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RUANG EKSPLORASI
RUANG EKSPLORASI
SPACE 1
Exhibition dates : 25 August- 6 September 2026
Opening reception : Thursday 27 August 2026, 6:00 - 8:30pm
Being in a new place often draws attention to things that might otherwise go unnoticed. In unfamiliar surroundings, we encounter not only a different environment, but also new ways of observing, comparing, and understanding our relationship to the world around us. From these encounters, what emerges is not always something entirely new, but often a renewed perspective on what has been there all along.
This exhibition brings together eight artists whose practices have developed through diverse backgrounds, experiences, and contexts. Shaped by different environments and personal journeys, each artist approaches the act of observing, responding to, and making sense of the world in their own way. These varying perspectives form the foundation of the exhibition, creating a space where distinct artistic voices can come into
dialogue with one another. The works presented in Ruang Eksplorasi are part of ongoing artistic practices that have evolved over time. Carrying with them ideas, concerns, and visual languages developed through each artist’s journey, these works arrive with their own histories before entering a new context through this exhibition. As they are brought together in a different environment, they enter a new context that opens up different ways of seeing and understanding them. Within this exhibition, exploration is understood not simply as the pursuit of discovery, but also as a process of exchange: between artists, between places, and between the perspectives that emerge as works move beyond their original contexts. Through these encounters, meaning remains open, continuously shifting and expanding in response to the environments in which it is experienced.
Ruang Eksplorasi, which can be translated as “Room for Exploration,” becomes a space where these intersections can take place. It is a gathering of diverse artistic practices brought together through movement, dialogue, and curiosity. At the same time, it offers an opportunity to reflect on how artworks, much like people, continue to evolve through the places they pass through and the connections they form along the way.
Agugn
Agugn Prabowo a.k.a Agugn (Bandung 1985) graduted from Graphic Art Major at the Faculty of Art and Design ITB. Been exploring various printmaking techniques, mostly linocuts and has comprised to push the boundaries of printmaking, incorporating the analog and digital process. Fear, nature, and ancient Indonesian arts has been his drive for making art by criticising anthromorphic perspectives.
Aharimu
Aharimu is a Bali and Jakarta based artist whose practice spans painting, drawing, film, and tattoo-based performance. Her work often draws from overlooked objects and the quiet rituals of daily life, reimagining them through bold colours, dense textures, and forms that blur the line between figure and abstraction.
Most of her inspiration comes from observing the unnoticed in her surroundings and translating the banality of daily life into a playful and imaginative universe. Currently, she is working on her series, Twisted Bodies, where she breaks down the realistic and logical technique to portray human bodies and their inner world. She instead paints them in a way that is twisted, creaturelike, and almost grotesque, but at the same time radiates a sweet, delicate, and feminine feeling.
Denny Novikar Nasution
Denny Novikar Nasution is a photographer & visual artist from Medan, North Sumatra with a penchant for people, places, parties, pleasures, music and all kinds of human passion. Currently living his best life in Bali, with pleasure.
Glen Fox
Glen Fox was born in Jersey in 1992. He is both an artist and a professional skateboarder. In 2011, while studying Art and Design at Highlands College, he started gaining attention for his skateboarding. His art reflects his skateboarding background—loose, free, and full of movement.
Jacquie Meng
Jacquie Meng (b.1998, Hangzhou) works with painting, sound, and installation. Her work redefines diasporic cultural identity beyond national and geographical specificities, rather seeing it as unfixed. Through consideration of posthumanism, performativity, and the migration of objects and imagery between cultures, Meng explores the ways that identity can be reflected beyond the body: it can be revealed through objects, patterns, chance encounters, idiosyncrasies, as well as through embedded cultural and social practices. She makes paintings of her surroundings through a speculative lens, collapsing time and space, changing the experience of observation into one of invention, referencing mythologies and personal truths and fictions. Through this, She highlights the uncannyness of the everyday and reflects on the strangeness of identity politics.
Rai Julian
Rai Julian is a contemporary artist based in Canggu, Indonesia, known for his uplifting narratives and profound visual poetry. Inspiration from a diverse range of artists. Through his art, Rai shares not only his personal experiences but also those of the people around him, making every piece truly special and reflective of his community. Rai’s art could be described as a medley of uplifting narratives and profound visual poetry; often emulating the joy of everyday things.
XUF
Iman XUF or XUF is a Bali-based visual artist working primarily with stencil and street art. Originally active in the music scene under the name Electrofux, he later shifted into visual practice, developing a distinctive layered stencil style across murals, canvas, and urban surfaces. His work is part of Bali’s contemporary street art movement and has been widely present in public space
VALENTINA PALONEN
VALENTINA PALONEN
WINDOW ROOM
Exhibition dates. 25 August - 6 September 2026
Opening Reception : Thursday 27 August 2026, 6:00 - 8:30 pm
A reverie in earth and stone, In search of the white narwhal, brings together afecund wunderkammer of recent ceramic work by Australian-Finnish artistValentina Palonen. Featuring an assortment of fantastical, semi-botanical, semi-marine ceramic sculptures and vases inspired by an opulentcornucopian table setting - along with flowers, shells, and candles and othernatural found objects - these work lean into a contemporary Rococo aesthetic.
Valentina Palonen is an experienced artist and ceramicist with over 20 years experience in the field. Her work has been featured in numerous exhibitions in a variety of gallery spaces, has been shortlisted for national prizes, and won her residencies both locally and abroad, including at the Cité internationale des arts, Paris (2012 and 2015). She has completed a Master of Fine Arts (Research) at the VCA, The University of Melbourne (2012), and a Doctor Of Philosophy (Art) at RMIT University (2021). She is currently a tutor at Northcote Pottery Supplies.
Catalogue
PRUDENCE MAK
PRUDENCE MAK
SPACE 2-PROJECT ROOM
Exhibition dates : 25 August- 6 September 2026
Opening reception : Thursday 27 August 2026, 6:00 - 8:30pm
WAVE OF LIFE
WAVE OF LIFE draws inspiration from the ever changing rhythm of the ocean, symbolising the continuous ebb and flow of existence. Each artwork becomes a fragment of the artist’s personal and creative journey, a monumental 2.5-metre-high, 3-metre-wide installation immerses audiences in a poetic landscape of childhood dreams and wave —a profound meditation on growth, transformation and the enduring ties that connect people, cultures and time.
"Like the sea, life is in constant motion. Through ink, I document each wave of learning, memory and discovery, connecting Eastern philosophy with the world." — Prudence Mak
Mak studied under the renowned Hong Kong ink master Leung, whose guidance laid a solid foundation for her deep understanding of traditional Chinese ink aesthetics. Building on this classical training, she has continuously embraced Western artistic concepts and contemporary visual languages, gradually forging a distinctive practice that bridges tradition and innovation.
WAVE OF LIFE embodies Mak’s philosophy of “learning from the East and sharing with the world.” Through layered ink washes, expressive brushwork and poetic compositions, the exhibition creates a vibrant dialogue between Eastern and Western cultures, demonstrating the boundless possibilities of Chinese ink art on today’s international contemporary stage.
Prudence Mak is a Hong Kong artist whose practice spans over two decades, distinguished by her exploration of ink painting, fine art installations, and cross disciplinary storytelling. Founder of Chocolate Rain (est. 2001), she has developed a unique visual language that blends whimsical narrative with cultural heritage, positioning her as a leading voice in Hong Kong.
Her ink works reinterpret traditional aesthetics through playful yet contemplative forms, often merging ink brushwork with modern iconography. This approach bridges East and West, inviting audiences to reflect on identity, memory, and imagination.
Prudence has exhibited internationally — from solo art exhibition in London, Sydney, Singapore and U.S to major art fairs such as Art Central and The Other Art Fair by Saatchi Art — bringing Hong Kong’s fine art and IP culture to global audiences. Her collaborations with institutions and brands, including The British Museum and Stella McCartney CARE, highlight her ability to extend ink art into new cultural and commercial contexts.
Beyond her studio practice, Prudence serves as Senior Advisor at the Hong Kong Arts Centre (HKAC), mentoring emerging artists in art licensing, IP, and sustainable creative entrepreneurship. Recognized with the full scholarship of MA study at Central St. Martins London University, Hong Kong Ten Outstanding Young Persons Award (2012) and the APEC Young Women Innovator Award (2013), she continues to champion ink art as both a fine art discipline and a medium of cultural exchange.
Her passion lies in empowering artists to dream boldly, while her own ink works embody a dialogue between tradition and innovation — making them compelling for galleries seeking to showcase contemporary Asian voices in fine art.
THE BIRDMEN AND THE SEA
Ink Painting on Album
Size(HxW): 320 × 450 mm,24 pages
Introduction：
THE BIRDMEN AND THE SEA tells of divine creatures who are half-human, half-bird and have forgotten how to fly. After enduring storms and tsunamis, they lose their way but ultimately relearn to glide on the power of hope and faith. This allegory reflects how art can lose its original purpose under survival constraints, urging a balance between freedom and reality. Prudence employs natural sketching and traditional ink techniques, using soft brushwork and fluid lines to depict the bird people’s confusion and rebirth, while drawing on ukiyo-e aesthetics to capture the might and beauty of towering waves.
