Wilma Tabacco
Born Italy | Lives Australia

Born in the province of L’Aquila, Italy, Wilma Tabacco has lived in Australia since childhood, yet her diverse art practice reflects her Italian heritage and her fascination with western European archeology and history. Primarily an abstract painter, Wilma’s practice has expanded and contracted over the years to include elements of installation, collage and work on paper. Wilma’s qualifications include a Bachelor of Commerce (1972), a Diploma of Education (1973), a Master of Arts (1995) and a PhD (2006). She has lectured variously in painting, drawing and printmaking at the University of Melbourne, Canberra School of Arts and at RMIT as part of the international programme in Hong Kong and in Melbourne.
She has received several grants from the Australia Council Visual Arts and Craft Board including a studio residency in Italy, and has also worked and exhibited in Seoul as the recipient of an Asialink residency in Korea.
AVAILABLE WORKS
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Sisyphus (downhill)
Vendor:Wilma Tabacco62 x 77 cmRegular price $7,700 AUDRegular priceUnit price / per -
Underground
Vendor:Wilma Tabacco77 x 62 cmRegular price $7,700 AUDRegular priceUnit price / per -
Breakwater
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Against the Tide
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Flights of Fantasy
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Green Light
Vendor:Wilma Tabacco71 x 89 cmRegular price $4,500 AUDRegular priceUnit price / per -
Alpine Romance 1
Vendor:Wilma Tabacco42 x 52 cmRegular price $5,500 AUDRegular priceUnit price / per -
Alpine Romance 2
Vendor:Wilma Tabacco42 x 52 cmRegular price $5,500 AUDRegular priceUnit price / per -
Alpine Romance 3
Vendor:Wilma Tabacco42 x 52 cmRegular price $5,500 AUDRegular priceUnit price / per -
Alpine Romance 4
Vendor:Wilma Tabacco42 x 52 cmRegular price $5,500 AUDRegular priceUnit price / per -
Alpine Romance 5
Vendor:Wilma Tabacco42 x 52 cmRegular price $5,500 AUDRegular priceUnit price / per
Collapsible content
CV
WILMA TABACCO
Born L’Aquila, Italy, lives Australia
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2025 Against the Tide, Gallerysmith, Melbourne
2023 Aqua Alta, Nancy Server Gallery, Canberra
Proscenium, Gallerysmith, Melbourne
2022 OPEN/CLOSED, Gallerysmith, Melbourne
2021 Looking Back, Gallerysmith, Melbourne
2019 Fosse, Gallerysmith, Melbourne
2018 Transitions, Langford120, Melbourne
The Great Sea, Glasshouse Regional Gallery, Port Macquarie, NSW
Who’s afraid…of the dark?, with Irene Barberis, Langford120, Melbourne
2017 Then, Now: Now, Langford120, Melbourne
Corallium, Langford120, Melbourne
2016 Scylla and Charybdis, Nancy Sever Gallery, Canberra
2015 Cycladic, Langford120, Melbourne
2014 Gilded Lies, Langford120, Melbourne
2013 Gilt Edge, Langford120, Melbourne
2012 Zaffiro, Langford120, Melbourne
2011 Who’s afraid of greenpinkpurpleblue? with Irene Barberis, Langford120, Melbourne
2009 Picture This…, Helen Maxwell Gallery, Canberra
Flights of Fantasy, Niagara Galleries, Melbourne
2007 In the Blinking of an Eye, Helen Maxwell Gallery, Canberra
2006 Ave atque Vale (for now), Niagara Galleries, Melbourne
2005 A Brush with Colour, Helen Maxwell Gallery, Canberra
2004 Slipstream, Niagara Galleries, Melbourne
2002 Tease, Helen Maxwell Gallery, Canberra
Agrodolce Bliss Bomb, Niagara Galleries, Melbourne
2000 Up Down In Out, Helen Maxwell Gallery, Canberra
1999 Ghostbusting, Niagara Galleries, Melbourne
