Cath Beynon

Cath Beynon, an Australian artist whose work celebrates the beauty in the overlooked, has spent much of her career honing her practice in regional New South Wales. Recently, she relocated to Melbourne’s Fitzroy, a neighbourhood alive with creative energy.

Beynon’s attention settles on the things usually ignored: flowers past their prime, bruised fruit, forgotten labels, battered tins. Arranged with the precision of a stage director, these objects become actors, suggesting the unfolding of a scene. Tiny pearls, a twist of cord, and a desiccated bloom together evoke a narrative half-remembered, a modest relic of passing time.

Her method, rooted in the alla prima or wet-on-wet tradition, balances technical immediacy with a disciplined eye, recalling classical approaches while attending to the brief, often unnoticed moments that unfold on kitchen tables and workbenches. Against softly tinted grounds, her still lifes glow with a restrained warmth.

Texture plays a subtle role here too. The lustre of a spoon, the brittle edge of a petal, the smooth dome of a glass bead are especially pronounced on the copper plates they are painted on.

“My practice resists conventional ideas of beauty,” Beynon says. “I place these objects—often cast off or unnoticed—centre stage in compositions that balance humour and pathos.” Her work bears traces of traditional techniques, studied in homage to the old masters, yet remains resolutely contemporary in its sensitivity and perspective.

Music is integral to her process. Each body of work develops its own soundtrack, shaping the mood of the studio. For her most this series, the Pet Shop Boys provided a playful counterpoint, their songs a reminder of the joy in small, unexpected moments.

Beynon’s art invites viewers to slow down, to see anew the fragile, the ephemeral, and the absurd. “My paintings ask for a second glance,” she says, “a moment to find solace in the imperfect.” In her hands, still life becomes a meditation—an exploration of how beauty emerges, quietly, from the everyday.