《鳥人與大海》講述半人半鳥神獸忘卻飛翔，歷經風暴迷惘後憑信念重獲滑翔，隱喻藝術易受商業束縛，呼籲自由與現實的平衡。麥雅端使用自然寫生與筆墨技法，以柔和筆觸與流暢線條描繪鳥人的迷茫與重生，並借鑑浮世繪捕捉巨浪之力與美感。她期望觀者在繁忙中獲得片刻寧靜，重新愛上海墨藝術及自然生命。
SAMANTHA QIAO
SAMANTHA QIAO
WINDOW ROOM
Exhibition dates : 8 - 20 September 2026
Opening reception : Wed 9 Sep 2026, 6:00 - 8:30pm
Samantha Qiao explores the rhythm of urban life by capturing the hidden narratives of our shared streets. Her work has been exhibited in galleries across Wellington, Auckland and Melbourne for over a decade.
This year marks a shift in her work away from traditional realism into a cubist style – more geometric and fragmented – with multiple simultaneous perspectives. This directly engages with the unique architectural Melbourne landscape, translating the city's physical structure into abstract experiences. Based on this practice she has expanded her repertoire to include figurative art – self-portrait, “Modernist Samantha”, was exhibited at the recent VAS Portrait Exhibition.
Her work is inspired by the Cubist visual language of Picasso and Delaunay, but her unique style creates a sense of rhythm out of the contours between colours and shapes. Her relationship with Cubism led her to create simultaneous art with a curved and fragmented grid which conveys motion through static images.
Moreover, Samantha utilises a unique oil technique involving blended colours to create a sense of transparency informed by her extensive experience as a watercolour artist. She rejects traditional methods and creates art with translucent watercolour-like qualities.
ANNIE HSIAO-WEN WANG
ANNIE HSIAO-WEN WANG
PROJECT ROOM
Exhibition dates : 8 - 20 Sep 2026
Opening reception : Wed 9 Sep 2026, 6:00 - 8:30pm
Annie Hsiao-Wen Wang’s work is inspired by the mysterious world of bioluminescent sea creatures and the largely unexplored depths of the ocean. More than 80% of the ocean remains unmapped and unseen, yet these hidden environments are filled with strange, delicate, and luminous forms of life.
Through light, movement and organic structures, Wang’s installation works draw attention to the wonder and fragility of this unknown world. They invite viewers to consider how little we know about the oceans, despite their vital role in sustaining life on Earth.
This exhibition is an expression of awe, and an invitation to look more closely at the fragile marine systems that remain hidden, threatened, and still barely understood.
Annie Hsiao-Wen Wang is an interdisciplinary artist whose work explores consciousness, impermanence, and humanity’s place within the vastness of the universe. Trained first in physics and mechanical engineering, she later turned to contemporary art, bringing scientific inquiry and material experimentation together with poetic imagination. Her practice often uses light, movement, and organic forms to evoke living systems, cosmic structures, and states of being. Born in Taiwan and raised in Australia, Wang draws on her cross-cultural heritage and dual grounding in science and art to create immersive works that invite viewers to contemplate fragility, wonder and interconnected life.
CHRISTOPHER JENNINGS
CHRISTOPHER JENNINGS
SPACE 2
Exhibition dates : 8 - 20 September 2026
Opening reception : Wed 9 Sep 2026, 6:00 - 8:30pm
Closer Still.
Chris is a self-taught artist who has been drawing and painting since he can remember. His paintings are included in a number of private collections in Australia and Europe.
In this latest series of paintings he has forsaken the traditional middle- or long-distance view of the Australian landscape and taken a closer look.
He has captured the bush in all of its intricate, ramshackle, chaotic beauty.
These works aren’t botanical nor are they merely decorative but paintings created to excite the eye and inspire you to look afresh at the Australian bush.
CATALOGUE
NADINE HOBSON
NADINE HOBSON
SAPCE 1
Exhibition dates : 8 - 20 Sep 2026
Opening reception : Wed 9 Sep 2026, 6:00 - 8:30pm
Nadine Hobson is a Melbourne based artist, a lifelong creative and self confessed perpetual daydreamer. Drawing inspiration from the beautiful, diverse beauty of the Australian landscape, including the Dandenong Ranges where she grew up, Nadine creates textured abstracts that reflect nature’s colour palettes, while also reflecting an otherworldly, dreamlike quality; and as such, fondly refers to her paintings as ‘dreamscapes’. Works are created from a deeply emotional connection to country and place, conveying mood, emotion and a tangible representation of an experience in nature.
Further layered into each piece is musical inspiration derived from music. Every artwork is named for a particularly meaningful song or lyric that wends its way through the creative process, and ultimately coincides with the overall mood of the finished work. For Nadine, art is intrinsically linked to a love of music and this adds an additional dimension to her practice and completed works.
CATALOGUE
PETER GILES
PETER GILES
PROJECT ROOM
Exhibition dates : 22 September - 4 October 2026
Opening reception : Wed 23 September 2026, 6:00 - 8:30pm
The Life of Still Life
Still life has always been more than the arrangement of objects. For me, it is a way of exploring the ideas that ordinary things can carry—memory, craftsmanship, generosity, faith, and the quiet dignity of everyday life. A loaf of bread, a flower, a simple vessel or a piece of fabric becomes a starting point for a deeper conversation about what we value and what endures.
Each painting begins with careful observation but is guided by a search for meaning through light, composition and the expressive qualities of paint itself. My hope is that these works encourage viewers to pause, look more closely, and discover that the ordinary is rarely ordinary.
Peter Giles is a Melbourne-based Australian artist whose practice focuses on traditional still-life painting. His work explores memory, history and the quiet stories held within everyday objects. Through careful observation, rich colour and attention to light, texture and detail, Giles transforms familiar subjects into thoughtful and atmospheric compositions. His paintings celebrate the beauty of the ordinary while reflecting on the stories and experiences objects can carry.
KEN WENTWORTH
KEN WENTWORTH
SPACE 1
Exhibition dates : 22 September - 4 October 2026
Opening reception : Wed 23 September 2026, 6:00 - 8:30pm
Upcoming: Image + Text [Relics Revisited]
Continuing with the theme of my previous exhibition at Sol Gallery in 2024, Relics for future generations, that incorporated paintings of figure groupings, text, and installation elements, to create "absurd icons of the modern world".
This new body of work utilises figurative artworks from past projects for further examination and investigation, adding text to communicate complex notions through simple statements. On one level alchemising the past, and on another creating multidimensional messages that resonate with others individually, and speak to the many collective issues of the moment, inviting curiosity to incorporate and interpret multilayered understandings, of our present and future.
CAL(NORMALSHAPE)
CAL(NORMALSHAPE)
SPACE 2
Exhibition dates : 22 September - 4 October 2026
Opening reception : Wed 23 September 2026, 6:00 - 8:30pm
Other Worlds
I produce paintings of imagined landscapes and structures unmoored from our collective experience. Using spray paint and tape on stretched canvas, panels, and walls, my practice is geometric and spatial in nature, guided by an underlying mathematical logic, with soft, soothing colours and monochrome palettes.
My work sits somewhere between architectural and environmental, depicting places and constructs that have an uncanny familiarity, reminiscent in form but foreign in origin, divorced of context and human presence. What remains is atmospheric in its sparseness, snapshots of alternate planes viewed in a vacuum.
In a chaotic world which rarely slows down, my intention with this body of work is to foster a moment of calming, contemplative respite for those engaging with it. Other Worlds is an invitation for a quiet moment of reflection within untouched spaces existing between this world and another.
CAL (NORMALSHAPE) is a Melbourne-based self-taught artist whose practice explores geometric minimalism through two- and three-dimensional compositions. Working primarily with spray paint, masking tape and stretched canvas, he combines the precision of architectural drafting with contemporary painting techniques. His works transform architectural forms into abstract, atmospheric spaces that invite contemplation and a sense of stillness.
ART JAPAN 2026
ART JAPAN 2026
SPACE 1
Exhibition dates : 6 - 18 October 2026
Opening reception : Wed 7 October 2026, 6:00 - 8:30pm
More than 80 art works will be exhibited include 3D artworks. Each showcases their materials and unique forms of expression. Ranging in genre from pop to modern and everything in between. (oil, watercolor, acrylic, lithograph, CG, ceramics and other) Approximately 42 artists participate. All artworks will come from Japan. Participating in the Melbourne Fringe Festival
Artists
Akane Asano • Akae Saito • Chie Oba • Cosmore • Coyonac • Eika Sugiura • Emi Kinran Kamataki • Erika Suzuki •Hayato Tominaga • Hiroki Maruyama • Hoshino Brothers • Hussey • Kei Matsumoto • Keiko Nogami • Kenny C.W.Y •Kou • Kumiko Misu • Kyo • Maiko Mitsuhashi • Mahari • Makoto Nakane • Mari Aoe • Mashiro Tanishi • Mia Tanabe •Miki Tomita • Mio Okubo • Misuzu • Miyuki Kizu • Natsue • Pu Kobayashi • Rieko Kameyama • Rune • Shibanao •Shigeru Eguchi • Shinon • Shuhei Tominaga • Sou • Takaaki Mano • Takashi Suzuki • Tetsuya Mizuma • Tomoya Onoue •Yodatomo
Credit image : Mashiro Tanishi
Catalogue
LESBIANS LEAP FROM THE ARCHIVES 1970-2000
LESBIANS LEAP FROM THE ARCHIVES 1970-2000
SPACE 2
Exhibition dates : 7 October - 1 November 2026
Opening reception : Thursday 8 October 2026, 6:00 - 8:30pm (Invitation only)
Lesbians Leap from the Archives 1970–2000 brings together photographs, publications, posters, ephemera and personal histories that celebrate three decades of lesbian life, activism and cultural expression. Spanning the years from 1970 to 2000, the exhibition traces the emergence of lesbian communities, political movements and creative networks that challenged social norms while building spaces of visibility, solidarity and belonging.
