Biography - Rachel Szalay

With a degree in visual arts from The City Art Institute (Sydney-1985) and a diploma in acting from The National Institute of Dramatic Art (N.I.D.A.-Sydney 1988), I have pursued a career in both art and theatre. Both areas tend to fuel and complement each other well.

My theatre credits include: Reckless - Belvoir St Theatre (Director-Adam Cook), Once in a Lifetime (Dir-Richard Wherrett), The Dreamer Examines His Pillow, Furious, Time and the Room, (all directed by Michael Gow), Playgrounds, Top Girls, Navigating, The Incorruptible (Dir-Aubrey Mellor), Mourning Becomes Electra, Seneca’s Oedipus (Dir-Barrie Kosky) - Sydney Theatre Company; the role of Cecily in the Melbourne Theatre Company production and national tour of The Importance of Being Earnest (Dir-Simon Phillips) with Ruth Cracknell, Gordon Chater and Geoffrey Rush as well as the role of the mother in the Burning House Theatre Production of That Eye The Sky, directed by Richard Roxburgh. In 2002 I returned to Belvoir St Theatre in the Company B production of Svetlana in Slingbacks and most recently performed in the Australian premier of David Mamet’s Boston Marriage, with the State Theatre Company of South Australia (2004).

In 2001, I moved to the Blue Mountains, NSW, (after living in Sydney for 16 years), to concentrate on art and prepare for a group exhibition at the Sydney Theatre Company with Max Cullen and Geoff Morrell. The end result was 12 large works which focused on my interest in Greek mythology and surrealism, through the medium of drawing (ink, pastel, charcoal, collage).

This exhibition led to another group showing called Actors as Artists (November 2001) at the North Sydney Fine Art Gallery.

I have had numerous solo and group exhibitions throughout Sydney and the Blue Mountains and many commercial and private commissions. I rise to the challenge of commissioned work and consider pastels and oils my specialty.



My style is eclectic and my influences are many, stemming from the 16th century Flemish artist, Hieronymus Bosch; Albrecht Durer; the Spanish combination of Goya, Gaudi, Picasso; the 20th century Surrealist movement and the Australian painters; Brett Whitely, Arthur Boyd, Fred Williams, James Gleeson, Fred Cress and Norman Lindsay, to name a few.

All of these influences provide the key to unlocking self expression, with the ultimate purpose of creating my own niche.

It is this journey of discovery that I relish.