Nathan Hawkes is a Sydney-based artist whose work is grounded in the practice of drawing as a way of paying attention to and reflecting on the visual dynamics and sensations encountered in his daily life.
His large-format drawings involve scratching into the surface of paper and using rudimentary mark-making with fingers and hands, masking, sponges and a vacuum cleaner, to embody a rough-hewn euphoria and sense of renewal whilst gesturing towards an illusory perception of self in relationship to the world. It exemplifies his commitment to the exercise of drawing. Hawkes states,
I am obsessed by the seemingly endless vitality and flexibility inherent to the act of drawing. Being arguably one of the oldest modes of communication there is something so deeply rooted, open, adaptive and non-exclusive about the practice of making marks on a surface in various ways to embody an idea or sensation.
This year he was announced as a finalist for the Sulman Prize and is currently exhibiting at the Art Gallery of NSW. He has upcoming solo exhibitions at both CHALK HORSE and Ngununggula. In 2024 he was a finalist for the Vincent Prize and the Kedumba Drawing Prize.In 2020, Hawkes exhibited in Real Worlds: Dobell Australian Drawing Biennial. In 2019, Hawkes was a finalist in the 2019 Ramsay Art Prize at the Art Gallery of South Australia. He has been the recipient of a number of prestigious awards including the Brett Whiteley Travelling Art Scholarship, Marten Bequest travelling scholarship, and the Asa Masakusa Award. Between 2013 and 2015 he was an artist in residence at Australia House, Japan and exhibited at the 2015 Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennial. In 2017 the Australia Council for the Arts funded an extended visit to Sweden where he worked with internationally acclaimed artist Andreas Eriksson.
His work is held in the Artbank collection, the Art Gallery of New South Wales, and private collections in Australia and internationally.
