Nancy Constandelia's work delves deeply into the concept of time, using it as both a medium and a theme to explore the fluidity, passage, and cyclical nature of human experience. Through the process of slow painting, she invites viewers to engage with time not as a linear construct but as something malleable and dynamic. Her works often blur the boundaries between past, present, and future, encouraging reflection on how time shapes memory, identity, and perception.
Constandelia paints countless thin veils of translucent paint onto a linen substrate, creating an immersive environment where time seems to stretch, compress, or loop back on itself. She plays with the tension between stillness and motion, between the permanence of the physical material and the impermanence of fleeting moments. In doing so, she asks the viewer to reconsider their relationship to time, both as an individual and as part of a larger collective history.
Central to Constandelia’s exploration is the notion of time as a cultural construct, shaped by societal forces, technology, and personal experience. Her work challenges the conventional ways we measure and experience time, pushing us to confront the inevitable passage of moments while offering space for introspection, pause, and the potential for transformation. Through her art, Constandelia captures time not as an abstract concept, but as a tangible and immersive experience that resonates with the viewer on a deeply emotional and intellectual level.
Nancy Constandelia is an Australian born Chinese artist based in Sydney (Gadigal). She graduated with a Master of Fine Art with Excellence in Painting from UNSW Art,Design & Architecture (UNSWADA. Formerly UNSW College of Fine Arts). She has exhibited in solo and group exhibitions both in Australia and overseas including Paris,London,Hong Kong and New Zealand.
Constandelia has been a finalist in several prestigious awards including the Mosman Art Prize, the Grace Cossington Biennial Art Award, the Waverley Art Prize (won Best Abstract Painting in 2014), the Blake Prize, Fisher’s Ghost Art Prize, and the Geelong Contemporary Art Prize. Her work has been featured in various art publications including Artists Profile and Art Collector.
Constandelia has been a resident at the prestigious Cite Internationale des Arts in Paris, France, granted by the Art Gallery of NSW, and was also a resident of the highly competitive Artist in Residence program at Bundanon granted by Bundanon Trust.
Constandelia’s work has been acquired by significant private collections both in Australia and internationally, including the Stevenson Collection and the Mindaroo Foundation.
