Jane Tangney is a Western Australian landscape painter whose work explores the emotional and physical experience of place. Based in the Margaret River region, she draws inspiration from her rural surroundings and extensive field research throughout regional Australia, gathering visual information, sketches and observations that later inform her studio practice.
Known for her expressive use of paint and nuanced colour relationships, Tangney’s work occupies the space between observation and memory, capturing the atmosphere and essence of the Australian landscape rather than offering a literal depiction. Her ongoing engagement with landscape is driven by a deep curiosity about the natural world and the histories and stories embedded within the land.
Her work embraces the Japanese aesthetic concept of shibusa, where economy of form, line, tension and harmony strive for quietude and tranquillity—an antidote to the noise and complexity of contemporary life. In recent years, wall-based sculptural works incorporating a variety of materials have emerged within her practice. These works began as a means of repurposing waste materials from her rural property, where rubbish disposal presents ongoing challenges.
Tangney has exhibited extensively since 1998 in solo and group exhibitions throughout Australia. Her work has been selected as a finalist in numerous prestigious art prizes. She is an eleven-time finalist in the Glover Prize (Tasmania) and has also been a finalist in the Collie Art Prize (Western Australia) and the Perth Royal Art Prize for Landscape (Western Australia). In 2017, she received a Highly Commended award in Hadley’s Art Prize (Tasmania), one of Australia’s most significant landscape painting awards.
Her work is featured in A Painted Landscape by Amber Creswell Bell, published by Thames & Hudson, which profiles fifty of Australia’s leading contemporary landscape artists. Tangney’s paintings are held in public and private collections throughout Australia.
Contact Details
Website: janetangney.com.au
Phone: +61 439 952 549
Email: info@janetangney.com.au
Banksia Menziesii (Firewood) recalls the first banksia I planted in my Hilton garden. As its striped flower heads dry, reds soften to mauve and the vibrant orange base deepens to rust.
Gardening and painting share a meditative rhythm: tending, observing and responding. Both draw me into quiet absorption, where small changes become compelling and time recedes.
Materials
Oil on raw linen
Dimensions
880 H × 350 W × 20 D mm (each panel)
Price/ NFS
$2,000.00
Smoke Haze grew from the view through the window of the old shearing shed where I currently paint. Once surrounded by tall blue gums, the shed now overlooks a landscape of felled trees and piled debris. Smoke from burning drifts around me—dreamy, eerie and beautiful.
Subtle colour shifts, applied in rhythmic repetition, unfold like a recurring musical phrase. Painting becomes a meditation, a reverie held between the beauty of the haze and the unsettling landscape it veils.
Materials
Oil on linen
Dimensions
1480 × 110 × 40 mm
Price/ NFS
$1,200.00