Drawn from archival collections, the exhibition reveals the everyday lives, relationships and voices that have too often been overlooked in mainstream histories. Through magazines, newsletters, artworks, protest material and personal archives, it highlights the importance of preserving collective memory and recognising the individuals whose courage shaped Australia's social and cultural history.
More than a historical survey, Lesbians Leap from the Archives 1970–2000 invites audiences to reflect on the role of archives as living repositories of identity, resistance and community. By reconnecting these stories with contemporary audiences, the exhibition honours the legacy of those who documented their lives so that future generations could continue to learn from their experiences and contributions.
Program of Events at Sol Gallery
Thursday, October 8, 6:00PM – International Lesbian Day! Official opening by Dr Holly Lawford-Smith. (Invitation only)
Tuesday, October 13, 4:30PM – Launch of Villanelle #2, lesbian magazine from Perth. (Free)
Wednesday, October 14, 1:00PM – Souvenir Badge-making (1) with Tineke. Take home a facsimile! (Free)
Saturday, October 17, 11:00AM – Guided Tour of the exhibition by Jean Taylor. (Free)
Saturday, October 17, 2:00PM – Launch of Jean Taylor's novel ‘Shannon’. (Free)
Sunday, October 25, 2:00PM – Lesbian Antiques Roadshow by Chris Sitka. (Free)
Saturday, October 31, 2:00PM – Souvenir Badge-making (2) with Tineke. (Free)
Sunday, November 1, 3:00PM – Final day of exhibition, closing ceremony for organisers/helpers. (Free)
FRUZSI KENEZ
FRUZSI KENEZ
WINDOW ROOM
Exhibition dates : 20 Oct - 1 Nov 2026
Opening reception : Wed 21 October 2026, 6:00 - 8:30pm
Folklore Totem Pole
Fruzsi Kenez is a visual artist on unceded Kaurna country (Adelaide, South Australia) whose sustainability-focused practice encompasses ceramic sculptures, illustration and artist books.
Fruzsi's work explores belonging, folklore and storytelling and is pre-occupied with our relationship with and place within the natural world.
Photo: Tom McCammon
(Be)longing solo exhibition at Nexus Multicultural Art Gallery, Adelaide, 2021
JAY DEE
JAY DEE
SPACE 1
Exhibition dates : 20 Oct - 1 Nov 2026
Opening reception : Wed 21 October 2026, 6:00 - 8:30pm
Jay Dee is a Melbourne-based artist whose practice has developed over many years through a deeply personal connection to painting. His work explores ideas, emotions and experiences that emerge throughout his life, translating them intuitively onto canvas. For Jay Dee, art is both a means of communication and an essential part of his life, with each work reflecting the emotions, thoughts and creative journey behind its making.
CATALOGUE
ROSS HALFACREE
ROSS HALFACREE
SPACE 1
Exhibition dates : 17 - 29 November 2026
Opening reception : Wed 18 November 2026, 6:00 - 8:30pm
Äs Seen on TV
“One person’s creative glance at 70 years of TV in Australia”
September this year saw the 70th anniversary of the launch of mainstream Television in Australia. When launched, Ross was 6 years of age, living in what was then known as the western suburbs of Sydney.
When his parents eventually saved enough money to buy a small Kriesler, he became immediately mesmerised by what appeared on the screen. Through that small glowing box eventually came cartoons, music, comedy, advertising, news, sport, political events, wars, disasters, triumphs and endless stories from around the world. Television became his window to places he would probably never visit, people he would never meet, and the events that would help shape his understanding of the world.
The exhibition is intentionally interactive. Embedded throughout the works are almost ninety QR codes that provide access to music, archival footage, historical references, background information and additional layers of meaning. These digital portals extend each artwork beyond the canvas, encouraging viewers to explore, question and discover. The QR codes transform the exhibition from a passive viewing experience into an active journey through memory, history and media.
Ross is a Sydney based artist, and despite his age, he claims to be still emerging. He has collected and invested in art for 50 years and painted in his Terrey Hills studio for 6 years. During that short time, he has been a finalist in more than 40 art exhibitions and competitions in Australia, UK and North America, including winning the Clyde Oakley Memorial Prize (NSW), The Ironside Vineyards 25th Annual Spring Obsession Art Competition (USA) and a finalist in the 2023 London Art Biennale. This work was subsequently acquired by the Elton John AIDS Foundation, as shown below.
SCOTT MCLATCHIE
SCOTT MCLATCHIE
SPACE 1 - Side
Exhibition dates : 11 - 23 AUG 2026
Opening reception : Wed 12 Aug 2026, 6:00 - 8:30pm
Scott Mclatchie's work is a cracked, ripped and dismantled trawling to source the vibrant colours that lie within the pages of Medieval manuscripts and their documentation in history books, creating a ruleset in the creation of their work. However, despite their imagery of god fearing subjects and the desire to find colours of the "divine" Scott's work is examining their own history with the distortion and breaking of these objects and imagery that in turn would label them a "blasphemer" or a "heretic" in the eyes of the almighty.
Scott Mclatchie is both a practicing artist and musician operating on Wurundjeri land having recently completed a Masters of Curatorship through the University of Melbourne in late 2024. Scott's practice involves a heavy use of concept and remixing using conceptual means as well as physical means of collaging, VHS video manipulation/experimental film, but Scott's recent practice has focused largely on painting with shows within their respective scenes where their music practice collides within Punk, Emo and Black Metal and experimental music for the last decade. As well as exploring these concepts within more academic focuses; Their minor thesis looked at "Remix Culture" in niche experimental online film and music scenes and their role within institutions and the museums. Scott Mclatchie continues to develop their work into constantly reshaping and "remixing" themselves and their work within their environment.
CATALOGUE
MARTIN BREEZE
MARTIN BREEZE
SPACE 1
Exhibition dates : 11 - 23 August 2026
Opening reception : Wed 12 August 2026, 6:00 - 8:30 pm
SLENDER HANDS HOLD BROKEN FLOWERS
Slender Hands Hold Broken Flowers brings together a new body of large-scale abstract paintings that explore fragility, containment and the tension between structure and collapse.
Emerging from instinct rather than a fixed outcome, the paintings evolve through revision, interruption and the willingness to leave parts unresolved. Vessel-like forms, architectural fragments and traces of domestic memory appear throughout, but never settle into fixed meanings.
Rather than offering answers, these works invite curiosity. They exist in the space where certainty ends, allowing each viewer to bring their own experience to what unfolds on the canvas.
The exhibition comprises recent large-scale acrylic paintings on canvas from the ongoing series Slender Hands Hold Broken Flowers.
CATALOGUE
VIVIENNE MAHER
VIVIENNE MAHER
PROJECT ROOM
Exhibition dates : 11 - 23 August 2026
Opening reception : Wed 12 August 2026, 6:00 - 8:30 pm
V.
Intimate, polarising and powerful.
YOU'RE ALLOWED TO BE BOTH SOFT AND SHARP. BOTH ARE WORTHY OF BEING SEEN.
An exploration of identity, vulnerability, strength, restraint, and the tension that exists between them.
Vivienne Maher is a Melbourne-based artist, photographer, and creative director whose work explores emotion, connection, identity, and the relationship between people and their inner world. Working across photography and mixed media, her practice is driven by a fascination with what lies beneath the surface; those inner moments, expressions, and energies that often go unseen. Drawing on a background in portraiture, commercial photography, and fine art, she creates work that sits between observation and intuition, balancing documentary elements with emotional and conceptual exploration. Alongside her artistic practice, Vivienne exhibits, collaborates with other creatives, and continues to develop bodies of work that examine beauty, humanity, and the invisible threads that connect us.
CATALOGUE
APRILL ENRIGHT
APRILL ENRIGHT
WINDOW ROOM
Exhibition dates : 11 - 23 August 2026
Opening reception : Wed 12 August 2026, 6:00 - 8:30 pm
We speak to ourselves in passing—often harshly and carelessly. Notes to Self is an invitation to reconsider the inner monologue.
This work began as a personal exercise in reframing: rewriting the quiet, corrosive thoughts I had been cycling around on. The Post-it Notes were a tool to reshape my beliefs. This artwork gave me a chance to ask, "What would it mean to make those reframes permanent? What if they weren’t temporary affirmations but permanent truths?"
Each ceramic sticky note in this work carries a reworded belief. They are sculpted by hand, then adhered to a mirror where the viewer’s own reflection becomes part of the piece. Could this be your voice too?
Notes to Self, Ceramic on found mirror,
75cm x 65cm
$1980.
