Esther Stewart’s works sit in a fertile space between painting, sculpture, architecture and public art, exploring the myriad possibilities offered by the visual languages of geometric abstraction, design and decoration. Her hybrid sculpture-paintings utilise bold geometrical forms, precise lines and colour palettes that reference the ornamental features of domestic architecture such as awnings, balustrades, lattices and tiles, and the patterning of marble veneers, carpets or wood panelling. She often collaborates with other architects and craftspeople to extend the spatial and material possibilities within her practice. Stewart’s practice pushes traditional boundaries of hierarchy and discipline, establishing an elastic relationship between form and function, art and design.

Working at this nexus of art and design, Stewart explores ways to reimagine, collapse, and expand spaces, while examining their historical influences and respective socio-political implications. Stewart’s hard-edge geometric abstractions invoke a complex genealogy of historical references, including Islamic mosaic, Russian suprematism, constructivism, and neo-geometric conceptualism, which are fused with motifs and found objects from real public and domestic spaces.

Stewart completed a residency with Monash University Museum of Art in 2024, she was also the winner of the prestigious Sir John Sulman Prize in 2016. More recently she completed a public art commission for the Crows Nest Metro Station, Sydney (2025) where she created a series of nine ceramic panels covered in handmade tiles, titled Ceramic Wall Relief . Esther Stewart's work has been exhibited nationally and internationally at galleries and institutions, including Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne; Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne; McClelland Gallery and Sculpture Park; Mornington; Gertrude Contemporary, Melbourne; Goulburn Regional Art Gallery, Goulburn; Ballarat Art Gallery, Ballarat; Kunsthalle Schaffhausen Vebikus, Switzerland; and Galleria dell’ Accademia, Florence. In 2015, Italian designer Valentino engaged Stewart to collaborate on translating her paintings into the Autumn/Winter 2015-2016 menswear collection.