Ella Dunn: I feel you there, I know you're there: Salon

Sarah Scout Presents is delighted to announce Ella Dunn I feel you there, I know you’re there, part of a  program of exhibitions by young unrepresented women artists in the gallery's salon space.

Ella Dunn’s recent body of paintings delves beyond the surface, contemplating the fleeting nature of shadows. She explores the liminal spaces, at times slipping into a dream state to explore themes of isolation and the subconscious. This series of work shows snippets of familiar scenes; a fruit stall selling oranges, a Hills hoist. These everyday scenes are obscured by the looming shadows of dark figures, creating tension, and leaving the viewer feeling unsettled. The translucent use of oil paint with layers scraped back and reworked give a sense of shifting. Dunn pushes and pulls the paint towards abstraction.

Dunn’s art practice focuses on figurative, narrative based works. She uses paint to explore her immediate surroundings and delve into the intimacy of domestic scenes and personal experiences. She investigates connections to place, memory and relationships, in particular, exploring the relationship between fictional and personal narratives and how they can be skewed or exaggerated.

Ella Dunn spent her formative years growing up in the mid-north coast of NSW. She is currently living and working in Melbourne. Dunn began exhibiting in 2014 and completed her Bachelor of Fine Arts with Honours in 2017. Dunn has exhibited at Saint Cloche, C3 Gallery, Bus Projects, Sutton Project Space and most recently had works shown on the ‘Sunday Salon’ site. Dunn was a finalist in the National Emerging Art Prize in 2022 and in 2015 was awarded the John Vickery Drawing Scholarship. In 2016 she was a recipient of the National Gallery of Victoria Women’s Association Award.