JC HARRIS
JC HARRIS
SPACE 2
Exhibition dates : 11 - 23 August 2026
Opening reception : Wed 12 August 2026, 6:00 - 8:30 pm
Third Space
The work in Third Space is a manifestation of the cultural void I feel I exist within. As a Filipino-Australian, I often feel a level of disconnection from my heritage and culture. I don’t feel Asian and I don’t feel Australian; I feel like something alien or 'other'. There are parts of me that I feel are missing, incompatible or incomplete, which lead me to feel 'less than' and never quite enough.
The bodies and figures I’ve painted are self-portraits, but they are not meant to be a representation of my physical likeness. They are my spiritual, emotional and mental bodies. They are my way of processing, building and defining my cultural identity.
Catalogue
MAIKO SENTINA
MAIKO SENTINA
WINDOW ROOM
Exhibition dates : 28 July - 9 August 2026
Opening reception : Wed 29 July 2026, 6:00 - 8:30pm
Part 1 - In the Wards was created during a prolonged hospital admission while undergoing diagnosis and treatment for multi-drug resistant tuberculosis meningitis. Painted from my hospital bed, in waiting rooms and between scans, these watercolours document the uncertainty, isolation and quiet moments that define serious illness.
Each work corresponds to a day of admission. What began as a way to cope, became a daily act of creative resistance - a way to quiet my mind when I had little control over my body. Through this process, art became more than recovery; it became a way to move beyond my diagnosis and begin healing. A creative residency in illness. Installed within Sol Gallery’s enclosed Window Room, the works invite viewers into a lived experience that’s rarely seen. They are both a record of survival and an act of advocacy, encouraging greater compassion for people living with invisible illness.
Maiko is a self-taught, Kaurna-based emerging multidisciplinary artist using watercolours, acrylics, mixed media and music. Her practice explores themes of illness, care, culture, place-making and language, shaped deeply by her lived experience with chronic and neurological illnesses and by her perspective as a first-generation immigrant.
Through colour, pattern, mark-making and portraiture, Maiko transforms personal and medical experiences into visual works that invite empathy, connection and healing. Alongside her artistic practice, she works as an intellectual property lawyer in the tech industry, grounding her creative work in a unique intersection of art, culture and advocacy.
Part 1- In the Wards
Watercolour on Arches cotton paper (300 gsm)
Not For Sale
LINDA WEIL
LINDA WEIL
PROJECT ROOM
Exhibition dates : 28 July - 9 August 2026
Opening reception : Wed 29 July 2026, 6:00 - 8:30pm
Our supermarket shelves may sparkle, but behind the shine lurk factory farms, overfished oceans, and plasticwrapped everything. These cheeky, thoughtful drawings are here to gently poke you in the ribs — a reminder that every item you toss into your trolley is a choice that shapes the world. A little food for thought.
With over 40 years as a professional artist, the practice explores a wide range of drawing mediums, with graphite pencil remaining a preferred tool. Works focus on wildlife, nature studies and found objects, combining precision with a deep appreciation for detail.
Recent works return to the imaginative and fantastical, blending natural history with mechanical influences. Biomechanical visions, animal textures, reimagined folk tales and the hidden stories within everyday objects become recurring themes.
Primarily working in graphite, the artist incorporates subtle touches of coloured pencil, watercolour washes and organic stains. The work explores the space where realism and imagination meet, inviting viewers to discover new stories within every line and shadow.
CATALOGUE
PEOPLE AND PLACES - DUG OUT OF A RABBIT HOLE
PAUL TURNER AND ROBERT BARTOLO
SPACE 2
Exhibition dates : 28 July - 9 August 2026
Opening reception : Wed 29 July 2026, 6:00 - 8:30pm
People and Places - Dug out of a rabbit hole.
These works bring together a series of figurative, architectural, and semi-abstract works that explore the relationship between identity, memory, and the environments we inhabit. Moving between portraiture, landscape, and constructed space, the exhibition examines how people navigate the psychological terrain of contemporary life. Faces emerge fragmented and searching, while suburban scenes, imagined cityscapes, interiors, corridors, and thresholds become emotional spaces suspended between familiarity and uncertainty.
Through expressive colour, layered mark-making, and shifting perspectives, the works blur the boundaries between observation and memory, reality and imagination. Landscapes and interiors function as psychological environments where personal experience intersects with broader social constructs and urban psychology. Together, these paintings and drawings reflect the subtle tensions between comfort and dislocation, vulnerability and resilience, inviting viewers to consider the unseen emotional architectures that shape everyday life.
Robert Bartolo
Robert Bartolo creates abstract paintings that explore colour, texture, and the energy of the painting process. Working intuitively, he layers paint, gestures, and marks to build compositions that evolve naturally over time. Rather than representing a specific subject, his work focuses on balance, movement, and emotion, allowing each painting to develop through experimentation and instinct. Rich surfaces and expressive brushwork encourage viewers to look closely and discover new details with every viewing. Bartolo's practice celebrates the freedom of abstraction, inviting personal interpretation and creating a space where colour, form, and feeling come together.
Paul Turner
Paul Turner creates expressive paintings that explore the connection between people, places, and memory. Inspired by the Australian landscape and everyday surroundings, his work combines bold colour, rich textures, and intuitive brushwork to capture the atmosphere and emotion of a scene rather than its exact appearance. Working primarily in acrylic, Turner builds layered surfaces that reveal new details on closer viewing. His paintings encourage viewers to reflect on their own experiences and relationships with place, celebrating the beauty, character, and stories found in both familiar landscapes and imagined spaces.
LIMINAL THREADS
LIMINAL THREADS
SPACE 1 - Side
Exhibition dates : 28 July - 9 Aug 2026
Opening reception : Wed 29 July 2026, 6:00 - 8:30pm
Liminal Threads explores thread as a material, creative method and metaphor; a scaffold and connective force linking place with embodied memory. United through a cartography of pattern, Lucy Buxton and Kylie Walsh present traces of their encounters with Ireland’s landscapes and waterscapes, during their residency at Watershed Studios in Galway in 2025. The two artists are bound by a series of synchronicities - ancestral lines and recalibration after significant shifts - all of which led them to meeting in a fishing shed-converted studio in rural Ireland. Through shared conversations unfolding alongside daily studio rituals and material experimentation, they began to map their creative paths alongside the lively currents of the Abhainn na Gaillimhe (River Corrib). The works presented in Liminal Threads emerged across international waters, life transitions, rupture and renewal, made in the liminal space between who they once were and who they are becoming.
LUCY BUXTON
Lucy Buxton is a Naarm-based artist and curator. Working across expanded printmaking, her work explores rivers and creeks as living entities, repositories of memory and regenerative sites. Lucy's work engages with more-than-human knowledges, fostering intimate and embodied encounters with the environmental, social and political nature of water.
Lucy spent one month at Watershed Studios as part of the first year of her practice-based PhD, where she is researching relationships between play and the ways in which people relate to and care for waterways in urban environments.Through walking, drawing and slow-stitching water patterns into agar agar and gelatine-based bioplastics, she built a living archive of her encounters with the River Corrib. The outcome is a series of relationalities between more-than-human knowledges and the embellishment of human imagination.
KYLIE WALSH
Kylie Walsh is a Sydney-born (Garigal country) Canberra-based (Ngunnawal and Ngambri)fibre artist whose practice explores patterns, connections and colour through a hybrid weaving technique. Her work takes the form of geometric fibre 'paintings' that exist between textile and graphic art.
Kylie's residency at Watershed Studios became far more than an artistic endeavour. It provided space to reset, slow down, and reflect on identity, belonging, and ancestral connections, leaving a lasting impact in the months that followed. The work she presents in Liminal Threads traces this journey—from ideas first germinated in the studio overlooking the River Corrib in Galway (Gaillimh), to the refinement of designs during a transformative period spent by the River Derwent in Hobart (nipaluna), and finally to her new home studio in Canberra (Ngunnawal), where both artistic and personal growth coalesced, unifying the work across time and place.
ROWENA HANNAN
ROWENA HANNAN
SPACE 1
Exhibition dates : 28 July - 9 Aug 2026
Opening reception : Wed 29 July 2026, 6:00 - 8:30pm
The haunting sound of gumtrees knocking lazily against each other as the unseen move through the forest. Their presence is felt like water particles floating in the air creating a whispering echo on the foliage. From the beginning of time, these mythical creatures stand in defiance as protectors of the natural world. Hidden from the human eye, Dryads keep watch and lay waiting as old growth forest disappears. They are both warriors and nurturers moving across the forest floor giving breath to the lungs of a troubled earth. Dryads bring life to what seems lost while providing havens for creatures that have lost their habitat due to the fallibility of humanity.
Rowena Hannan has been working as a practicing ceramic artist and teacher for over thirty years. Focusing largely on figurative sculpture, she has exhibited in both solo and group shows throughout this period along with the completion of some large public sculptures which have allowed her to explore a range of other materials beyond clay, such as concrete, bronze and steel. Throughout her years of artistic practice, she is constantly drawn to the narrative in her concepts, and these encompass her love of personal history and storytelling. Rowena taught Visual arts at Firbank Grammar from 1997- 2019 and was Head of Art for 8 years. She was also Head of Visual Arts Korowa Anglican Girls’ School from 2020- 2023. She is now working full time on her art practice. Rowena has been a VCE reviewer of folios around the state of Victoria and has delivered art education papers internationally. In 2019, she was an artist in residence in Vallauris, in the South of France and in Barcelona in 2025. Rowena is a co-author of an award winning VCE textbook for Studio Arts, ‘Artisan’ published by Cambridge Press.
