Born 1985 in Perth, Australia.

Education

2020-           
PhD candidate, UNSW Art & Design, Sydney

2013           
Master of Fine Art (Painting), National Art School, Sydney

2008           
Bachelor of Art (Honours), Curtin University of Technology, Perth


Solo Exhibitions

2022
Lustre (upcoming July), Sophie Gannon Gallery, Melbourne

2021           
Strata, Kronenberg Mais Wright, Sydney

2019           
Afternoon, Sophie Gannon Gallery, Melbourne

2018           
Slanted Mansions, COMA, Sydney
Future Relics, Sophie Gannon Gallery, Melbourne

2017           
Arcades, Galerie pompom, Sydney

2015           
Oltre la Vista, Galerie pompom, Sydney

2014           
Stranger At Home, Archive Space, Sydney

2013           
Screen Memory, MOP Projects, Sydney
Sin Rastros (Without A Trace), Residencia Corazon, La Plata, Argentina


Group Exhibitions

2021
Shelter in Place, Town Hall Gallery, Hawthorne  
MCA Collection: Perspectives on place, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Sydney           

2020
ABSTRACTION 2020, Kronenberg Mais Wright, Sydney           
Daylight, Sophie Gannon Gallery, Melbourne

2019           
Tongue on tongue / nos salives dans ton oreille, curated by Prologue, Galerie Allen, Paris
The Churchie National Emerging Art Prize, Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane

2018           
Redlands Konica Minolta Art Prize (Emerging), curated by Nike Savvas, NAS Gallery, Sydney
Pulp Fiction, curated by George Adams, Galerie pompom, Sydney

2017           
Paper Cuts, curated by Kristian Day, Tripp Gallery, London
Young Moderns, Lewers House Gallery, Penrith Regional Gallery, Penrith
Master of Three Worlds, COMA, Sydney

2016           
Galerie pompom at Auckland Art Fair, The Cloud, Auckland
NEW16, curated by Annika Kristensen, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne
Interiors/Exteriors, Grace Cossington Smith Gallery, Sydney

2015           
NSW Visual Arts Fellowship (Emerging), curated by Alexie Glass-Kantor and Talia Linz, Artspace, Sydney
Right Here, Right Now, curated by Michael Do, Penrith Regional Gallery and Lewers Bequest, Penrith
Roman Remains, curated by Cathy Lomax, Transition Gallery, London
Facade, curated by Sophia Kouyoumdjian and Liz Chang, Artereal Gallery, Sydney
Sydney Painting Now, Galerie pompom, Sydney

2014           
June Mostra, curated by Marco Palmieri, British School at Rome, Italy
Spazi Aperti, Romanian Academy in Rome, Italy
The InterGalactic Image Factory, Liverpool Street Gallery, Sydney

2013           
Stockland, Galerie pompom, Sydney
Emporio Armani National Art School Postgraduate Exhibition, National Art School, Sydney
Small Works, Edwina Corlette Gallery, Brisbane

2012           
Think Twice, Gallery Eight, Sydney
Kaleidoscope, Scuola Internazionale di Grafica Gallery, Venice, Italy

2009           
Better History, Seven Eleven Gallery, New York, US
Curtin Degree Show, Department of Art, Curtin University of Technology, Perth

2006           
Transience, curated by Ric Spencer, Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery, University of Western Australia

2004            
Art in Bloom, Art Gallery of Western Australia

2002           
Year 12 Perspectives, Art Gallery of Western Australia


Awards/Grants/Residencies

2020            
Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship (RTP), UNSW Art + Design, Sydney

2019           
Arts Projects for Individuals Grant, Australia Council
Finalist, The Churchie National Emerging Art Prize, Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane
Finalist, Sir John Sulman Prize, Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney
Finalist, Sunshine Coast Art Prize, Caloundra Regional Gallery, QLD

2018           
Art Incubator Grant Recipient
Finalst, Geelong Contemporary Art Prize, Geelong Gallery, VIC
Studio Residency, C.A.P. Studio, Chiang Mai, Thailand
One Year Studio Residency, Waverley Artists Studios, Sydney

2017           
One Year Studio Residency, Artspace, Sydney

2015           
Finalist, NSW Visual Arts Fellowship (Emerging), Sydney

2014           
Studio Residency, Parramatta Artists Studios, NSW
Finalist, Brett Whiteley Travelling Art Scholarship, Sydney
Finalist, Macquarie Group Emerging Artist Prize, Sydney
Finalist, The Substation Contemporary Art Prize, Victoria
ArtStart Grant, Australia Council
National Art School studio residency, British School at Rome, Italy

2013           
Artist in Residence, Residencia Corazon, Buenos Aires, Argentina

2012            
Postgraduate Residency, Scuola Internazionale di Grafica, Venice, Italy

2008           
Artflight Grant, Department of Culture and the Arts

2007            
Finalist, Brett Whiteley Travelling Art Scholarship, Sydney


Teaching Appointments

2021-22
Sessional Painting Lecturer, National Art School, Sydney
Casual Tutor, Studio Art Practice, UNSW Art + Design, Sydney
Casual Tutor, Art Processes and Architecture, University of Sydney, School of Architecture

2019-20       
Sessional Painting Lecturer, National Art School, Sydney
Casual Tutor, Art Processes and Architecture, University of Sydney, School of Architecture

