Marieka Hambledon is an Adelaide-based oil painter whose figurative work on canvas thematically explores human longing and hope. She describes her work as an emotional narrative which seeks the relatable link between people, places, and dreams. 

Hambledon studied fine art and graphic design at the University of South Australia. She worked as a graphic designer for ten years before switching to painting full time in 2020. She was named by Bluethumb Art Gallery “as one of Australia’s most collectable artists.” She is a nine-time Australian National Art Prize finalist including the Doug Moran National Portrait Prize, The Southern Buoy Studio Portrait Prize, The Kennedy Art Prize and The Smallacombe Portrait Prize. 

Hambledon has exhibited widely throughout Australia and the United States. Selected group exhibitions in Australia include: Southern Buoy Studios Gallery, VIC, Hahndorf Academy of Art, SA; Bluethumb Art Gallery, SA; Royal Society of Arts, SA; and Gallery One Mitcham SA.In the United States, she has exhibited with Sarracenia Gallery in California. Her first solo show was with the Prospect Art Walk, SA, Australia.

Hambledon’s public artwork includes a seven-foot crate featuring Australian Cricket players that was prominently displayed in front of Adelaide’s City Center, Australia, during the cricket season of 2022-2023.  

Discover more at @mariekahambledon.

I am an oil painter who explores the yearning I have for peace and safety. My paintings are a narrative gateway expressing a longing for home; a nostalgic hope for a quiet life that seems out of reach in a busy, difficult modern existence. Through these visual manifestations I imagine a slower, soulful time centered around a tranquil home: a life of novels, french windows, picnics, orchards, gardens and flower meadows. 

I dream up my scenes imagining myself within that life. I create my ideas through digital collage, collecting patterns, textures, and images which I alter, rework and change into my desired narrative. 

The paintings evolve on the canvas through varied brushwork and textures. Entirely impressionistic, I focus on colour and light, not structure and form. I am transfixed by the way colour and light reflects off of the objects around it. I find this investigation into light and colour creates an immersive world that is dreamlike and yet authentic. I use a palette knife and an array of brushes to explore how I can break up colour, focus the eye and change the energy within the painting. 

My paintings aim to offer relief from a world bruised by pandemics, politics, and power, inviting the eye to wander through beauty, and the mind to wonder in hope. I hope the viewer can join me on a journey of discovery that allows us to be lost in time for a moment, together.

Contact Information

T : +61 414 079 920

E : [email protected]