Profile
Artist Biography
Edward Jack Humphrey (b. 1998) is an Australian-born artist who works across mediums of photography, drawing and painting. Edward is an alumnus of the National Art School, with a Bachelor of Fine Arts. He also holds a Certificate IV in Arts and Cultural Administration from TAFE NSW. His work has received notable recognition from being a finalist in the Bluethumb Art Prize (2021), Archibald Portrait Prize (2020), the Salon des Refusés (2018), and Royal Art Society of NSW Art Prize (2018). As well as this, he has held a group show at Depart Gallery (2025) and two solo exhibitions at Gallery 11:11 (2024, 2023). Many of Edward’s earlier artworks are in private collections across Australia.
Artist Statement
In Edward Jack Humphrey’s artistic practice, his themes include introspection, theatricality, and identity. Edward is intrigued by the dialogue between photography, painting, and drawing. As a loosely realistic artist, Edward creates structured compositions with a focus on representation and balances this with more freer and experimental processes and applications. He deeply enjoys capturing the likeness of people by focussing on their eyes, hands, expressions, and the human form.
Edward finds that meeting models and photographing them allows him to step out of his art studio and into the landscape. He likes to choose iconic and hidden locations that are near harbours, beaches, rivers, and suburbs. He primarily focuses on how sunlight, particularly sunrises and sunsets, create a brilliance in light, depth, and colour. He also likes to experiment with overcast, gloomy, and wet weather for theatrical effects. When he matches great locations with great weather, his photographs exceed his expectations and together the model, landscape and composition embody a unified experience
When combining his discipline of photography with drawing and painting, he preserves the immediacy of a moment while allowing his interpretation to appear and enrich the composition. Each portrait becomes a shared space between artist, model, and viewer, inviting reflection on the representations of people, their identity, emotions, and expressions. Edward highlights how valuable and rewarding it is when he delves into the sitter’s mind to exemplify their physicality, feelings, and expressions. At times these reflect his own feelings, subtly adding a heartfelt touch to the composition.