Aussie artist CJ Hendry was told to destroy her work. She went viral instead.

When CJ Hendry sold her entire wardrobe on eBay to buy art supplies, her parents weren't exactly thrilled.

But that leap of faith from university dropout to global art sensation proves that sometimes the most unconventional paths lead to extraordinary destinations.

CJ is one of Australia's most successful contemporary artists, but she didn't follow any traditional route to get there. No art school, no gallery discovery, no industry connections.

Instead, she was a retail worker who loved to draw, decided to take a year off from her failing university studies, and started posting hyperrealistic drawings on Instagram in its early days.

Now based in Brooklyn with her husband Lewis and their three children, CJ has built a global art empire on her own terms, creating immersive experiences that attract crowds worldwide.

First, listen to her chat on Mamamia's No Filter. Post continues below.

From university failure to artistic vision.

CJ's journey began with a spectacular academic failure at Queensland University of Technology (QUT) in Brisbane.

"My overall GPA was a 3.75, so to give you a sense of where I was on the pass scale, my overall mark was a fail," she told Kate Langbroek on Mamamia's No Filter.

After struggling through architecture and then accounting and finance, she made a decision that horrified her hardworking South African immigrant parents.

"I said, 'I don't care. That's just not my focus. I just want to draw because I enjoy it'," CJ said.

The plan was simple: create five drawings, put them in a portfolio, and approach Brisbane galleries for representation.

To fund this artistic experiment, she sold her entire wardrobe on eBay.

That sale funded beautiful cotton paper, Japanese pens, and expensive framing.

CJ Hendry is known for her hyperrealistic drawings. Image: Supplied.

CJ's first major sale wasn't to a gallery — it was a hyperrealistic drawing of RM Williams boots that sold for $10,000.

"I was like, 'Are you sure?' I wasn't sure that they wanted it, and then that kind of gives you the confidence at that point to say, 'Gosh, this could be something.'"

The timing coincided with Instagram's early days, when CJ's sister suggested posting photos of her work online.

"Never was I like, 'I'm going to be a hack on Instagram'. That was certainly not the plan, and it's still not the plan, but I'm still here, I guess."

The first sale of a pair of RM Williams changed her life. Image: Supplied.

From spin the bottle to business partners.

CJ and Lewis's love story began in the most Australian way possible.

"We met at the Stradbroke Day races, playing spin the bottle," CJ said.

While CJ was struggling through university, Lewis was excelling in engineering at UQ.

When Lewis landed a job opportunity that would take him to New York, CJ made a decision that would change both their lives.

"I was like, you know what? I'd like to come because I want to continue the art," she said.

"We're only freshly dating, but let's not plan too far ahead… Let's just go as lovers."

Lewis proved crucial to CJ's early career development, handling sales while she focused on drawing.

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A post shared by Cj Hendry (@cj_hendry)

The move to New York wasn't glamorous. Unable to afford their Tribeca apartment, they were pushed out to Greenpoint, Brooklyn ("it wasn't cool way back then, it was a bit s***", CJ said), where they rented a big warehouse.

While CJ developed her art practice, Lewis started Andy Blank — an "elevated IKEA for art".

When CJ needed to manage her own career, Lewis stepped in.

"I was like, 'Holy s***, I don't know how to do that stuff. Please help.' He's like, 'We'll figure it out.'"

Together, they learned to sell art through unconventional channels like Shopify.

"Art, in my opinion, still to this day, is the last unregulated industry," she said.

"There's no rules, there's no right or wrong. It's subjective."

The Kanye moment and beyond.

One of CJ's most famous early sales was to Kanye West, a hyperrealistic drawing of a dollar bill featuring the rapper's face.

The transaction happened backstage in Brisbane, just minutes before Kanye's performance.

"He was shorter than I thought. He was so kind, and he was very intentional," CJ recalled.

"This was at the beginning of my career, and I think there was an element of validation."

But perhaps CJ's most brilliant moment came from turning a legal setback into a global phenomenon.

When the Andy Warhol Foundation sent a cease-and-desist letter about her T-shirt designs, she created the legendary Copyright Infringement scavenger hunt, dropping red boxes containing the banned T-shirts around cities worldwide.

During her conversation on No Filter, CJ made a spontaneous announcement: "Why don't I just say, yeah, f*** it. We'll do it next year. How about that? Just for Australia."

CJ and Lewis have mastered balancing creativity with family life. Image: Supplied.

The reality of working parent life.

Today, with three children aged six months, three, and four, CJ and Lewis have mastered balancing creativity with family life.

Their honesty about the challenges is refreshing.

"I know on a Saturday and Sunday I'm f***ing miserable. Lewis and I are about to divorce each other on a Sunday afternoon when we've had kids for two days," CJ admitted. "So full-time mummy, for me, is not the answer."

They've found their rhythm with CJ working from 9am to 3:30pm, when she picks up their son Kenny from daycare.

"Would I like to work a little bit more? Yes, but this is just the time in our lives," she said.

"From 3:30 till when they go down to bed, which is never early enough, we're just mucking around having a great time."

The support system includes CJ's mum flying over from Australia for months at a time to help with new babies, and a nanny who assists during work hours.

"It's f***ing hard and childcare is f***ing expensive, but everyone's just piecing it together honestly. We haven't got a better formula than anyone else," she said.

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A post shared by Cj Hendry (@cj_hendry)

Despite their success, their lives remain refreshingly simple.

"We don't go on many holidays. We go to work, we hang with the kids," she said. "Our life is really simple."

From that basement bedroom in Brisbane to the Brooklyn warehouse where she now creates, CJ has proven you don't need anyone's permission to succeed.

She didn't wait for galleries to discover her. She didn't follow the prescribed path.

She sold her wardrobe, moved to New York with a boyfriend she'd met playing spin the bottle and built an empire one Instagram post at a time.

"We're two busy bogans," she laughed about her relationship with Lewis. "It was meant to be."

Maybe that's the real secret to CJ Hendry's success — she never tried to be anything other than exactly who she is.

Feature image: Supplied/ Getty.