Kyra Henley
b. 1981

Selected works
Exhibitions
Artist CV

Kyra Henley is an artist based on the North Coast of New South Wales. Working in figuration, Henley’s compositions begin as collages of found images from 1960–80s magazines, advertisements and encyclopaedias. Disparate objects, figures and landscapes arranged in fanciful combinations rendered in a flat painterly style, reminiscent of Alex Katz, lose their
narrative the longer you observe them. Henley’s Neo-pop palette imbues a sense of nostalgia while the scenes and subjects depicted – a SeaWorld animal trainer, a retiree painting, a vacationing family, Greg Norman kissing a trophy – question the sentimentality of our collective past.

Henley’s work has been presented in solo and group exhibitions at, among others, Campbelltown Arts Centre (2019), Robin Gibson Gallery (2011, 2013, 20116, 2016, 2018) and Mosman Art Gallery (2017). Henley was selected as a finalist in the KAAF ArtPrize (2021), Mosman Art Prize (2005, 2014, 2017), Portia Geach Memorial Award (2006, 2015, 2017), Eutick Memorial Still Life Award (2007), Hazelhurst Prize for Works on Paper, Lloyd Rees Youth Award (2005), National Trust Harper’s Mansion Art Prize (2008), Waverley Art Prize (2006, 2013).