ARTIST STATEMENT

Amber Kingi is a self-taught artist from the Gold Coast, Queensland, who relies on her intuition and experimentation to create work that is infused with beauty and joy. The artist believes that her practice lead methodology allows her freedom to create work that is unrestrained by the confounds of academia, embracing process that is lead by an aesthetic eye, passion and play.

Kingi has a strong affinity with fashion which transfers to her characters and subject. Her penchant for fashion sees her work evolving from decorative, graphical and figurative to cross boundaries into the socially popular and even satirical.  Even so, the artist retains her signature whimsy, stealing pops of colour and inspiration from her environment like the Bower bird, making vivid worlds of people, moments and fictitious scenes come alive on canvas.

Having established herself in her native Australia as a highly original visionary, Amber has held five successful solo shows and participated in numerous group shows around the country. Kingi continues to experiment with scale and story, textures and technique to catalyse her current standing and continue to grow as an artist. Her creative process flows rather than follows a strategy, working from sketch, to colour palettes, and finally, her signature texture to canvas.

For Kingi, inspiration is in the liptstick at the department store just as the unfurling waves on the beach and she wields the intangible vivacity of those moments and transmutes them into the imaginary. For her, nothing is off-limits.

Among her achievements, Kingi was a finalist in the Fenton & Fenton Gallery Rising Talent Award and Morris Art Prize Exhibition and her work “Fern Street” was purchased by The Gold Coast City Council as part of the private collection for the HOTA gallery.

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2024 St Hilda Art Festival, St Hilda’s School, Gold Coast QLD
2023 Adorn, 19 Karen Contemporary Artspace, Mermaid Beach
2022 Affordable Art Fair Melbourne, Fenton & Fenton, Melbourne VIC
2022 Toowoomba Grammar Art Show, Toowoomba QLD
2021 F*ck COVID, Fenton & Fenton, Melbourne VIC
2021 Sultry Scenes, 19 Karen Contemporary Artspace, Mermaid Beach
2019 Everyday People, Currumbin RSL, Currumbin QLD
2018 Bloom, DBar House, Coolangatta QLD
2018 Garden Utopia, Art Shelter, Kingscliff NSW
2018 Artist In Residence, Burleigh Brewing, Burleigh QLD
2017 Tribal,  DBar House, Coolangatta QLD
2016 Wild, DBar House, Coolangatta QLD

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS/FESTIVALS

2024 The Affordable Art Fair, Brisbane, QLD
2022 Toowoomba Grammar Art Show, Toowoomba QLD
2021 Fuck Covid, Fenton & Fenton, Melbourne VIC
2021 Toowoomba Grammar Art Show, Toowoomba QLD
2020 Small Works Exhibition, Fenton & Fenton, Melbourne VIC
2020 Here With Me, Curatorial & Co, Redfern NSW
2019 Threesome International Group Show, 19 Karen Gallery, Mermaid Beach QLD, AUS
2018 Morris Art Prize Exhibition, Events Arena, Carrara QLD
2018 Street Art Battle, Sand Safari Arts Festival, Surfers Paradise QLD
2018 We Are Gold Coast, HOTA, Surfers Paradise QLD
2018 Daisy Went Crazy Festival, Gold Coast QLD
2016 Trailblazing Women of Herstory, Melbourne VIC
2015 Colours of Melbourne, Melbourne VIC
2015 Magnus 600, Magnus Collective, Melbourne VIC
2015 RAW, Byron Bay NSW
2014 RAW, Gold Coast QLD

ACHIEVEMENTS/AWARDS/AQUISITIONS

2020 Completed a 2-month Artist Residency, 19 Karen Contemporary Artspace, Mermaid Beach
2020 Finalist – Fenton & Fenton Rising Talent
2018 Highly Commended – The Morris Art Prize
2018 Aquisition – ‘Fern Street’ purchased by HOTA for their private collection
2018 Finalist – Border Art Prize
2018 Finalist – Moreton Bay Regional Council Art Prize
2018 Finalist – Brisbane Rotary Art Spectacular
2015 Finalist – Brisbane Rotary Art Spectacular
2015 Finalist – Border Art Prize
2015 Finalist – Lions Garden City Art Extravaganza