Biography
Christina Thwaites (b. 1980, Sheffield, England) is a contemporary painter, currently based near Trieste, Italy. She studied History of Art at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland and at the École du Louvre, Paris; and later attended LaPortaBlu Art School, Rome, Italy. She works in oil, acrylic and charcoal, on paper and canvas. Having moved country and home many times, her practice has been shaped by recurring themes of identity and a connection to place and people . Her portrait paintings often depict children and intimate moments of innocence and introspection. Both her landscape and portrait paintings are characterized by gestural mark-making, an emphasis on drawing and a restrained chromatic palette, evoking a sense of poetry, timelessness and casual simplicity.
Represented in numerous private collections, Thwaites has shown work internationally including at Canberra Contemporary Art Space (Canberra, Australia); the Lord Hall Gallery, (University of Maine, USA); the Palazzo delle Esposizioni (Rome, Italy); The MACRO (Museum of Contemporary Art Rome, Italy); Von Buren Gallery (Rome, Italy); Carver Hill Gallery (Camden, USA); and Anna Pappas Gallery (Melbourne, Australia). She has participated in several international artist residency programs, among them the PlantageDok Artist Residency (Amsterdam, Netherlands); the Al-Mahatta Artist Residency (Ramallah, Palestine); and 33Officina Creativa (Toffia, Italy). During her time in Canberra, Australia, she had studio space with the Australian National Capital Artists.
Notable bodies of work include 'Primary Colours', a series created following workshops given at the Al-Farah refugee camp, depicting Palestinian children holding their own portraits. While living in Canberra, Thwaites produced the 'Tracing Back' paintings, which draw on film stills and archival photographs of Aboriginal Australians. The 'Jalan Jalan' portraits were made during a five month stay in Walasiho, a remote village in SE Sulawesi, Indonesia. The interactive magnetic paintings are largely autobiographical in nature, many of which were made during Covid; they are interactive works which invite the viewer to reposition magnetic elements, thereby altering the composition and narrative of the paintings.
Born in Sheffield, England, 1980
Lives and works in Trieste, Italy
Education
2008 – 2009 LaportaBlu Art School, Rome, Italy
2000 – 2004 MA Joint Honours, History of Art and French Literature, The University of Edinburgh, Scotland
2002 – 2003 History of Art, L’Ecole du Louvre, Paris, France
1999 – 2000 Art Foundation, Chesterfield Art Collage, England
Selected solo and two person exhibitions
2021 ‘Surrender’, Lord Hall Gallery, University of Maine, Orono, Maine, USA
2021 ‘Christina Thwaites and Ted Keller’, Carver Hill Gallery, Camden, Maine. USA
2019 'Christina Thwaites Pop’, Maine Art Hill, Kennebunk, Maine. USA
2015 ‘Conversations with a stuffed bear’, Penny Contemporary, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia
2015 ‘Lucianella Cafagna /Christina Thwaites’, RvB arts, Rome, Italy
2014 ‘Body Transformations’, Anna Pappas Gallery, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
2014 ‘Just for one day. We can pop it – with Peter Blake’, G2Gallery, Jesi, Italy
2014 ‘Australian History’, Michael Reid Gallery, Murrurundi, New South Wales, Australia
2014 ‘A long way from home’ Altenburg Gallery, Braidwood, New South Wales, Australia