Saying it with Flowers, with Irene Barberis, Geelong Art Gallery; Art Gallery of Ballarat; The University Gallery, Tasmania; Albury Regional Art Gallery; RMIT Gallery, Melbourne
1998 Cherry Blossom Time, aGOG, Canberra
Saying it with Flowers, with Irene Barberis, Contemporary Art Centre of South Australia, Adelaide
1997 Cuts, with Irene Barberis, Victoria University Gallery, Melbourne
Conversations, with Jan Murray, Westspace Gallery, Melbourne
Primavera, Kookmin University Gallery, Seoul, Korea
Pot-Pourri, Savina Gallery, Seoul, Korea
Pageant, Niagara Galleries, Melbourne
1996 Tripping, Photospace, Canberra School of Art
1995 Relocations, RMIT Gallery, Melbourne
Fabrications, aGOG, Canberra
Les Fleurs, Niagara Galleries, Melbourne
1994 Florilegia, Chiesa di S. Massimo, Opi di Fagnano Alto, Italy
1993 La Nouvelle Constellation, Niagara Galleries, Melbourne
1991 Continental Crossings, Niagara Galleries, Melbourne
Niagara Galleries, Melbourne
1989 Niagara Galleries, Melbourne
1988 Niagara Galleries, Melbourne
Holdsworth Contemporary Gallery, Sydney
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2025 Deakin@McLaughlan, Stephen McLaughlan Gallery
Seeing the Light, Gallerysmith, Melbourne
In Plain Sight, Five Walls, Melbourne
50 Years of Collecting, Deakin University Art Gallery, Burwood
Concentric Influences of Sol LeWitt: Core Artists Part 1, Artertain Gallery, South Korea
Living connections: Reflections on care, kinship and Country, Bendigo Art Gallery, Bendigo
2024 Concentric Influences of Sol LeWitt: Core Artists Part 1, RMIT University Gallery, Melbourne and Hui Gallery, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
Fresh, Stephen McLaughlan Gallery, Melbourne
Astute, Stephen McLaughlan Gallery, Melbourne
Text – Re read, Deakin University Art Gallery, Burwood
2023 Concentric Influences of Sol LeWitt: Core Artists Part 1, University of Dundee, U.K.
XV: PAST PRESENT FUTURE, Gallerysmith, Melbourne
Abstraction, curators Missy Ueda & Emma Langridge, Five Walls, Melbourne
2022 Eyes that See: Works from the collection of Norman Rosenblatt, Bayside Gallery, Melbourne
Abstraction 22, Charles Nodrum Gallery, Melbourne
Women in Abstraction, curator James Makin, ANZ Gallery, Melbourne
Water[shed]: 50 artists. 50 years, Bettgallery, Hobart
Parallel Visions 2022, Hawthorn City Gallery, Melbourne
5@5, Five Walls, Melbourne
In Parallel, CO.AS.IT., Museo Italiano, Melbourne
2021 Something Simple, Stephen McLaughlan Gallery, Melbourne
The home show: que des femmes…only women…, Yarra Bend Studio Gallery, Melbourne
May Day, Stephen McLaughlan Gallery, Melbourne
2020 Of Colour & Light – Women Abstract Artists Biennial, 2020-21, West End Art Space, Melbourne
Highlights from the ANU Art Collection, ANU Drill Hall Gallery, Canberra
Rinse Cycle, Stephen McLaughlan Gallery, Melbourne
Parallel Visions, CO.AS.IT., Museo Italiano, Melbourne
Le altre opere, Museo Carlo Bilotti, Aranciera di Villa Borghese, Roma; and traveling Italy
Abstraction 20, Charles Nodrum Gallery, Melbourne
Ballast, Stephen McLaughlan Gallery, Melbourne
2019 Celebrate XXV, Stephen McLaughlan Gallery, Melbourne
Geometries, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane
Aphorisms and Platitudes, Museum of Aphorisms and Platitudes, C3 Contemporary Art Space, Melbourne; Rubicon, Melbourne
Reciproco, with Angelo Bellobono, Readings, Melbourne
2018 And then, Global Centre for Drawing, Langford120, Melbourne
Of Colour & Light, West End Art Space, Melbourne
The Legacy of Frank Werther, Town Hall Gallery, Melbourne
Beyond the Field-still, Contemporary Art Tasmania
On Drawing, Chinese University of Hong Kong
