Stella Corkery

Born 1960, Tuatapere (NZ). Lives and works in Auckland (NZ)

Stella Corkery makes work which considers a critical history of painting together with ideas surrounding feminism. References within her paintings can touch on art history, contemporary art, popular culture as well as musical influences such as post-punk and improvised sound. Experimental music projects both solo and as part of the duo White Saucer, maintain a direct line to her visual practice. Although Corkery creates bodies of work that might seem to belong to disparate systems, in fact each operates within a unique, coherent and conceptually unified network of ideas.

Corkery is currently a Doctoral candidate at Massey University College of Creative Arts, Wellington. Previously she graduated from the Elam School of Fine Arts, Auckland with a Bachelor of Fine Arts with Honours in 2012, and a Master of Fine Arts in 2013. In 2015 her work was included in a major exhibition of contemporary New Zealand painting, Necessary Distraction: A painting show at Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki. Solo exhibitions include: Michael Lett at Sydney Contemporary (2021); Paradises, Michael Lett, Auckland (2020); Year of the Head, Olga, Dunedin (2020) ; I’ve Seen Sunny Days, Goya Curtain, Tokyo (2018) and Keep Smiling the Boss Loves Idiots, Poppy’s Gallery, New York City (2016).

- Michael Lett Gallery