CATALOGUE
SHARON WEST
SHARON WEST
WINDOW ROOM
Exhibition dates : 14 - 26 July 2026
Opening reception : Wed 15 July 2026, 6:00 - 8:30pm
Sharon West's art works playfully reimagine Australian histories through varied mediums including dioramas and paper mache construction. Sustainable materials are employed with paper mache urn bases made from vintage dressmaking tissue. Colourful ink and decorative elements are then applied featuring figures from Australian history including William Buckley and artist Elizabeth Gould, as well as Australian bush folklore legendary subjects such as Bunyips, Drop Bears and Kangarooster. Wall dioramas are constructed using found objects with a painted backdrop referencing museum tableaus and virtines in style.
Mythology and magical realism are also a concern placing European myth into an Indigenous landscape. Colonial explorers are rendered usually within absurdist situations involving dangerous and oversized Antipodean creatures.
CATALOGUE
ARION AUSTIN-CROWE
ARION AUSTIN-CROWE
PROJECT ROOM
Exhibition dates : 14 - 26 July 2026
Opening reception : Wed 15 July 2026, 6:00 - 8:30pm
The works on display explore the themes of imagination, aging, childhood and memory. Austin-Crowe’s work focuses more on external, more impersonal perceptions of people and the human condition more so than being a projection of one’s internal state onto their environment.
The works explore how much of the human experience is lived through imagination over body, and how reality is experienced through our own personal lens, be it our memories, our projections of future possibilities or the ruminations of the past. The works highlight the subjectivity of lived and future experience, placing an emphasis on the nature of the mind’s eye in its role in subconsciously dictating our actions.
The exhibition serves as a conversation between the increasing amount of contemplation on how the past or our childhoods could be different, we do, in contrast to the childhood practice of daydreaming of the future we do in a different amount, and how similar yet opposing said activities are, yet they are inseparable from one another.
CATALOGUE
JOHN MCARTHUR
JOHN MCARTHUR
SPACE 1
Exhibition dates : 14 - 26 July 2026
Opening reception : Wed 15 July 2026, 6:00 - 8:30pm
UNSEEN
Every face tells a story, but the masks we wear tell a much bigger one. Since moving from Australia to Hong Kong in 1999, I have been deeply fascinated by what we show the world versus what we hide. "Unseen" depicts this theatre of identity. The vibrant red cheeks, bold lips, and arched eyebrows of Cantonese Opera inspire it. To capture this theme, I blend Western drawing traditions with Hong Kong's lively local culture. As an artist and calligrapher, I build layered narratives on canvas by fusing torn street advertisements, ink drawings, and paintings into a single image. Ultimately, "Unseen" asks a simple question: what face is hidden and what face is shown? I invite you to look past the heavy painted makeup and discover the quiet truths buried deep beneath the surface.
John McArthur is a contemporary Australian artist based in Hong Kong whose practice explores the relationship between place, memory, and personal experience. Through a thoughtful and expressive visual language, his work reflects a deep engagement with landscape, observation, and storytelling. Drawing inspiration from both natural and lived environments, McArthur creates works that invite reflection and connection, contributing to the ongoing dialogue of contemporary Australian art.
CATALOGUE
TYRA HUTCHENS
TYRA HUTCHENS
SPACE 2
Exhibition dates : 14 - 26 July 2026
Opening reception : Wed 15 July 2026, 6:00 - 8:30pm
DRONES AND OTHER MYSTERIES
Tyra Hutchens is a Melbourne-based artist whose paintings explore emotion, memory, and the subtle complexities of everyday life. Working mainly in oil on linen and paper, his practice moves between abstraction and figuration, creating atmospheric works that feel both personal and open to interpretation.
His paintings are built through layered surfaces, soft tonal shifts, and expressive brushwork, capturing moments of stillness, movement, and quiet tension. Rather than telling direct stories, Hutchens creates spaces that suggest fragments of memory and experience, allowing viewers to form their own emotional connections with the work.
Inspired by landscape, human presence, and the changing nature of contemporary life, his practice focuses on mood and feeling as much as image. Through an intuitive approach to painting, Hutchens embraces experimentation and process, using texture, gesture, and colour to create works that are reflective, immersive, and emotionally engaging.
CATALOGUE
ELIF SEZEN
ELIF SEZEN
SPACE 1
Exhibition dates : 14 - 26 July 2026
Opening reception : Wed 15 July 2026, 6:00 - 8:30pm
ATMOSPHERES II
Elif Sezen’s works from her ongoing series, Presence, explore the interplay of space, colour and light in experimental landscapes that reflect on perception, memory and place. Combining painting, photography and digital media, Elif presents archival metallic prints that consider how light can be observed as symbolic and mystical gateways. In these light-portals colour becomes a subtle energetic force, guiding viewers through states of awareness, contemplation and healing. These specific works draw on various sources of inspiration including ‘quantum entanglement’ and Michel Foucault’s notion of ‘heterotopias’—worlds within worlds— to evoke ethereal, alternate realities that are at once cosmic and deeply introspective.
Her work conjures dreamlike atmospheres—ranging from imagined galaxies and symbolic geometries to surreal, abstract forms—inviting audiences into immersive, otherworldly environments. Although partly reminiscent of nature, these ethereal worlds seek to expand the intangible experience of entering a new space physically, spiritually, psychologically, ontologically and cosmologically.
Elif Sezen is a Melbourne-based multidisciplinary artist, writer/poet. She holds a PhD in Fine Art from Monash. For over a decade, Elif has been investigating possibilities of reconceptualising and poeticising memory traces, existential states and a sense of place through poetry-based installations, photographic and sculptural works, paintings and mixed-media landscapes/mindscapes. Her landscapes explore otherworldly atmospheres with abstract, surreal, ethereal, celestial and psychedelic impressions.
Selected shows include JAHM (Recent acquisitions display-2026), Five Walls (‘Atmospheres’, solo show-2025), MAPh (LOOK! Prize-2025), MAC Yapang (MAC Yapang Art Prize-2025), Project8 Gallery (2024), The National Portrait Gallery Canberra (Darling Portrait Prize-2024), CICA Museum-Korea (2024).
www.elifsezen.com
CATALOGUE
ABSTRACT ARTISTS - STILL AWAKE!
GROUP SHOW : Abstract Artists - Still Awake!
Exhibition dates. 30 June - 12 July 2026
Opening reception : Wed 1 July 2026, 6:00 - 8:30 pm
Presented by Creative Space Hawthorn, an untutored abstract art group based at the Hawthorn Artist Society
In this latest group exhibition “Abstract Artists- Still Awake!” sixteen Melbourne-based artists come together to showcase their most recent creative efforts.
We want to share with our audience the abundance of options that are available to all of us to explore our internal and external worlds through our art practice and trust that you will find a wide and lively range of responses within our group to this challenge.
Our world is one where emotion, gesture, form, and colour take centre stage. We celebrate both creativity and expression and hope that our efforts will resonate with gallery visitors.
Artists
Alex Bridge • Amanda Lugg • Cathryn Perazzo • Christine Sender • Devyani Sadalkar • Doc Wight • Fiona Wright • Irene Henning • Kathy Best • Ken Wight • Lynne Kells • Nathan Moshinsky • Paula Reade • Penny Darling • Susan Tait • Traecey Bremner
Alex Bridge
Light, energy, emotion - Alex Bridge is an abstract artist living and practising on Naarm/Melbourne. Her work centres on visual perception and visual sensation. Nature inspired organic shapes and contrasts of colour and texture explore themes of energy and place. Brushstrokes are left raw and immediate, recording the artist's presence in the work.
Wide skies and gnarly textures, reflective light and deep shadows. This body of work explores the energy and experiences of nature. Broad brushstrokes, differing textures and considered colours describe early light to dusk, soft grasses to charred wood. Minimal forms invite a collaboration with the viewer to complete a mood or experience of their own.
Amanda Lugg
This series of pastel coloured works have evolved from a need to challenge myself by moving away from a bold, strong palette. By using the softer palette I am hoping to develop a more subtle feeling within the painting.
I am also addressing within these works, the relationship between angular shapes and rounded shapes. In using the soft colours the clash of these shapes is muted, and so the work demands some shapes to be in a bolder colour. The deeper statement shapes catch the viewers eye and encourage closer examination of the more gently coloured shapes. Overall the aim is to be harmonious and intriguing. In deep contrast, the larger piece is a spring explosion in all its glory. It is not about subtlety, but rather joy and beauty to be easily accessed.
Cathryn Perazzo
Cathryn Perazzo creates abstract paintings that are intuitive, expressive, and deeply personal. Working with layered textures and fluid colour, her practice explores emotion, memory, and the energy of lived experience. Her works move between calm and intensity, allowing forms to emerge naturally through process and experimentation. Through abstraction, she invites viewers to slow down, reflect, and connect with the subtle moods and sensations held within each painting. She enjoys re-working found canvasses to inspire new directions, and at times dovetailing ideas from her poetry writing into her abstract artmaking.
Christine Sender
My work explores abstract interpretations of the vibrant, energetic atmosphere of gathering places squares, cafés, streets, and distant or imagined locations. At times, I am equally drawn to the expressive energy found in nature, seeking to translate these sensations into visual form.