The Exquisite Palette, Tacit Gallery, Melbourne
Abstraction TwentyEighteen, Stephen McLaughlan Gallery, Five Walls, Langford120, Deakin University Library
Abstraction: celebrating Australian women abstract artists, Tweed Heads Regional Gallery; Cairns Regional Gallery
A Tropical State, Old Canopy Art Space, Cairns & First Coat Studios, Toowoomba
Chaos & Order: 120 Years of Collecting at RMIT, RMIT Gallery, Storey Hall, Melbourne
New Horizons. An Exhibition of Italian Australian Artists, Museo Italiano, Melbourne
2017 The Void. Visible. Abstraction & Non-Objective Art, Deakin University Art Gallery, Melbourne
Coney Island, Counihan Gallery, Melbourne
Scheme 5: Garden, Yarra Sculpture Gallery, Melbourne
Shades of Grey, Tacit Gallery, Melbourne
Chromatopia: A History of Colour, Tacit Contemporary Art, Melbourne
6th Artist Books & Multiples Fair, Brisbane
Trans, Raygun Gallery, Toowoomba
Abstraction: celebrating Australian women abstract artists, Geelong Gallery, Victoria; Newcastle Regional Gallery, NSW
Four Drawings: Barberis, Bradbeer, Southall, Tabacco, Langford120, Melbourne
Contemporary Australian Drawing #7, Langford120, Melbourne
2016 Nearly Monochrome, Five Walls, Melbourne
Abstraction 16, Charles Nodrum Gallery, Melbourne
Contemporary Australian Drawing #6, The Bury Art Museum, Manchester, UK
Neo-0-10 #2, Stephen McLaughlan Gallery, Melbourne
Sailing into History, Museo Italiano, Melbourne
Of Colour & Light, Yarra Sculpture Gallery, Melbourne
2015 Contemporary Australian Drawing #5 (Facsimile exhibition), Sachi Gallery, SACI Institute, Florence, Italy
Artpeace, Sagra, Melbourne
Neo-0-10, Stephen McLaughlan Gallery, Melbourne
After 65: The Legacy of OP, Latrobe Regional Gallery, Victoria
2014 National Works on Paper, Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery, Victoria
Dark: More than Black, Stephen McLaughlan Gallery, Melbourne
Contemporary Australian Drawing #4, New York Studio School, New York, USA
Blue on Blue, Langford120, Melbourne
Reconfigurings, Langford120, Melbourne
2013 Abstraction 12, Charles Nodrum Gallery, Melbourne
Squaring Up, Langford120, Melbourne
Thirteen, Langford120, Melbourne
Contemporary Australian Drawing 3, New York Studio School, New York, USA
2012 Room; A Series of Schemes, Scheme Four: Laundry/Bathroom, Langford120, Melbourne
A Selection from Crossing the Line: Drawing in the Middle East, Langford120, Melbourne
Crossing the Line: Drawing in the Middle East, Tashkeel Gallery, Dubai
NONOBJECTIVE – present, curator Stephen Wickham, Langford120, Melbourne
Contemporary Australian Drawing 2, Wimbledon SPACE, London; Langford120, Melbourne
2011 Fun with Colour, Glasshouse Regional Gallery, Port Macquarie
100 Project, Blackartprojects, Langford120, Melbourne
2010 Rick Amor Drawing Prize, Art Gallery of Ballarat, Victoria
Colour Tone and Tint, Drawingspace, RMIT, Melbourne
More, The Arts Gallery, University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba
Magnetic Islands, Project Space, RMIT, Melbourne
Contemporary Australian Drawings 1, RMIT Gallery, Melbourne
2009 Arthur Guy Memorial Painting Prize 09, Bendigo Art Gallery
Reductive, ACGA Gallery, Melbourne
Drawing of the World/World of Drawing, Museum of Art, Seoul National University, Korea
Surveying the Field, Counihan Gallery, Melbourne
Books crossing, from the Deakin University Artist’s Book Collection, Geelong Gallery
Regards Croises: Australie – France, Espace Beaurepaire, Paris, France
2008 Transcentric, Lethaby Gallery, Central St. Martins College of Art and Design, London, UK
Secondary Sources, School of Art Gallery, RMIT, Melbourne
