Toni Messiter: Bio

Toni Messiter is a Sydney based painter of Scottish and Irish heritage. Messiter has been exposed to a painting culture from early childhood, she holds an arts degree from Macquarie University and has a knowledge and deep interest in all things horticultural.   

In her latest exhibition, It Was a Difficult Conversation Messiter has turned to the tree as her protagonists for storytelling, beings who have memory and sensation. Informed by notions of the gothic, Messiter’s practice is an exploration of ambiguity and shadow. She writes, “I see myself in the grey, nothing is ever black or white”.

Drawing from the aesthetics of 18th Century portraiture and in particular, familial portraits, her works embody modern baroque haunting. There is a stylistic affinity for theatrics which dramatically unfold as ruminations on human psychology and subconscious; presenting subjects that border upon absurdity and delight, provocation and enchantment.

Messiter works are held in private collections both nationally and internationally and she has been represented by Stanley Street Gallery since 2019.