Working in a style often described as lyrical abstraction, I use warm, sensual colour and layered collage to build rich, immersive surfaces. These layers invite the viewer into a personal and intuitive visual experience. Collage plays a central role in my practice, combining found and handmade materials. Some of these are created using a gel plate, contributing texture and complexity. Loose, gestural mark-making with a variety of tools enhances a sense of movement and vitality, while areas of strong contrast introduce moments of drama and focus. Through this process, I aim to intrigue and engage the viewer, evoking curiosity and an emotional resonance that connects with their own memories and experiences.
I am part of a studio community at Creative Space Hawthorn, where an open and supportive environment encourages experimentation and the ongoing development of each artist’s unique voice.
Devyani Sadalkar
This work comes from feeling. Painting becomes a way to find freedom, away from fear, failure, and self-doubt. The process is rooted in play, following what feels instinctively right. Nature is a strong influence. Its colours do not follow rules, yet they exist in harmony. Unlikely combinations sit side by side with ease, holding a quiet boldness. This work learns to dare in a similar way.
The approach is intuitive. It often begins with simple marks, pencil, pastel, or ink and gradually builds. There is no fixed plan, only a response to what emerges. Materials such as acrylics and inks are used freely, guided by the moment. In a world that can feel structured and controlled, this work is an act of letting go. It creates space to breathe, to loosen, and to experience a sense of freedom.
Doc Wight
During my working life in Adelaide I became enamoured with the colourful works of Sydney artist Syd Ball and I acquired two of them. After looking at them for 25 years I was inspired to try abstract art in my retirement and have found it great fun and a most absorbing hobby. Abstract art opened the world of colour and playfulness to me, and finding beauty in all sorts of splashes, dots and squiggles. Sometimes I paint absurd forms of flowers and pots, but have been inspired by Jackson Pollock and his colleagues. Hope you find something of interest in my work.
Fiona Wright
Fiona Wright is an Australian contemporary artist, based in the country town of Marysville, Victoria. Working in both Acrylics and watercolour on panel board and paper, Fiona’s style is a variation of expressionism and gestural abstraction.
Her work explores and represents an intuitive journey of evolvement and emotion using many layers of paint. The process of using opaque acrylics against thin transparent layers creates a history of colour, shape and texture. Often are include is the use of permanent graphite pencil, ink or scribing back into the layers. Fiona creates to enjoy the excitement of exploration, to interpret feelings and to get lost in the peaceful flow that comes with a focused art practice.
Irene Henning
I am a self-taught artist based in Melbourne. I regularly exhibit in group exhibitions, galleries and shows and am a member of the Hawthorn Art Society and Melbourne and Victorian Artists’ Collective (MAVA). I originally spent years as a professional in the workforce where joy was hard to find but I always had a passion for art. Once I took a different path in life, I was finally able to do something that brings me huge fulfilment : drawing and painting.
I work with acrylic paints and mixed media. I am inspired by the freedom and experimentation of abstract art. Colour is my love and passion and is probably my first consideration when doing a piece. It can be vibrant or muted or in between, it doesn’t matter which, as long as it lights up something in me. I build up rich layers and texture, with the aim of adding meaning, mystery and depth. Bold marks can be my high five - adding vibrancy and movement, energy, and power, and bringing a touch of joy to the painting. When the piece is finally finished, I truly hope it stirs something in the viewer, that they share my vision and feelings too.
Kathy Best
"I see the world and I paint it" Kathy Best
Kathy creates bold, expressive acrylic abstracts and contemporary paintings based on observation of the world around her. She sometimes paints loosely from reference photos or memory. Other times she lets the paint and marks on the canvas guide her. Kathy’s works explore colour relationships, movement, shapes and layers. Kathy has been painting consistently since 2008 and in 2023 completed a Diploma in Visual Arts.
“Take a look, take a 2nd look and take a longer look – I love putting my work out there.”
Ken Wight
I’m late into art but immediately found that the creative challenge Abstract Expression offered was highly stimulating and satisfying. Over the years I have felt my visual brain become way more engaged and I am constantly rewarded by the little details around me that I previously overlooked. I also love hunting around for different materials in op shops and hard rubbish!
Lynne Kells
My practice uses abstraction to express emotional states that resist attempts at language, shaped in part by living with MS. Working in acrylic and mixed media, I explore colour, texture, and layering through an intuitive, process-led approach, balancing control and spontaneity.
Being nonrepresentational, the paintings remain open inviting viewers to pause, reflect, and find their own connection within the movement, energy, texture and atmosphere of the work. Recent works, created during a period of personal transition, feature dynamic, maze-like structures and layered surfaces reflecting ideas of direction, environment, and the navigation of both physical and emotional space.
Nathan Moshinsky
The practice of abstract painting has given me the opportunity to express myself. I enjoy experimenting with different combinations of mediums.
In my work I seek to express a balance between spontaneity and order. Sometimes it takes me a long time before I consider that a painting is finished. Sometimes I feel that I could rework a painting indefinitely. However, there is a sense of freedom and discovery which I derive from the creative process. I would like to convey my enjoyment to the viewer.
The use of colour is very important to me. Rather than illustrating a subject, I let colour relationships generate emotional resonance. Also, I try to find a variety of tones, marks and textures, to make a painting more absorbing and interesting. I do not follow rules or formulas and try to rely on my intuition to guide me. I use layers to build up a painting, and after a while an inner conversation between the painting and myself develops, and this guides me in the progress of my work.
Paula Reade
Originally from France and partly self taught, Paula, with thirty years experience in visual art is an artist living and practicing in Narmm Melbourne.
Paula’s work delves in between representational and instinctual abstraction, using acrylic as her main medium. She's a keen observer of social situations which she deconstructs in her daily practice to achieve a more symbolic outcome. Abstraction comes in a natural way with total instinct with large brush strokes and bright hues.
Penny Darling
My artwork is all about the experience of energy. I use vivid colour and rhythm to connect with people on a purely emotional level, aiming to inspire a sense of optimism and resilience. My studio practice is centred on printmaking, watercolour painting, and recently, experimenting with light boxes. I love the interplay between structure and spontaneous outcomes—especially watching how water, pigment, and ink interact on the page to create layers that feel alive and pulsating.
Susan Tait
Susan Tait is a Naarm/Melbourne born artist and painter whose work centres around gesture and materiality, creating expressive reflections on colour and form. Her early fascination with textile design is evident in her work through the exploration of highly visceral textural layering. Deeply inspired by the raw, harsh beauty of the Australian landscape, Susan uses acrylic paint, oil stick and pencil to create bold and tactile works. Occasionally, fabrics and waxed cotton stitches are also added to further build up the surface. As much about what was covered, as what was left exposed, Susan’s canvases are often painted over many times until very few of the early strokes are visible. This lends an evocative depth to the works achieving a sense of mystery and of weathered, ancient timelessness as Susan continues to experiment, to layer, and interpret the landscape around her.
Traecey Bremner
Traecey Bremner is an artist with a natural bias to experience the world through image. Working with the language of shape, colour, composition, mark, and texture. Embracing the honesty of cardboard as surface and ground. Traecey enjoys playing with non- figurative image because of it’s qualities of purity with the freedom to invent, to be able to push and pull the material until a pleasing outcome is reached. Through a language of material, surface, and shape, her work is concurrently rich and humble. Cardboard is engineered to be light, strong, inexpensive and readily available. It contains, transports and protects; can be cut, folded, crushed or repurposed? Her work is an exploration of image and material.
NADA JOVIC
NADA JOVIC
WINDOW ROOM
Exhibition dates. 30 June - 12 July 2026
Opening Reception : Wed 1 July 2026, 6:00 - 8:30 pm
Nada is a tonal impressionist whose practice is grounded in drawing and painting from direct observation. Inspired by the atmosphere and quiet drama of the life studio, she explores innovative ways of presenting life drawings through layered and expressive backgrounds that enhance the presence of the model. Her work reflects a strong sensitivity to tone, light, and mood, creating compositions that feel both intimate and dynamic.
Life drawing remains central to her artistic practice, strengthening observational skills and deepening an understanding of form, movement, and human expression. Through continual experimentation with materials and composition, Nada transforms traditional figure studies into contemporary visual narratives. Her work reflects a commitment to the discipline of drawing while embracing personal interpretation and creative freedom within the process of observation.
YUMI UMIUMARE
Experimental Series #3 by Yumi Umiumare
舞踏の森・Forest of Butoh 33
Project Room
Exhibition dates. 30 June - 12 July 2026
Opening reception : Wed 1 July 2026, 6:00 - 8:30 pm
A living archive of 33 years of Butoh, transformation, migration and artistic mischief.
Forest of Butoh 33 is an immersive installation of archival video works, costumes and new durational performances drawn from Yumi Umiumare’s extensive practice since migrating from Japan to Australia in 1993. Accompanied by artist talks, live events and guest lectures on Butoh, the exhibition offers a rare insight into over three decades of artistic experimentation, transformation and cultural exchange.
Over the past 33 years, Yumi has explored the Japanese avant-garde art form Butoh, originally known as Ankoku Butoh, or the Dance of Darkness. After training in classical ballet, she encountered Butoh in the 1970s and was drawn to its radical possibilities during the mid-1980s. Arriving in Australia in 1993, and describing herself as a "mental refugee" from Japan, Yumi embarked on a lifelong journey of artistic experimentation, creating an extraordinary body of performance works and collaborations with artists, communities and non-artists alike.