From Mao to Now, Sydney Olympic Park, New South Wales
2007 Room: A Series of Schemes - Scheme Three: Living Room, Counihan Gallery, Melbourne
Room: A Series of Schemes - Scheme Two: Kitchen/Dining, Linden Centre for Contemporary Arts, Melbourne
Innovators 3, Linden Centre for Contemporary Arts, Melbourne
Arthur Guy Memorial Painting Prize, Bendigo Art Gallery, Victoria
2006 Fletcher Jones Art Prize, Geelong Gallery
If You Were to Collect… Elements of Abstraction, Deloitte Corporate Offices, Melbourne
X Marks the Spot, RMIT School of Art Gallery, Melbourne
2005 Wilma Tabacco and Noël Skrzypczak in Collaboration, Dudespace, Melbourne
Room: A Series of Schemes, fortyfivedownstairs, Melbourne
Arthur Guy Memorial Painting Prize, Bendigo Art Gallery
2004 Disorientate: Colour, Geometry and the Body, Plimsol Gallery, Hobart
National Works on Paper Award, Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery, Victoria
Seeing Red, Maroondah Art Gallery, Melbourne
2003 Return Nature II: Pastoral, Nanjing Shenghua Arts Centre, Nanjing, China
Embark/Disembark: An Exploration of Cultural Dislocation, Immigration Museum, Melbourne
Arthur Guy Memorial Painting Prize 2003, Bendigo Art Gallery, Victoria
Robert Jacks Drawing Prize, Bendigo Art Gallery, Victoria
In the Presence of Passion, Helen Maxwell Gallery, Canberra
Paris Art Fair, The Louvre Museum, Paris, France
Four, Holmes à Court Gallery, Perth
North: Art from the Other Side of the Yarra, Bundoora Homestead Art Centre, Melbourne
Mystic Medusa on Art, New Contemporaries Gallery, Sydney
Reunion, The Art of 16 Graduates, George Paton Gallery, Melbourne University, Melbourne
Odd, Faculty Gallery, RMIT University, School of Art and Culture
Season’s Greetings, Post Master Gallery, Melbourne
2002 Good Vibrations, Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne
Kiss My Art, Melbourne Fringe Festival, Sydney Road, Melbourne
Geelong Contemporary Art Prize, Geelong Art Gallery, Victoria
John Leslie Art Prize, Gippsland Art Gallery, Sale, Victoria
2001 Redlands Westpac Art Prize, Mosman Art Gallery, Sydney
Hutchins Contemporary Australian Art Prize, The Long Gallery, Hobart
Nillumbik Invitational Art Award, Montsalvat, Victoria
Painted Spaces, Talbert-Rice Gallery, Edinburgh, UK
Little Treasures, RMIT Gallery, Storey Hall, Melbourne
2000 Korea-Australia Print Exchange Exhibition, RMIT Gallery, Melbourne
Liberty, RMIT Gallery, Melbourne
Not the Done Thing, Mary Place Gallery, Sydney
Melbourne Art Fair 2000, Royal Exhibition Building, Melbourne
On the Brink: Abstraction of the 90s, Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne
Printed Proof, Canberra Contemporary Artspace, Canberra
Artists’ Books Day, Grahame Galleries, Brisbane
A Matter of Distance, Linden Centre for Contemporary Arts, Melbourne
Triptych Show, Helen Maxwell Gallery, Canberra
Painted Spaces, ACCA, Melbourne; New Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand
We are Australian, Volvo Gallery, Sydney and touring Australia
1999 A Letter to Picasso: The Stamp in Contemporary Art, Post Master Gallery, Melbourne
Grands et jeunes d’aujourd’hui, Espace Eiffel-Branly, Paris, France
Bernheim Invite L’Australie, French National Library Festival, Noumea, New Caledonia
Real Abstraction, curator Wilma Tabacco, Victoria University Gallery, Melbourne
Works on Paper, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea
1998 People of Australia-Richness in Diversity: Identity Art, Australian Museum, Sydney; touring The Philippines, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, South Korea
