Born in 1979 in New Jersey. Based in Sydney and Bali Indonesia.
Seth Birchall’s paintings conjure meditative worlds that pulse with colour and life. His fictitious landscapes—composed from found photographs as well as sketches and memories of Australia and Bali—reflect a biophilic urge to connect with other life forms in nature. Drawing inspiration from a wealth of rich and unexpected sources, including romantic notions of landscape throughout art history, Birchall offers a contemporary twist on the gestural brushwork, moody light, and colour play of Expressionism and Impressionism.
His paintings entwine subtle nods to the atmospheric effects in works by Australian Tonalists such as Max Meldrum and Clarice Beckett, Romantic artist William Blake’s electrifying scenes of heaven and earth, 19th century French paintings, and Japanese Ukiyo-e woodblock prints of the ‘floating world’. These varied references collide in compositions that seem to shape-shift before your eyes, drawing viewers into the depths of a complex interior universe. His works act as portals for looking both inward to psychological states and outward to the natural world.
Seth Birchall is an artist based in Sydney and Bali Indonesia. He is of dual Australian and American nationalities, born in New Jersey in 1979 and emigrating to Australia in 1987. He holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the National Art School and a Master of Arts from the College of Fine Arts, University of New South Wales.
In 2020 Birchall was awarded residencies at both Artspace, Sydney and Bega Valley Regional Gallery. He has been a finalist in numerous prizes including Len Fox Painting Award (2019), Bayside Acquisitive Art Prize (2019), Glover Art Prize, Tasmania (2019) and Geelong Contemporary Art Prize (2018). Recent selected solo exhibitions include The Garden is Watered, Sullivan+Strumpf, Sydney (2022); Happiness and Health, Verge Gallery, University of Sydney (2021); Bully Boy, Kleinerfelt Melbourne (2020); Assorted Woods, Artereal Gallery Sydney (2019); Holding Hands, Colossal Youth Exhibitions, Brooklyn, USA (2019); and CODE Art Fair, Copenhagen (2018).