘This Wild Song’.

To hear the podcast interview press ‘play’ under the feature photo above.

Scroll down for a short video of Stockdale in her studio. More videos of podcast guests can be seen on the Talking with Painters YouTube channel.

Feature photo by Martin Nahon (cropped)

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