The Art Files, curators Wilma Tabacco and Stephen Spurrier, Gallery Art-O-Mat installation at
Sixth Australian Contemporary Art Fair, Royal Exhibition Building, Melbourne
RMIT Fine Art, Hong Kong Arts Centre, Hong Kong
The Cask, VicHealth Access Gallery, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Korea/Australia Exchange Exhibition of Prints, The Contemporary Museum of Seoul, Korea
Propositions Australiennes, Galerie Luc Queyrel, Paris
The Autumn Show, La Trobe Street Gallery, Melbourne
Mask Auction, The Jewish Museum of Australia at Distelfink Gallery, Melbourne
Nature: Traditional & Contemporary, Cooloola Shire Public Gallery, Queensland
Werther School, Span Galleries, Melbourne
1997 Patterning, curator Merryn Gates, touring Metropolitan Museum of Art, Manila; Regional centres, Philippines; Jakarta, Indonesia; Canberra School of Art Australia; Silpakorn University Gallery, Bangkok, Thailand; Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Singapore Art Museum, Singapore
Notations, Victoria University Gallery, Melbourne
Geelong Contemporary Art Prize, Geelong Art Gallery, Victoria
The Central Queensland Art Purchase, Rockhampton Art Gallery, Queensland
Re:search, Plimsoll Gallery, University of Tasmania, Hobart
1996 The Art Game, Gallery Art-O-Mat installation, curators Wilma Tabacco and Stephen Spurrier, at the Fifth Australian Contemporary Art Fair, Royal Exhibition Building, Melbourne
1995 12th Biennial Spring Festival of Drawing, Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery, Victoria
Blundstone Contemporary Art Prize, touring, Queen Victoria Museum & Art Gallery, Tasmania
Our Parents’ Children, curator G. Pradolin, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
City of Hobart Art Prize, The Carnegie Gallery, Hobart
Group Masters Exhibition, RMIT Faculty Gallery, Melbourne
The Situation Now: A Survey of Local Non-Objective Art, curator Christopher Heathcote, La Trobe University Art Museum, Victoria
Recent Acquisitions: Deakin University Art Collection, Geelong Art Gallery, Victoria
1994 Fourth Australian Contemporary Art Fair, Royal Exhibition Building, Melbourne
Artomatch, Gallery Art–O–Mat installation, at the Fourth Australian Contemporary Art Fair, Royal Exhibition Building, Melbourne
James McCaughey Memorial Prize, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
RMIT / LICT Exhibition, Australian High Commission, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
The House, Lighthouse Foundation Art Auction, Sotheby’s, Melbourne
Conrad Jupiters Art Prize, Gold Coast City Gallery, Queensland
1993 Contemporary Australian Paintings - Works from the Allen, Allen & Hemsley Collection, at the Melbourne International Festival, Westpac Gallery, Melbourne
VITEA: A.I.P.#7, Fifth Sculpture Triennial, RMIT Faculty Gallery, Melbourne
Margaret Stewart Endowment B, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Recent Acquisitions, Waverley City Gallery, Melbourne
Margaret Stewart Endowment, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
1992 C.D. Art, Ben Grady Gallery, Canberra
Rediscovery: Australian Artists in Europe 1982-1992, Australian Pavilion, World Expo, Seville, Spain; Australian Embassy, Paris, France
Small Works – Wide Vision, Downlands Art Exhibition, Queensland
Third Australian Contemporary Art Fair, Royal Exhibition Building, Melbourne
Gallery Art–O–Mat, automatic vending machine installation at the Third Australian Contemporary
Art Fair, Royal Exhibition Building, Melbourne
Il Disegno Ritrovato, Fondazione Antonio Ratti, Salone San Francesco, Como, Italy
