Hugh Van Schaick (b. 1992) is an artist living and working on Gadigal and Wangal land, Australia. His painting process is firmly based in observational drawing and sketches in notebooks, from which compositions are cropped, twisted and found. He studies human bodies as part of the natural contrasts of life: solidity and movement, tension and release, to be heavy or to be held. His work attempts to communicate his conflicted perspectives of being a person in today’s world, where we are pulling away from each other and moving too fast. With differing levels of abstraction and ambiguity his paintings invite slowing down, asking questions, observing in new ways and connecting intimately with different layers of our being.

CV

Solo Exhibitions
2022 - Bodies of us, China Heights Gallery, Sydney
2019 - Cicada, Scratch Art Space, Sydney
2017 - Introducing Hugh Van Schaick, Wallarobba Arts and Cultural Centre, Sydney

Group Exhibitions
2025 - Works On Paper, China Heights Gallery, Sydney
2021 - Hugh Van Schaick & Zephyr Larkin, China Heights Gallery, Sydney
2020 - Bushfire Silent Auction, China Heights Gallery, Sydney
2019 - Works On Paper, China Heights Gallery, Sydney
2019 - 1919, Galerie pompom, Sydney
2017 - Untitled, Traffic Jam Galleries, Sydney
2016 - The Other Art Fair, COMMUNE, Sydney
2016 - RAW: Reveal, Manning Bar, Sydney
2015 - Belle ArtStart, Alexandria, Sydney

Awards and Prizes
2019 - The Hornsby Art Prize, Sydney - Finalist
2019 - The Hawkesbury Art Prize, Sydney - Finalist
2018 - The Hornsby Art Prize, Sydney - Finalist
2017 - Myself Prize, Fortitude Valley, QLD - Finalist
2017 - The Hornsby Art Prize, Sydney - Finalist
2017 - The Shirl National Youth Portrait Prize, Bega Valley Regional Gallery - Finalist
2016 - The Hornsby Art Prize, Sydney - Winner of Emerging Artist and People’s Choice Awards

Residencies
2023 - Butoh in Nature with Vangeline with Intercultural Roots, North Yorkshire, UK

Education
2018 - Graduate Diploma of Fine Arts, The National Art School
2013 - Bachelor of Fine Arts, UNSW College of Fine Art

For all enquiries, please contact me on hughvanschaick@gmail.com

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I acknowledge the traditional custodians of the stolen land on which I was raised and now work, the Gadigal and Wangal people of the Eora nation. I pay my respects to elders past, present and emerging. Sovereignty was never ceded. "Australia" is, was and always will be Aboriginal land.