Marynes Avila is an Australian, Argentinean born, multi-award winning artist concerned with socially engaged practice who creates work that specifically responds to site and community by implementing the use of multiples as “data connectors” in the public realm. Working at the intersection of art and science, and taking inspiration from the wonders of nature and its forms, Avila utilizes repetition to redefine the object and its symbolism offering an inquisitive platform to often question the consequences of human imprint in the age of the Anthropocene.

The investigation of multiples as an allegory for the relationship between the individual, the group, and their interaction with nature has shaped the vital focus of Avila’s art/science research practice.  Meticulous drawing, microphotography, micrographic digital video, digital photography and dance are central to the artist’s process and an essential component of Avila's oeuvre, being the catalyst for the artist's sculptures and large-scale immersive installations. 

 

Avila’s formal qualifications include a Bachelor of Education - Contemporary Dance from UAI University, Buenos Aires, Argentina, obtaining a Scholarship for Academic Excellence & Professional Practice; a Diploma of Arts -Visual Arts from Chisholm Institute, Frankston where she was awarded the Monyx Best Overall Portfolio Prize and a Masters of Arts - Art in Public Space with High Distinction from RMIT University.

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Avila has exhibited widely throughout Australia and overseas, holding 18 solo shows and participating in over 64 group exhibitions and completing numerous national public art commissions as well as delivering public art installations around the world.

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The artist has won many national art awards and grants such as the 2023 Frankston City Council’s Artist Project Grant; the 2023 Mornington Peninsula Shire Council DRIFT Public Art Commission; the 2022 Yarra Valley Grammar Hearing Unit 50th Anniversary Public Art Commission; the 2022 Mount Eliza Sculpture Trail Prize; the 2022 Toorak Village Traders Association Sculpture Award; the 2020 Architects for Peace Interventionist Award supported by the City of Yarra; the 2018 Toorak Traders Association Sculpture Award; the 2016 City of Knox’s Immerse Prize; the Moreland Sculpture Grant 2013; the 2009 Moreland Ephemeral Art Award; and the 2008 TVSA Worrell’s Mercedes Benz and Melbourne Weekly Magazine Prize; as well as being a finalist in numerous high profile exhibition awards including the 2022 SculptureScape Award at the Lorne Sculpture Biennale; the 2022 Incinerator Art Award: Art for Social Change Prize; the 2021 Victoria Sculpture Prize at the Gippsland Art Gallery; the Yering Station Sculpture Award (2022; 2019; 2018; 2017; 2011; 2009; 2008); the Montalto Sculpture Prize (2018; 2009), the Toorak Village Sculpture Awards (2013, 2009); the 2010 Toyota Artist Travel Grant; the Toyota Sculpture Prize (2012; 2011; 2010; 2009); the Wangaratta Current Sculpture Biennial; the 2005 McClelland Gallery & Sculpture Park Senini Art Award among others.

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Avila has been selected to undertake numerous prestigious national and international residencies. International residences include the Shaanxi University of Art and Textiles AiR in China supported by RMIT University; the Ayatana AIR collaborating with scientists at the Ottawa University’s Laboratory for Biophysical Manipulation, Canada; the Aktuelle Architektur der Kultur Centro Negra AIR in Murcia, Spain supported by the City of Blanca and the Spanish Consulate in Melbourne, and the Proyecto ‘Ace AIR in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

National residencies include residencies such as the Toolangi Sculpture Trial 20th Anniversary AiR supported by the Australian Government and Parks Victoria; the Gunyah AIR in NSW; the Heritage Hill AiR supported by the City of Greater Dandenong; the King’s Bridge Cottage AiR in Tasmania supported by the Launceston

City Council; the Bayside City AiR at the Billilla Mansion supported by the Bayside City Council; the Police Point Shire Park Gatekeeper’s Cottage AiR supported by the Mornington Peninsula Shire; the Nillumbik Shire Council & Parks Victoria’s Laughing Waters AiR; the Incinerator’s Art Centre AiR supported by the City of Moonee Valley and the Hill End AiR supported by the Bathusrt Regional Gallery & National Parks, the Mount Wilson Old School supported by the NSW Government through the Heritage Near Me Program & the Blue Mountains Cultural Centre among others.

 

Avila’s work is included in public and private collections in Australia and abroad.

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The artist is an experienced educator, a Masters of Art external examiner at the RMIT University Public Art Unit and frequently undertakes international research on the concept of the Public Narrative of Multiples: A Language of Transcendence. The international research consists of the cross- cultural investigation of multiples through the use of drawing, microscopy and digital photography, exploring multiplicity as a way of communication and human interaction.