Kiandra Buchanan, née Emary, is an Australian Artist originally from Naarm/Melbourne who now calls Wadandi Boodja/Margaret River home. Since completing her multidisciplinary fine arts education in Melbourne, and after a long break from her practice, she's gravitated towards painting and works primarily with oils.
Buchanan’s focus is still life. She likes to work with open compositions that are a little left of centre, bright light and modern palette. The works speak of softness and intimacy, our inner worlds, the beauty of the everyday and finding a refreshed perspective amongst the ordinary.
Buchanan’s works celebrate the materiality of paint, displaying its translucent and opaque properties within the one painting. The work is textural and built up in areas, and paired back with the underpainting on show in other areas. The artworks are mostly completed in the Alla Prima or wet on wet method, allowing greater manipulation of the paint layers and textures. This also better enables the work to be an immediate response to the subject and the emotion of the scene.
She finds inspiration everywhere. Often the subject is rather mundane but the way the light hits that subject or the pairing of colours are what compels the work. Buchanan paints mainly from photos which are collect throughout the week wherever inspiration strikes. Often the subjects are painted as they are found, though sometimes they will spur on a larger concept and a scene is constructed in the studio.
Buchanan’s subjects are intended to portray a story around a thought or feeling. They are a glimpse into one’s inner world. Her works feature negative space, room for rest and thought, in the hopes that the viewer will pause and seek their own personal connection and meaning with the subjects.
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
2024 - Centrepiece – Group Exhibition – Brunswick Street Gallery – Melbourne
2024 - Flourish – Group Exhibition – Brunswick Street Gallery – Melbourne
2024 - Arts Margaret River – 50th Anniversary Exhibition – Margaret River
2024 - Stockroom – Exhibition – Weswal Gallery – Tamworth
2023 - Margaret River Region Open Studios – Margaret River
2023 - The Every Day – Group Exhibition – The Corner Store Gallery – Orange
2022 - Spring Tide – Group Exhibition – Brunswick Street Gallery – Melbourne
2022 - Margaret River Region Open Studios – Margaret River
2022 - City of Belmont Art Awards – Finalists Exhibition – The Glasshouse – Cloverdale
2022 - Fifty Squared Art Prize – Group Exhibition – Brunswick Street Gallery – Melbourne
2022 - Art in the Garden – Arts Margaret River Fundraiser – Margaret River
SELECTED AWARDS
2022 - Finalist, City of Belmont Art Awards
2022 - Finalist, Fifty Squared Art Prize – Brunswick Street Gallery, Melbourne
2021 - Finalist, Mini Series Art Prize – The Corner Store Gallery, Orange
PUBLICATIONS
2023 - The Design Files – Blog Post ‘Still Life Artist Round Up’
2023 - Inside Out Magazine – Issue 215, Affordable Art Guide
2021 - Gems Zine – Issue 20, Change
EDUCATION
2009 - Advanced Diploma of Fine Art – Swinburne University
2008 - Centenary Bursary/Scholarship – Swinburne University