A Brief History

Ashlee Becks is an impasto painter specialising in the need to better understand and live with the self. A material sensibility guides the work, with thick impasto mark making acting as a metaphor for self-discovery and healing. Loving, performative, and visceral strokes juxtaposed with intricate detail enables viewers to sense the presence of the artist.

Becks has exhibited across Australia with recent exhibitions at Museum of Brisbane (2023-2025), Sure Studio (2023), and Artereal Gallery (2023). She has been a finalist in the Brisbane Portrait Prize (2024, 2023, 2020), The Brett Whitely Travelling Art Scholarship (2021), the Sunshine Coast Art Prize (2021), the Wyndham Art Prize (2021), and the Clayton Utz (2021) among others. She has been the recipient of the Recommended Artist Award at 40 under 40 (2021), and the Emerging Artist Award at Brisbane Portrait Prize (2020). In 2020, she completed a BFA with Honours at the Queensland College of Art in Meanjin, Brisbane.  

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Awards and Grants

• The Artists Circle Grant, Brisbane Portrait Prize, 2023

• The Brett Whiteley Travelling Art Scholarship Finalist, 2021

• Salamanca Art Centre Short Term Residency, 2021

• Arts Queensland Grant, Individual Funding Program, 2021

• Recommended Artist Award, 40 Under 40, 2021

• Emerging Artist Award, Brisbane Portrait Prize, 2020

• The Griffith Award for Academic Excellence, 2020

• The Griffith Award for Academic Excellence, 2017

• Griffith University Scholarship - Arts in Bark Bursary, 2017

Solo Exhibitions

• Bought Flowers, Artereal Gallery, Sydney, 2023

• Tender Loving Care, Lethbridge Gallery, Brisbane, 2023

• Am I Okay with You?, House Conspiracy, Brisbane, 2022

• A Pocket Full of Daisies, POP Gallery, Brisbane, 2022

• Close to Home, Lethbridge Gallery, Brisbane, 2021

• To Have and to Hold, Grey Street Gallery, Brisbane, 2020

Group Exhibitions

• Brisbane Portrait Prize, State Library, Brisbane, 2024

• Artful Heads Issue 5 Launch, Echo and Bounce, Brisbane, 2024

• GIRLHOOD, Undone ARI, The Nest Creative Space, Brisbane, 2023

• Brisbane Portrait Prize, Powerhouse, Brisbane, 2023

• Bear, Sure Studio, Brisbane, 2023

• Rearranged: Art of the Flower, Museum of Brisbane, Nov 2023–Jan 2025

• ACB Selects, National Emerging Art Prize, Online, 2022

• GLOW, Lethbridge Gallery, Brisbane, 2022

• Lethbridge Landscape Prize, Lethbridge Gallery, Brisbane, 2022

• Group Chat, Artereal Gallery, Sydney, 2022

• UQSOFA Shindig, The Station, Brisbane, 2022

• Mirror Image, POP Gallery, Brisbane, 2022

• The Brett Whiteley Travelling Art Scholarship Exhibition, Sydney, 2021

• Clayton UTZ Art Award, Lethbridge Gallery, Brisbane, 2021

• Brisbane Indie Project, The Zoo, Brisbane, 2021

• Sunshine Coast Art Prize, Caloundra Regional Art Gallery, 2021

• Close to Home, Lethbridge Gallery, Brisbane, 2021

• Wyndham Art Prize, Wyndham Art Gallery, Melbourne, 2021

• 40 Under 40, Cooroy Butter Factory, Sunshine Coast, 2021

• Honours Graduation Show, Project Gallery, Brisbane, 2020

• Horizon Festival (Commission), 2020

• Brisbane Portrait Prize, Powerhouse, Brisbane, 2020

• 40 Under 40, Cooroy Butter Factory, Sunshine Coast, 2020

• Bloomed, The Foundry, Brisbane, 2019

• Age of the Selfie, Grey Street Gallery, Brisbane, 2019

• Rub the Lotion on the Skin, Project Gallery, Brisbane, 2019

• Twenty Something More, POP Gallery, Brisbane, 2019

• Twenty Something, NARS, New York, 2018

• Brisbane Art Prize, Judith Wright Centre, Brisbane, 2017

• Taste of Art, Noosa Regional Art Gallery, Sunshine Coast, 2017

Residencies

• House Conspiracy, Brisbane, 15 October–10 December 2022

• Salamanca Art Centre Short Term Residency, Hobart, 1 August–1 November 2021

Commissions Enquiry