Toni Messiter: Artist Statement & Bio

Stanley Street Gallery presents Toni Messiter’s solo exhibition, It Was a Difficult Conversation, featuring 18 new paintings. A departure from her typical subject matter, It Was a Difficult Conversation turns to the environment, where Messiter considers the tree - beings who have memory and sensation - as protagonist. Unlike conventional landscape where the environment is a scene for the human, Messiter’s training in portraiture remains present with each tableau focusing on the mood of the tree. With a distinct gothic framework, the tree as protagonist is a clear continuation of the artist’s previous investigations of the subconscious and shadow. Messiter writes, “I left the foreground to move into the background”. Interested in the notions of haunting, she considers the subjectivity of nature, the shadows of the trees and asks us: what are the difficult conversations?

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.

Toni Messiter: CV April, 2023 Download