STEF RAE

Artist statement

Stef Rae (Australian, b. 1988) is a contemporary painter working primarily in large-scale oil on canvas. Her practice is grounded in process and emotional honesty, unfolding through layered abstraction and automatic gesture.

Emerging from a background in surreal and introspective painting, her recent work marks a shift in palette, form, and psychological presence. She works by leaning into uncertainty and contradiction, allowing the unresolved to remain active within the paintings as a site of transformation.

“The quality of creativity is something I love considering. A link between the subconscious and our perceived reality. A felt connection that can be treated as matter, moulded into tangents and sometimes, revealed. Creativity in all its arrangements is the sensory abstract attempting to be articulated in a form that transcends everyday language. Thoughts can’t be fully realised until we’ve attempted to share them. The imaginative chaos settling into comprehensible parts while remaining strange. A magical realism trying to speak to Subjectivity.”

  • Bachelor of Arts (Humanities), Fine Art

    Curtin University of Technology / 2014

  • Solo Exhibitions

    “YIELD” PS Art Space, Fremantle, WA / 2026

    “Subconscious Landing” Assembly Department, Mt Lawley, WA / 2023

    Group Exhibitions

    Royal Freshwater Bay Yacht Club Art Exhibition, Peppermint Grove, WA / 2026

    PLC OCA Art Exhibition, Peppermint Grove, WA / 2026

    “Soft Spot” Nyisztor Studio, Fremantle, WA / 2025

    Royal Freshwater Bay Yacht Club Art Exhibition, Peppermint Grove, WA / 2025

    Goolugatup Sounds No.23, Goolugatup Heathcote Gallery, Applecross, WA / 2025

    “Feminine Rage - All the Rage” Naval Store, Fremantle, WA / 2024

    Claremont Art Awards, Claremont, WA / 2023

    Cossack Art Awards, Cossack, Karratha, WA / 2023

    Collie Art Prize, Collie Art Gallery, Collie, WA / 2023

    Cossack Art Awards, Cossack, Karratha, WA / 2022

    “Holding Self” Percy Flint, South Fremantle, WA / 2022

  • ART COLLECTOR Magazine, Issue #116, April—June, 2026.

    FLOURISH Magazine, Issue #16, pg. 4, “Rae of Light and Colour.” September 8, 2023.

    “Art Awards Bring Out the Best.” Post Newspaper, August 19, 2023.

    ART EDIT Magazine, Issue #36, pg. 143, “Gallery Panel.” May 30, 2023.

    “Collie Art Gallery hosts Collie Art Prize 2023.” The West Australian, March 4, 2023.

    “Scary Selfie.” Fremantle Herald, July 1, 2022.

  • First Prize Winner at Claremont Art Awards / 2023

    Best Artwork by a West Australian Artist at Collie Art Prize / 2023

    Highly Commended at Cossack Art Awards / 2023

    Highly Commended at Cossack Art Awards / 2022

  • Not currently represented.

  • Volunteer Painting Assistant Teacher and Facilitator for VisAbility WA

    Weekly painting classes held at the Community Activity Centre, instructing and socialising with clients experiencing vision impairment through the act of creativity, organisation, development, curation, and installation of a community art exhibition for VisAbility WA | Kent Street Gallery, Victoria Park WA / 2026

    Goolugatup Sounds No.23 - RTRfm Art Exhibition Fundraiser

    Communicating and developing connections and fundraising for community and the arts, sourcing and liaising with local artists, and the organisation and collection of artwork / 2024 – 2025

    PS Art Space

    Organisation, curation, and installation of artwork for a group exhibition of resident artists / 2024

    Claremont Art Framers and Gallery

    Installation and sale of artwork / 2019 – 2026