Characterised by gestural marks, bold colours and high contrast, Mary Barton’s unapologetic paintings encapsulate atmosphere and emotion. Constructed intuitively, her work is informed by her interests in fabric, poetry, music, colour, the built environment, gardening and the natural world. Drawing particularly from her immediate surroundings, Barton utilises abstraction as a means of understanding place and belonging.

Born in Kyneton in 1990, Mary Barton completed a Bachelor of Arts (Fine Art) (Honours) at RMIT University and has been exhibiting her work since 2011. She undertook a residency in Mumbai, India in 2019 and was the recipient of an RMIT Education Travel Scholarship, which allowed the artist to study in New York in 2010. She was a finalist and her work was highly commended in The Alice Prize National Australian Contemporary Art Award.

Mary Barton lives and paints on unceded Arrernte country in Mparntwe, Northern Territory.