1991 Freedom of Choice, curator Maudie Palmer, Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne
Art and Architecture, Atrium, Architecture and Planning, University of Melbourne, Melbourne
1990 Niagara artists at Sam Hill Smith Gallery, Sam Hill Smith Gallery, Adelaide
Second Australian Contemporary Art Fair, Royal Exhibition Building, Melbourne
Art From Elsewhere, The University of Tasmania, Hobart
Niagara Print Exhibition, Niagara Galleries, Melbourne
1989 Niagara at Watters, Watters Gallery, Sydney
Eight Women Printmakers, Stuart Gerstman Gallery, Melbourne
Lloyd Rees Memorial 9’ x 5’ Exhibition, Linden Arts Centre and Gallery, Melbourne
1988 New Art Three, Niagara Galleries, Melbourne
Diamond Valley Art Award, Victoria
Print in Context, Print Council of Australia, Melbourne
Art of the Unique Print, Festival of Perth, touring Western Australia and USA
100 x 100, Print Portfolio Exhibition, Print Council of Australia, Melbourne
Diamond Valley Art Award Exhibition, Victoria
First Australian Contemporary Art Fair, Royal Exhibition Building, Melbourne
Watercolour Australia, Swan Hill Regional Art Gallery, Victoria
Mornington Peninsula Arts Centre Acquisitive Prints Exhibition, Victoria
Goldfields Print Award Inaugural Exhibition, Art Gallery of Ballarat, Victoria
1987 Box Hill Invitational Print Exhibition, Melbourne
Fremantle Print Award Exhibition, Western Australia
Spring Festival of Drawing, Mornington Peninsula Arts Centre, Victoria
Swan Hill Print & Drawing Exhibition, Swan Hill Regional Art Gallery, Victoria
1986 Invitational Print Exhibition, Reconnaissance Gallery, Melbourne
1986 St. Kilda Arts Festival Exhibition, Linden Arts Centre and Gallery, Melbourne
1982 Contemporary Artists Exhibition, Niagara Lane Galleries, Melbourne
Pitspace, Phillip Institute of Technology, Melbourne
COMMISSIONS
2000 Christmas Stamp Design Commission, Australia Post
1998 The Stamp Collection, Ugg Boot Press, Victoria
1997 Print Council of Australia, Limited Edition Print, Victoria
1990 Banner Project, Arts Building, Institute of Education, University of Melbourne, Victoria
1988 100 x 100 Print Portfolio, Dr. M. Lefevbre, Print Council of Australia, Victoria
GRANTS AND RESIDENCIES
2007 City of Moreland Arts Grant
2000 Australian Postgraduate Research Scholarship
1999 Arts Victoria, Artists Development Grant
1998 NETS Victoria, Exhibition Development Fund Grant
1996 Australia Council, Visual Arts Craft Fund, Project Grant, New Works
Artist-in-Residence, Canberra School of Art, ACT
Asialink Residency, Seoul, Korea
1992 Australia Council, Visual Arts/Craft Board, Artists Development Grant
1990 Australia Council, Visual Arts/Craft Board, Overseas Residency in Italy
COLLECTIONS
Anglican Church Grammar, Queensland
Ararat Regional Art Gallery
Artbank
Australian National University
Benalla Art Gallery
Bendigo Regional Art Gallery
Canberra University Collection
Canson Australia Pty Ltd
Charles Sturt University
Deakin University Collection
Fondazione Antonio Ratti, Italy
Geelong Art Gallery
Glasshouse Regional Gallery, Port Macquarie
Heide Museum of Modern Art
Ivanhoe Girls’ Grammar
Latrobe Valley Arts Centre
Latrobe University Gallery
Mildura Arts Centre
National Gallery of Australia
National Gallery of Victoria
Print Council of Australia
Queensland Art Gallery
Queensland University of Technology
Queen Victoria Museum & Art Gallery
RMIT University Collection
University of Southern Queensland
University of Tasmania
Warrnambool Regional Art Gallery
Waverley City Gallery, Melbourne
Private Collections in Australia, USA, France and Italy