2016-19       
Casual Academic, Painting, UNSW Art & Design, Sydney

2016-18       
Casual Artist Educator, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia


Bibliography

2021
MCA Australia, 16th November: ‘Capturing the memories of place: Mason Kimber’

2020
Art Collector Magazine, 30th September: ‘Pull Focus with Mason Kimber’: Jo Higgins
ADSR Zine, Issue 10: ‘Surface Activations’: Mason Kimber
VAST Magazine, Issue 1: Mason Kimber - Fragments of Recollection    
Art Collector Magazine, Issue 91: ‘Collectors Love - Mason Kimber’: Sharne Wolff

2019           
Floorr Magazine, Issue 20: ‘Mason Kimber’: Simek Shropshire
Broadsheet Sydney, 14th March: ‘Creative Couples: Mariam Arcilla and Mason Kimber’: Pilar Mitchell
VAULT Magazine, Issue 25: ‘Artefacts’: Mason Kimber

2018           
The Design Files, 19th September: ‘Preserving Relics Of Personal Histories’: Sally Tabart
Ex. Cat, September: ‘Slanted Mansions’: Mariam Arcilla

2017           
The Sydney Morning Herald, 17th March: ‘Why you need to see...Mason Kimber': Katie Milton

2016           
Art Collector – Auckland Art Fair Special Edition, May: ‘Mason Kimber': Camilla Wagstaff
NEW16 Ex. Cat, April: ‘Painting Ruins – Ruined paintings (Acts of art in the frame of cinema and architecture)': Dr Sam Spurr
The Guardian, 11th March: ‘NEW16 Review – artists’ processes are put under the microscope‘: Toby Fehily

2015           
Art Guide Australia, 17th April: ‘Mason Kimber‘: Steve Dow
The Art Life, 6th April: ‘Oltre la Vista‘: Sharne Wolff
Ex. Cat, April: ‘Oltre la Vista’: Nick Tobias
Habitus Living, 30th March: ‘Artist Q+A: Mason Kimber‘
Buro 24/7 Australia, 24th March: ‘When in Rome: Mason Kimber’s Fresco Perspective‘
Art Collector Magazine, Issue 71 Jan-Mar 2015, pp 108-109: ‘Debutantes‘: Kate Britton

2014           
Arty Magazine, Issue 34 – Rome: ‘Fresco/Abstraction’
ArtsHub, 20th March: ‘Rome Residency Awarded to NAS Graduate’: Gina Fairley
Ex. Cat, March: ‘Stranger at Home’: David Greenhalgh
The Art Life, 7th February: ‘The InterGalactic Image Factory’: Sharne Wolff

2013           
The Sydney Morning Herald, 9-10 November: ‘Screen Memory’ – Open Gallery: Michael Fitzgerald
Broadsheet Sydney, 22nd October: ‘Mason Kimber’s Screen Memory’: Sam Preston
Ex. Cat, October: ‘Screen Memory’: Dr Ian Grieg

2008           
Insite Magazine, Winter Edition:‘Time Traveller’: Fiona Adolph
The West Australian, 27th February:‘Defining Young Careers’: Gail Robinson


Collections

Museum of Contemporary Art Australia
Artbank Australia
Wagga Wagga Art Gallery

My name is Mason Kimber and I’m a Sydney-based artist who makes paintings that extend into sculptural relief and installation to look at how the histories within surfaces can speak to the memory of place.

Growing up in Perth, my playground was often an empty nightclub. With a club-owning father who often spent his daytime dreaming up new architectural adjustments, I was left free to roam by myself. My attention landed on small minutiae that became portals into another time: I pretended the buttons on a DJ mixer were a spaceship controller; the grooves in vinyl records appeared like memory tablets, glass fragments and the sticky surfaces of alcohol-soaked concrete offered clues to the events that happened the night before. I was led through secret passages into back rooms and stages framed with semi-permanent metal structures. That’s when I started to think about these buildings as living labyrinths and assemblages of textural detail that continue to shift in the mind.

After graduating in 2013 with an MFA in Painting from the National Art School, Sydney I was awarded a three-month studio residency at the British School at Rome, Italy the following year. It was here that I studied ancient fresco painting, which led me to look closely at the various connections between painting and the built fabric of cities. For my current PhD research at UNSW Art + Design, I'm looking at how the iterative activity and thickness of painting’s surface can become a relational site of production, positioning painting as a critical spatial practice.

Selected projects include: MCA Collection: Perspectives on place, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Sydney (2021); Strata, Kronenberg Mais Wright, Sydney (2021); Prologue: Tongue on tongue / nos salives dans ton oreille, Galerie Allen, Paris (2019); Future Relics, Sophie Gannon Gallery, Melbourne (2018); Slanted Mansions, COMA, Sydney (2018); and NEW16, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne (2016).

I’ve been a finalist the Sulman Prize, Churchie National Emerging Art Prize, Sunshine Coast Art Prize,and NSW Visual Arts Fellowship (Emerging) among others, and have been awarded studio residencies at Parramatta Artists Studios, Waverley Artists Studios and Artspace, Sydney. My work is held in the collections of Artbank and the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia.

I’m a sessional Painting Lecturer at the National Art School, Sydney, and a sessional Lecturer at UNSW Art + Design.

I’m represented by Kronenberg Mais Wright, Sydney and Sophie Gannon Gallery, Melbourne.