Deanne Bio

Working primarily in painting, Deanne Eccles’ art making deviates from the analytical and stresses a purely sensory approach.

Her experimentations in performance, music, and the written word develop immersive environments, while her paintings remain at the centre of each project's dialogue.

Her abstractions emphasise colour, unfamiliar spatial arrangements, and are informed by over two decades of multi-disciplinary study.

After attaining a Bachelor of Fine Arts, painting major, at Latrobe University in 1993, Deanne focused on theatre and movement, studying the ‘Body Weather’ practice under Japanese artist and pioneer of Body Weather dance, Min Tanaka.

This intersection of body and environment was a quintessential element in her later performance pieces with artists Tess De Quincey, Helen Sharp and John Howard, and found its way into her continued painting practice.

A spirited traveller, Deanne continued her studies in Venice and Switzerland looking at colour theory and techniques of colour application.

In Turkey, she returned to painting, building on her performance work, and experimenting with abstraction.

She developed her practice of ‘Body Sense Perception’ in Spain, a responsive approach to her work which incorporates the animated sensory awareness of Butoh dance into the cerebral elements of painting.
After returning from abroad Deanne chose to give her focus to having a family and running a small business. Thus her artistic activity was reduced to exhibiting in the occasional group exhibition. But now that her boys are old enough to not need their mother to be hands on deck her work has appeared in select solo and group exhibitions in Melbourne and across the globe since 2019. Her work is currently held at the Australian National Library and Latrobe University.

Most recently Deanne’s work has featured in (Un)fair Milan, currently represented by Van Gogh Gallery in Madrid.
She is soon to be represented by Toronto gallery Artio, with highly respected Art Director Bisa Bennett. Soon to be showing in London and Barcelona.

Her artistic career is also recognised locally in Eastern Victoria for her involvement in uniting the community with the environment. She was selected as a national nature champion in Australia in 2015; represented Victoria in the ‘Great Dividing Range’ film for the Australian Conservation Foundation; and received significant media attention as one of the pioneers in the ‘Knitting Nannas of Toolangi’.