Meet Tania Thenabadu — A Gold Coast Artist Painting the World Around Her
The Gold Coast is home to more than its famous beaches and sunshine. It has a quietly thriving arts community — local painters, sculptors, and creatives who draw daily inspiration from this extraordinary stretch of Queensland coastline and hinterland. Among them is Tania Thenabadu, a Gold Coast artist whose original acrylic paintings have now found collectors not just locally, but across Australia and internationally. Here is her story — and why her work might be exactly what your home has been missing.
A Gold Coast artist with a global story
Tania Thenabadu was born in 1969 and has lived and painted while based in Singapore, Sydney and the Gold Coast — a journey shaped by Sri Lankan heritage, years of multicultural living across Asia and the Pacific, and a deep personal connection to the natural world. It is a background that gives her paintings a richness and emotional layering that goes well beyond what most decorative art offers.
She has been a resident artist at One Arts Gold Coast, and was accepted into the highly regarded Château d'Orquevaux Artists in Residency program in France — where she was also awarded the Denis Diderot grant. In 2025, she was selected for a Professional Development grant by the Gold Coast City Council, to attend an artist residency at Chateau Cerisay in 2026. These are not small achievements. They place Tania among a selective group of contemporary artists who have been formally recognised for the quality and originality of their practice, both here in Queensland and overseas.
Today, her work is represented through KI Art Gallery — an online gallery based on the Gold Coast — and on Singulart, the Paris-based international art platform, where she has already sold several original works to collectors around the world. But for locals here on the Gold Coast, she remains exactly what she has always been: a neighbourhood artist making exceptional work, available to buy and bring home.
What makes her work distinctly Gold Coast
There is a particular quality of light on the Gold Coast — coastal, warm, and generous — that finds its way into Tania's paintings even when the subject is a French village or a Mediterranean harbour. The brightness, the optimism, the sense of warmth pressing through every composition — these are qualities shaped by years of waking up near the water in Queensland.
Herlandscape paintings in particular carry this sensibility. Works like Australian Coast — Noosa capture the way light sits on Australian water in a way that feels immediately familiar to anyone who has spent time on this coastline. These are paintings for people who love where they live — who want to bring that love indoors and hang it on a wall.
Why buy art from a local Gold Coast artist?
There is something genuinely different about buying art from someone who lives and works in the same community you do. It is not just a transaction — it is a connection. When you buy an original painting from a local Gold Coast artist, you are investing in a real person's creative life, supporting an independent practice that exists because of the community around it, and acquiring something that carries the spirit of this place in its very making.
Beyond the personal connection, buying from a local emerging artist at this stage of their career is also genuinely well-timed. Tania's work is already selling internationally through Singulart, and recognition of this kind tends to move quickly once it gains momentum. Buying now — locally, directly — means acquiring work before wider market recognition changes what that access looks like.
How to get Tania's work into your home
If you would prefer to discuss a work before purchasing — to ask about scale, framing, or whether a particular painting suits a specific room — you are welcome to reach out directly. This is a small, personal gallery, and that personal quality extends to every part of the buying experience.
For Gold Coast locals looking to gift something extraordinary — for a housewarming, a milestone birthday, a wedding, or simply because — an original Tania Thenabadu painting is the kind of gift that earns its place on a wall for decades. You can read more about why original art makes such a lasting gift in our art gifting guide on the blog.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Tania Thenabadu is an emerging contemporary artist based on the Gold Coast, Queensland. She works in acrylic on canvas — often combined with pastels, coloured pencil, charcoal, and gold leaf — and creates original paintings spanning landscapes, figurative works, still life, and travel-inspired pieces. Her work is available locally through KI Art Gallery and internationally through Singulart.
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KI Art Gallery represents Tania Thenabadu's full collection of original acrylic paintings, available to purchase online at kiart.gallery with delivery across the Gold Coast and Australia. Original works start from around AUD $195, with commissions available for custom pieces.
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Yes. Tania accepts commissions for custom original paintings — made to your specifications in terms of subject, size, and palette. Contact KI Art Gallery directly to discuss your requirements and we will connect you with the artist to begin the process.
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Tania's work spans Australian and Mediterranean landscape paintings, expressive figurative and portrait works, floral still life, and travel-inspired pieces drawn from her experiences across Europe and Asia. All works are original hand-painted acrylics on canvas — no prints or reproductions.
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Yes. KI Art Gallery is a Gold Coast-based online gallery representing the original paintings of local artist Tania Thenabadu. Works ship across Australia, and local Gold Coast buyers are welcome to get in touch directly to visit Tania's gallery at her home before purchasing.