Today, Yumi continues to spread the "Butoh bug" across Australia and internationally, fostering connections within a vibrant global Butoh community. One of Australia's leading Butoh practitioners, she is renowned for a distinctive ‘punk’ performance language that fuses Butoh, cabaret, ritual and Japanese tea ceremony traditions with raw physicality and irreverent humour.
Photo and video by Brett Walker
Butoh Performances
Solo performances by Yumi Umiumare
Thursday 2 July, 7:00 pm - Sold Out
Thursday 9 July, 7:00 pm - Sold Out
Saturday 11 July, 7:00 pm - Limited Tickets
Bookings: LINK
Artist Talk & Mini Lecture
“What is Butoh?”
Tuesday 7 July, 7:00 pm
Bookings: LINK
Featuring special international guest Rosemary Candelario (scholar-artist, Butoh dancer from USA) in conversation with Yumi Umiumare.
Durational Works: Free Event
Yumi will activate the space through a series of durational performance experiments.
Drop in anytime between 2:00–4:00 pm
Friday 10 July
Saturday 11 July
Sunday 12 July
YUMI UMIUMARE
Yumi is a Japanese-born, multi-award-winning performance maker and creator of Butoh Cabaret, integrating ritual practices including the Japanese tea ceremony. For over 30 years, she has developed a distinctive practice that evokes visceral emotion through narrative, abstraction, ritual, and humour, exploring cultural identity across traditional and contemporary life. Her internationally acclaimed works have been presented across five continents. She is Artistic Director of ButohOUT!, a recipient of an Australia Council Fellowship, multiple Green Room Awards, and the Melbourne Fringe Living Legend Award, and is a significant contributor to the contemporary global Butoh scene.
www.yumi.com.au
CANCELLED / BENGAL STORYTELLERS
We regret to inform you that the show has been cancelled
BENGAL STORYTELLERS
Project Room
Exhibition dates : 16 June - 28 June 2026
Opening reception : Wed 17 June 2026, 6:00 - 8:30pm
Bangladesh : Moments in Motion
CRYSTAL WU
CRYSTAL WU
SPACE 1
Exhibition dates : 16 - 28 June 2026
Opening reception : Wed 17 June 2026, 6:00 - 8:30pm
Crystal Wu’s paintings explore a quiet tension between control and release. Working instinctively, she builds and disrupts layers of colour, allowing each gesture to remain visible as both action and trace. Her compositions are not fixed images, but moments of movement—where energy gathers, dissolves, and re-forms. Influenced by a sensibility shaped between Eastern restraint and Western abstraction, her work resists narrative, inviting a more intuitive way of seeing. Within these surfaces, softness and intensity coexist, suggesting that strength can emerge not from force, but from presence.
CROSSOVER
CROSSOVER
SPACE 2
Exhibition dates : 16 June - 28 June 2026
Opening reception : Wed 17 June 2026, 6:00 - 8:30pm
This exhibition brings together seven artists from Chiang Mai University whose diverse practices reflect the richness and strength of contemporary Thai culture. While each artist works in a distinct style and medium, their works are united through a shared connection to Thai identity, tradition, memory, and lived experience.
Through painting, abstraction, symbolism, and material exploration, the exhibition reveals how cultural heritage can be interpreted in both traditional and contemporary forms. The artworks express personal narratives while also reflecting broader social and cultural perspectives rooted in Thailand’s artistic landscape.
Rather than presenting a single definition of Thai art, the exhibition celebrates diversity, individuality, and creative exchange. Together, these artists offer audiences a vibrant dialogue between past and present, local and global influences, highlighting the evolving nature of Thai contemporary art.
Artists featured include Pongdej Chaiyakut, Jan Theo De Vleeschauwer, Rongkakorn Anantasanta, Korakot Jairak, Pongsiri Kiddee, Wannuchad Likitmarnon, and Pison Suwanpakdee.
Pongdej Chaiyakut
Images of degradation in human society reflect a lack of mutual love and care. This impact extends beyond humanity and society, reaching other living beings like animals and the environment. By highlighting the various issues animals face-ranging from large-scale environmental crises to everyday sights on streets, in public spaces, or across social media-it becomes clear that these portrayals of violence and suffering, whether direct or indirect, must raise awareness for change. This work aims to present a duality: through both the endearing nature of animals and the poignant reflection of their suffering and the impacts they endure.
The creative series ‘Animals: Animals Balance of Nature’ features portrayals of various animal species, each with distinct personalities that reflect environmental issues. This collection aims to foster awareness regarding love, life, and ecological balance through emotive imagery. The series comprises 50 pieces of fine art created using the intaglio printmaking technique.
Jan Theo De Vleeschauwer
Imaginary images realized through the interaction between perception, memory and emotion, and conditioned by self-imposed limitations and constrictions.
Rongkakorn Anantasanta
To remind the public of the importance of natural resources, which are rapidly depleting and will have an impact on people’s livelihoods in the future.
Korakot Jairak
Inherited cultures become thresholds between ecological memory and systemic change. Digital culture mediates unseen forces as futures split and landscapes fracture. No single image can contain this condition; only fractured hybrid images make it legible.
Pongsiri Kiddee
I aim to convey the atmosphere of colors representing faith in the Lanna region through the structure of distinctive Lanna architecture. This is achieved by shaping the atmosphere of colors through the overlapping of patterns, particularly the “Kam Chang Ko” motif, a unique Lanna design.
Wannuchad Likitmarnon
Creating an ideological visualization under the meaning of the word “Sappaya”. Describes the physical space that was once a place of belief, motto, Buddhist philosophy that will lead to the greatest hope of life.
Pison Suwanpakdee
Originating in 1997 during the height of the Thai and Asian financial crisis, "The Floating Baht" represents a transition of collapse. It reflects a descent from macroeconomic failure to the microeconomic ruin that tore many families apart during that time.
EOFY - SALE
EOFY Art Sale
Exhibition dates : 16 June - 28 June 2026
Opening reception : Wed 17 June 2026, 6:00 - 8:30pm
Project Room
Own the art you love before 30 June.
Transform your home or workplace, support Australian artists, and explore potential tax benefits for eligible businesses this EOFY.
Invest in art. Make a statement. Create lasting value.
*Please seek advice from your accountant or tax adviser.
Visit - STOCKROOM
Code : EOFY15%
Create image : Hugo Mathias
BELONGING
BELONGING
PROJECT ROOM
Exhibition dates : 2 - 14 June 2026
Opening reception : Wed 3 June 2026, 6:00 - 8:30pm
BELONGING The world of an emotional, spiritual, and creative homecoming
Born from my earlier exhibition, Two Worlds Collide, where identity and culture stood at the core, Belonging is a deeply personal tribute an artist’s return to the heart and soul of their creative path. To belong is to embrace the essence of who we are, both as humanists and as artists. In this exhibition, attendees will journey through each artist’s unique expression of what defines them their artistic voice, their sense of place, and the unseen threads that connect them to their work. Belonging is not just about a physical space; it is an emotional, spiritual, and creative homecoming. For me, belonging is intertwined with nature, an echo of childhood memories the rhythmic patter of footsteps down the long corridors of my Kolkata home, the warmth of the terrace beneath the relentless Indian summer. It is the mist-covered hills of Meghalaya, a place that forever tugs at my soul. My belonging is never static; it shifts and flows, always searching, never contained. It is a longing, a quiet whisper calling me back to the past a past that still lingers, shaping the artist I am today in Melbourne.
This exhibition is an ode to that search, to the moments that anchor us, and to the art that becomes our true home. The participating artists bring forth their own intimate narratives of belonging. Together, these artists weave a collective narrative one of identity, memory, and the eternal search for a place to call home. - Nandita Chakraborty
Participants
Nandita Chakraborty, Nitasha Malik, Rajvi Saria, Shipra Anand and Samaya Tiwary.
Nandita Chakraborty
Nandita Chakraborty, producer of the group show Belonging, is a mixed media artist whose practice explores the intersection of lived reality and the inner landscapes of the neuro-mind. Her work is driven by a desire to visualise how memory, emotion, and perception shape our understanding of self and place. Drawing from both personal and collective experiences, she creates layered compositions that blur the boundaries between the external world and internal cognition.
Using a filmic approach, Chakraborty integrates texture, movement, and visual rhythm to evoke the sensation of thought in motion. Her pieces often feel like fragments of a larger narrative intimate yet universal inviting viewers to engage not just with what is seen, but what is felt and remembered. Through her work, she examines belonging as both a physical and psychological state, revealing the complexity of identity in an ever-shifting world.
Nitasha Malik
Nitasha Malik is a Melbourne-based mixed media artist and founder of Lost Chitrakaar. Her journey into art began not as a career choice, but as a deeply personal response to life’s more challenging moments. What started as a form of emotional release gradually transformed into a full-time practice rooted in healing, reflection, and connection. Her work explores the intersection of vulnerability and strength, often expressed through layered textures, gold detailing, and symbolic forms. Drawing from Indian visual traditions while working within a contemporary framework, her pieces carry both cultural depth and personal narrative. Beyond the canvas, Nitasha extends her practice into community engagement through Saath Circle, creating spaces where art becomes a shared experience one that encourages connection, expression, and a sense of belonging. Her work stands as a reminder that art does not need to be perfected to be powerful. it simply needs to be felt.
