Irene Torres is a Naarm (Melbourne)-based artist and curator whose landscape oil painting practice spans over two decades. Her work has been recognised in significant Australian landscape art prizes, including the John Glover Art Prize and Hadley’s Art Prize.
Torres’s landscapes explore the emotional and spiritual resonance of the natural world. Her paintings are immersive—both visually and psychologically—inhabiting a space between memory and place. The grandeur of the natural world becomes a vessel for projected emotional states, with recurring themes such as grief, healing, regeneration, fear, and awe.
Often unfolding as apocalyptic vistas, her works meditate on absence and transformation. In their desolation lies a tension—they mourn what has been lost while quietly revealing new possibilities: fertility, renewal, and revelation. Throughout, a contemplative thread lingers on the mysterious and unknowable forces intrinsic to nature.
IRENE TORRES CV
Born 1981, Melbourne Australia
Education:
Bachelor of Fine Art with Honours, RMIT University 2003
Masters of Fine Art candidate, RMIT 2006
Masters of Teaching, La Trobe University 2025
Selected Exhibitions:
Galleria Crocodillo, The Wind Sees Through You, 2025
PG Gallery, Force of Nature, Mystery in the Australian Landscape. Curated by Irene Torres 2024
Hadley’s Art Prize Hobart, Finalist, 2023
PG Gallery, Recent landscape paintings, 2022
Glover Prize Evandale, Finalist, 2021
PG Gallery, Paintings and prints of the Australian Landscape 2019
Off the Kerb Gallery, Winter Group Show, 2019
PG Gallery, upstairs: Recent paintings, Solo show 2018
Hogan Gallery, Recent works, Solo show, 2009
Australian Centre for Photography Red Eyes and Sticky Fingers, 2005
Australian Centre for Photography Zeitgeist, 2005
Hobson’s Bay Contemporary Art Awards 2004, 2005, 2006
RMIT Story Hall Gallery, 2003
RMIT First Site Gallery, 2003
RMIT Project space gallery, 2003 and 2006
Span Galleries, RMIT Graduate Exhibition 2003
Collections: RMIT University, Private collections in Australia, Spain, England, USA and Chile.
Achievements:
Finalist Hadley’s Art Prize Hobart, 2023
Finalist Glover Prize 2021 - Australia’s most prestigious Landscape Painting Prize
Australian Centre for Photography Zeitgeist, Artists selected by 11 critics and curators - likely to be future influence on Australian cultural life. 2004
Shortlisted for Siemens’ scholarship awards 2003
Shortlisted for Hobson’s Bay Contemporary Art Awards 2004, 2005, 2006
Publications: Sydney Morning Herald, 2005 / Real Time Magazine 2003
Glover 2021 publications
Professional appointments:
PG Printmaker Gallery Fitzroy – Co owner, Director and Curator 2015 - 2025
Workshops in Printmaking and Drawing, PG Gallery
Art Mentoring from 2025
Curator of exhibitions 2010 - 2025 PG Gallery, Fitzroy
Beyond her studio practice, Irene played an active role in the arts community as co-owner and director of PG Gallery in Fitzroy, Victoria from 2015 - 2025. In this capacity, she supported and promoted the work of contemporary printmakers, nurturing artistic dialogue and engagement within the local arts scene.