2014 ‘Past Times’, RvB Arts, Rome. Italy
2013 ‘Beyond Ritual’, The Art List, London, UK
2013 ‘Looking back’, RvB Arts, Rome, Italy
2012 ‘Memory Thread’ Galleria Cellamare 56, Naples, Italy
2012 ‘Dispatches from the past: Postmen in East Hull’, LaPortaBlu Gallery, Rome, Italy
2011 ‘Forgotten Faces’, Galleria Cortese & Lisanti, Rome, Italy
2010 ‘Tracing time’, Dokhuis Galerie, Amsterdam, Holland
2010 ‘Velvet Faces’, Studio 7, Rieti, Italy
2010 ‘Sitting on the dock’, Banca Arditi Galati, Cava de’ Tirreni, Salerno, Italy
Selected group exhibitions
2026 ‘Posy’, Carver Hill Gallery, Camden, Maine. USA
2025 ‘The poetic Enigma’, Von Buren Gallery, Rome, Italy
2025 ‘Thwaites /Nolin /Westphalen /River’, Carver Hill Gallery, Camden, Maine, USA
2024 ‘Once Upon a time’, Von Buren Gallery, Rome, Italy
2024 ‘Resolute’ Carver Hill Gallery, Camden, Maine, USA
2024 ‘Flower Moon’ Gallery B, Castine. Maine, USA
2023 ‘October’, Carver Hill Gallery, Camden, Maine, USA
2023 ‘Rusticators’, Gallery B, Castine, Maine, USA
2022 ‘Are we there yet’, Carver Hill Gallery, Maine, USA
2022 ‘How we move’, Gallery B, Castine, Maine, USA
2022 ‘Figure and ground’ Gallery B, Castine, Maine, USA
2021 ‘Color emersion’, Carver Hill Gallery, Camden, Maine, USA
2021 ‘New Beginnings’, Courthouse Gallery, Ellsworth, Maine, USA
2018 'Beautiful Women', Penny Contemporary, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia
2015 'Fight no Future. La Pop si mette in Lotta' G2Gallery, Jesi, Italy
2014 'Selfie', Canberra Contemporary Art Space, Canberra, ACT, Australia
2014 '1Metre', Stanley Street Gallery, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
2014 'Terms and Conditions', Nishi Gallery, Canberra, ACT, Australia
2013 'Romance', Temple University Gallery, Rome, Italy
2013 'Face 2 Face', Robin Gibson Gallery, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
2013 'Summer', RvB arts, Rome, Italy
2013 'Queen Show', Peter Klashorst Gallery, Amsterdam, Holland
2013 ‘Quadratonomade’, Museo Roberto Bilotti Ruggi d’Aragona, Rende, Italy
2012 'Main OFF', Nuovo Cinema Palazzo, Rome, Italy
2012 'Between’, Teatro Sala Umberto, Rome, Italy
2012 ‘RE+NAISSANCE21’, MACRO, (Museum of Contemporary in Art), Rome, Italy
2012 'Quadratonomade', Palazzo delle Esposizioni, (Exhibition Palace), Rome, Italy
2012 'New York', Peter Klashorst Gallery, Amsterdam, Holland
2012 'Schisi', Hybrida ArtGallery, Rome, Italy
2012 'Embassy of Living Painters', Appels Gallery, Amsterdam, Holland
2012 'Young Masters@Auction', Ongekend Art Auction, Rotterdam, Holland
2012 'AAF Milan', RvB Arts, Milan, Italy
2011 'Al-Mahatta Residency Artists', Al-Far'a, West Bank, Palestine
2011 'Dusty Days', Galerie Serieuze Zaken, Amsterdam, Holland
2011 'L'acqua nella Roccia', Villa Gregoriana, Tivoli, Italy
2010 'Femmes', Country House I Cerri, Caserta, Italy
2010 'I love' Convento di Santa Croce, Sant'Anatolia di Narco, Perugia, Italy
Residencies/grants
2020 Artist Project Grant, Maine Arts Commission, Maine, USA
2011 Artist residency, 33occicnacreativa, Toffia, Italy
2011 Al-Mahatta International Artist Residency, Ramallah/Al Fara'ah, West Bank, Palestine
2010 Kanaal 10 Guest Studio artist residency, Amsterdam, Holland
Christina THWAITES has collectors in USA, Australia, Italy, France, Belgium, Holland, Switzerland and UK
Current gallery representation
Von Buren Gallery, Rome, Italy
Carver Hill Gallery, Camden, USA
Gallery B, Castine, USA
Artemis Gallery, Northeast Harbor, USA