Talya Brookman is an abstract painter based in Sydney. Raised between London, Los Angeles and Australia, her practice is shaped by a constant negotiation between movement and stability, and a sensitivity to how place is internalised and carried.

Her work explores an inner ground, a shifting psychological terrain where structure is sought within flux. The paintings emerge through an intuitive, iterative process, guided by a persistent need to resolve what resists order.

Working primarily with oil and ink on canvas, she builds layered surfaces through gesture and wash. Her compositions draw on fractal structures and recurring natural rhythms, allowing forms to surface and dissolve, hovering at the edge of recognition.

Rooted in an early, compulsive need to fill space with pattern and form, this impulse continues to underpin her practice, driving its tension between control and release.

Brookman studied at the Pratt Institute of Fine Art in New York and returned to Sydney in 2009. Her work has been widely exhibited across Australia. In 2025, her painting Tether received the People’s Choice Award at the Fisher’s Ghost Art Prize.

Current & Upcoming Exhibitions

  • 2026 Slow Translation - Loaf Gallery - Blue Mountains NSW (March 27 - May 24)

  • 2026 Inner Grounds Solo Exhibition - CBD Gallery - Sydney NSW (May 21-June 13)

  • 2026 Sydney Contemporary - CBD Gallery - Carriageworks - Sydney NSW (September)

Past Exhibitions

  • 2026 Unbound Art Show - Royal Botanic Gardens - Sydney NSW

  • 2026 The Last Picture Show - Frances Keevil - Studio W - Sydney NSW

  • 2025 Fishers Ghost Art Award - Campbelltown Art Centre - Campbelltown, NSW

  • 2025 We Can Work It Out - Sydney St. Gallery - Sydney NSW

  • 2025 Homage To Turner - West End Art Space - Melbourne VIC

  • 2025 2 years of Tyger - Tyger Gallery - Yass NSW

  • 2025 Sculpture & Canvas - Frances Keevil - Sydney NSW

  • 2024 Maps of Matter - Frances Keevil - Sydney NSW

  • 2024 Life In Colour - Tyger Gallery - Yass NSW

  • 2024 The Other Art Fair, White Bay Cruise Terminal, Sydney

  • 2019 The Other Art Fair, The Cutaway, Barangaroo, Sydney

  • 2013 Chase Gallery - Sydney NSW

  • 2010 MCM House Art Show - MCM House - Sydney NSW

  • 2010 Chase Gallery - Sydney NSW

  • 2003 I am Medieval Dream Circus - Q-Topia - Los Angeles, CA

  • 2003 Space Car Burning Man - Black Rock City, NV

  • 2000 Pratt Underground - Brooklyn, NY

Awards/ Prizes

  • 2025 Fisher’s Ghost Art Award – Winner – People’s Choice Award

Residencies

  • 2025 Landslide Gallery - Wentworth Falls, NSW

Education

  • 2000-2002 Pratt Institute, Fine Arts - Brooklyn NY