Annette Galstaun

Annette Galstaun paints scenes that are both familiar and otherworldly, like a nostalgic memory or a lingering dream. Her world is a place where mermaids, birdlife and movie characters happily coexist in pattern and colour.

In her work, Annette abstracts her characters, creating angelic, otherworldly beings with elaborate costumes and embellished surroundings. Her figures gaze at you with pensive expressions;  they are surreal, beautifully distorted and completely unique. Annette likes to express her spirituality in her works, often depicting religious and mystical subject matter to consider what is beyond the immediate. She also likes to portray scenes from classic fairy tales, Disney films and popular culture.  

Annette works with gouache, acrylic and pencil mediums. She also sews soft sculptures, and creates paper dolls of her characters. In 2022, Annette unveiled Magical Putt Putt,  a newly commissioned installation for Cement Fondu’s main gallery space. Her exhibition featured a series of artist-designed mini-golf sculptures, which visitors were encouraged to communally engage with. With each sculpture painted with a celestial spirit or icon, her work blends novelty with the profound. 

In 2023, Annette continued her fantastical vision. Collaborating with prop and costume designer Cassilda Parkinson, she designed the central motif of Studio A’s annual Christmas installation for Liberty Speciality Markets;  an underwater wonderland of pearlescent coral sculptures, sensuous mermaids sleeping in seashells and giant floating jellyfish.   

Annette has exhibited in a number of important Studio A group shows at Cement Fondu, Sub Base Platypus, the Coal Loader and Incognito Art Show. She was also a collaborating artist on both Bird Life Jungle Disco at the University of Technology Sydney (2019) and Love owls and mermaids singing in the rainbow pop (2020) at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, two major Studio A mural projects.  

- Words by Anna McKey, portrait by Scott Heldorf