Three Rising Australian Artists To Watch Right Now

Every now and then you come across an artist whose work lingers long after you’ve seen it. Claudia Lau, Monica Rani Rudhar and Elynor Smithwick are three names I’ve been following for some time. Working across ceramics, video and painting, each artist’s distinct visual language uses deeply personal experiences to explore ideas of identity, memory and belonging.

Claudia Lau 

After completing a residency at Denmark’s prestigious Guldagergaard International Ceramic Research Centre in 2024 and being named a finalist at the 2025 Rigg Design Prize, this Chinese Australian ceramicist has big things ahead of her. Lau splits her practice between Melbourne and Jingdezhen, China’s centuries-old porcelain capital. Her tiled works explore the chemistry of glaze, drawing on thousand-year-old Chinese recipes. Through subtle shifts in kiln atmosphere and the proximity of neighbouring objects during firing, she coaxes out unexpected variations in surface colour and texture.

@claudialaustudio

Monica Rani Rudhar

Sydney-based artist Monica Rani Rudhar works across sculpture, performance and video, drawing on her Indian and Romanian heritage. Giant terracotta sculptures of earrings modelled on family heirlooms become symbols of migration, memory and cultural inheritance. Her striking works earnt Rudhar the esteemed 2026 Ravenswood Australian Women’s Art Prize. Her most recent work, a three-channel video installation commissioned for the 25th Biennale of Sydney and titled The fire in me was lit long ago, traces the powerful story of her grandfather’s life and legacy as a freedom fighter.

@monicaranirudhar

Elynor Smithwick

Elynor Smithwick generated enormous attention at Melbourne Art Fair this year. The painter’s intimate, postcard-sized works rendered in oil on aluminium flashing were among the fair’s standouts, attracting collectors with their quiet depictions of everyday life. Her compositions reward close looking, capturing fleeting moments and subtle observations. Now represented by Sophie Gannon Gallery, her work will only find larger audiences in coming years.

@ely__nor