Tom Polo

Tom Polo works across painting and installation, giving material form to the intangible acts of exchange between people. He explores conversation, gesture and emotional exchange as embodied acts of portraiture. 

Over fifteen years, Polo has exhibited in solo and group presentations in Australia and internationally, notably in a part of your mind, i am you, Ngununggula, Bowral, New South Wales (2025); Thin Skin, Monash Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne (2023); 2022 Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art: Free/State , Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide (2022); The National: New Australian Art, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney (2019); Primavera: New Australian Art, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Sydney (2017) and; Painting. More Painting, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne (2016). 

His works are held in the collection of the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney; Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide; Campbelltown Arts Centre, Sydney; and Artbank, Australia amongst others. 

Polo has been the recipient of the Brett Whiteley Travelling Scholarship and has undertaken residences at the Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris; Parramatta Artists Studios, Sydney; ACME Studios, London; ARTSPACE, Sydney; Palazzo Monti, Brescia; and in 2024 undertook a four month residency at ISCP, New York, awarded through Creative Australia.