‘This is a love song’ is Sydney-based artist Jacqueline Hennessy’s first solo exhibition for Jan Murphy Gallery.

Hennessy completed a Masters of Fine Art (MFA) at the National Art School in 2019 and was the inaugural recipient of the Tweed Regional Gallery – National Art School MFA Residency Award. ‘This is a love song’ coincides with ‘Still Life’, her body of work produced during the residency and now showing at Tweed Regional Gallery until 25 July 2021.

During her time as artist in residence, she connected with the re-creation of Margaret Olley’s home studio and several of Olley’s domestic objects have been integrated into her paintings. These familiar objects when coupled with Hennessy’s figure create a mysterious narrative, like a picture slowly coming into focus. Hennessy builds her images slowly over time, transparent washes of raw umber are meticulously painted then disrupted by over-brushing. Dressed in clothing that suggests a bygone era, Hennessy is the model for these works, yet the paintings are less autobiographical than universal. What she captures is a fragile, ephemeral sense of how it feels to be a woman in a world led by the gaze.

Hennessy (born 1977) graduated with a Masters of Fine Art (Painting) from Sydney’s National Art School in 2019. Before studying art she worked as a lawyer, then completed her Honours degree in Psychology. Hennessy was the inaugural recipient of the Tweed Regional Gallery – National Art School MFA Residency Award in 2019.

Image credit: Jacqueline Hennessy, Untitled (and true love lives on lollipops and crisps), 2021, oil on linen, 122.0 x 92.0 cm (detail)