Shipra Anand
Shipra Anand is a multidisciplinary artist whose work blends realism with personal interpretation to create artworks rich in emotion and meaning. Her creative journey is shaped by a foundation in traditional art coupled with computer graphics, user experience design, and software systems, alongside a deep passion for visual storytelling. Known for expressive portraiture and evocative landscapes, she explores human emotion through reinterpretation and custom commissions across diverse mediums. A returning exhibiting artist, Shipra draws on the power of Shakti, weaving mythology with contemporary expression. Her painting Shakti was the most Instagrammed work at the 2024 “Two Worlds Collide” exhibition.
Serenity and Storm - The Sacred Feminine Series
This portrait series draws inspiration from Durga and Kali to explore the many dimensions of feminine strength. Each work reflects the coexistence of calm and chaos, nurture and resistance, tenderness and fire that lives within every woman.
These goddesses are reimagined not as distant mythological figures, but as reflections of human emotion and lived experience. They hold the moon and become the fire; they nourish, protect, break silence, and rebuild what must transform. Through symbols of food, flame, motion, and protection, the series celebrates the quiet resilience and fierce courage that women carry every day.
Bold colours and layered symbolism bring together the gentle nurturer, the fearless protector, and the spiritual force of change. This collection is a tribute to the sacred balance of softness and strength—honouring women as guardians, creators, and catalysts of transformation across cultures and generations.
GAJENDRA SAHU AND CHHATRAPATI BISWAL
GAJENDRA SAHU AND CHHATRAPATI BISWAL
SPACE 1 - 2
Exhibition dates : 2 - 14 June 2026
Opening reception : Wed 3 June 2026, 6:00 - 8:30pm
Gajendra Prasad Sahu
Rooted in a lifelong engagement with nature, family, and humanity, this exhibition reflects on the interconnectedness between people and the natural world. Through paintings that move between realism and abstraction, the works draw from close observations of plants, landscapes, and everyday life, transforming these experiences into expressive compositions rich with colour, rhythm, and emotion. The practice embraces nature not only as a visual subject, but as a source of reflection, understanding, and spiritual connection.
Developed over more than four decades of artistic dedication, the exhibition also considers the role and responsibility of the artist within society. Beyond the act of creating, the works speak to the importance of patience, persistence, mindfulness, and the ability of art to inspire positive change. By sharing a lifetime of learning and experience, the artist honours nature lovers, emerging artists, and those who continue to seek meaning, beauty, and connection through creative practice.
Chhatrapati Sri Dibyaranjan Biswal
This series reflects a powerful idea: even in the midst of chaos, the art world survives because of those who choose to protect and nurture it. Through recurring motifs inspired by Odisha’s iconic wooden dolls and the symbolic umbrella, the artist portrays a fragile yet unwavering shield.
The umbrella may appear delicate, but its strength lies not in its material, it stands firm because of the resolve of those who hold it. Much like the artists who, with passion and perseverance, continue to safeguard heritage, inspire others, and keep traditions alive.
This body of work is a tribute to those silent protectors, who, against all odds, ensure that art not only survives, but continues to bring light and colour into the world.
WENDY GRACE
WENDY GRACE
WINDOW ROOM
Exhibition dates : 19 - 31 May 2026
Opening reception : Wed 20 May 2026, 6:00 - 8:30pm
Something for Keeps explores the tension between holding on and letting go those fleeting moments when we question the value of what we carry. This painting inhabits a state of flux, where gestures collide, overlap, and resist settling. Three-dimensional forms echo the internal composition, blurring the boundary between image and environment, inviting the viewer into an encounter that is at once visual, physical, and psychological.
As the painting spills outward, it invites reflection on personal attachments: the memories, objects, and emotions we cling to, and those we choose or struggle to release.
MIA PIGNATARO
MIA PIGNATARO
SPACE 1
Exhibition dates : 19 - 31 May 2026
Opening reception : Wed 20 May 2026, 6:00 - 8:30pm
The Dancer, 35mm Photography
35mm film photographs depicting a girl, replicating and using the art of Japanese rope tying as an thematic inspiration and as a reference to modern themes of fetishism and bondage. Playing with the concept of intention and perception, these images are filtered by retrospect. The subject alone in a low lit house, sometimes bound by literal ties, and in others standing still in a sullen house. Despite the intimacy fostered by her surroundings the girl at times stares directly at the camera almost occupying the viewers of an involuntary voyeurism. The composition fluctuates between mundane and overtly sexual, but remains in a subdued colour pallet, creating a false sense of uniformity and comfort. The woman depicts and suggests feelings of voyeurism questioning if innocence and beauty are born and the idea of unconsciously being our own voyeur in our most private moments.
Photographer - Mia Pignataro, Model - Eve Vardy
FLESH
GROUP SHOW : FLESH
SPACE 2
Exhibition dates : 19 - 31 May 2026
Opening reception : Wed 20 May 2026, 6:00 - 8:30pm
FLESH: Figurative Works is a group exhibition centered on the figurative nude, exploring the human body as a site of expression, vulnerability, identity, and form. Bringing together both contemporary and classical perspectives, the exhibition reflects on the enduring presence of the human figure in artistic practice.
The works examine the body as form, presence, and material, with particular attention to anatomy, gesture, and surface. The exhibition approaches the figure as a subject of observation, intimacy, and interpretation.
FLESH invites viewers to engage with the human body not only as a visual subject, but also as a conceptual one—where skin, posture, and volume become elements for reflection, dialogue, and understanding.
Artists
Alex Syndikas • Alexandra Janssens • Amaya Iturri • Andy Li • Andrew Maes • Angelina Borg • Angus McFeat • Anna Lloyd-Parker • Antonietta O’keefe • Ash Giblin • BAUTE • Barnaby Prouproute • Brendan Williams • Brett Davis • Cath Mackie • Cecily Clark • Charlotte Finley • Chloe Guymer • Chris Wong • Christopher Mallon • Claire Tennant • Conor Knight • Debra Winn • Daisy Mak • Daniel Mayfield-Smith • Dean Rankine • Dean West • Dina Goebel • Ella Simpson • Ellen Naismith • Ellie Johnston • Falconeris Marimón and William Eicholtz • Halle Brown • Hannah Dando • Heidi Flaherty • Hugues Scheid • Ian James Scott • Ian Vogt • Jack Caldow • Jane Korneyko • James Annesley • Jasmine Star Delos Santos • JC Harris • JD Mitchell • Jean Luc Syndikas • Jemima Longworth • Jennifer Cromarty • Jennifer Culic • Jeremy Swan • Jessie James • Jett Leduc • Kat Craine • Khue Nguyen • Koryn Carmody • Lee-Anne Raymond • Lily Greenwood • Lucienne Noontil • Lyndon Lovell • Lynn Chan • Marian Quigley • Mark Ewenson • Matt Hannah • Matthew Chan • Matthew Greenwood • Merichel Sanchez • Michele Monte • Mr Dimples • Nada Jovic • Natalie H. Reed • Neale Stratford • Nik McGrath • Olive Bly • Oliver Howes • Patrick Chen • Paulette Smythe • Peta Landman • Rebecca Sanchez • Regina Kaluzny • Rhys John Kaye • Richard McCoy • Robyn Grove • Skye O'Shea • Stacey Holmes • Tamara Heath • Tamara Perrett • Tara Sao • Tim Williams • Tré Turner • Valentina Palonen • Zahra Marsous • Zianne Dacanay
SHANG KUAN DING YA
SHANG KUAN DING YA
SPACE 1
Exhibition dates : 19 - 31 May 2026
Opening reception : Wed 20 May 2026, 6:00 - 8:30pm
As human beings, our bodies are fundamental to how we understand existence. Through this form, we translate ideas into tangible reality. Beyond labor, the body is also a starting point for exploring beauty, deeply embedded in artistic practices. Historically, disciplines such as ancient Greek sculpture even required dance training to better understand bodily movement.
My own engagement with the body comes through traditional Chinese martial arts, not as combat, but as a study of transitions between movement and stillness. Concepts like twisting and extension are internalized through practice, becoming part of muscle memory rather than remaining purely intellectual.
Working with clay feels like an extension of the body. Its elasticity and responsiveness mirror physical motion, allowing me to express sensations that are otherwise invisible. Once fired, clay captures a fleeting moment in a fixed state. Yet when multiple forms are arranged together, they reintroduce a sense of continuity, evoking movement through stillness and reflecting the lived experience of the body.
Shang Kuan Ding Ya (Andrew) is an artist dedicated to sculptural ceramics and experimental processes. He holds a Bachelor of New Media Arts from Taipei University of the Arts. His practice investigates form, movement, and material expression through hand-building techniques.
PAULINO DELA ROSA JR
PAULINO DELA ROSA JR
PROJECT ROOM
Exhibition dates : 19 - 31 May 2026
Opening reception : Wed 20 May 2026, 6:00 - 8:30pm
Nowadays whatever social media dictates becomes the standard and men’s physique has no escape on it. So many good-looking men in their Greek God like bodies most are bodybuilder, fitness influencer, actor, model, etc. I must say all are in their prime and perfection is just a click away. However this is not an accurate representation of men’s built in general, hence a larger demography is missing.
With my photography I want to represent the under represented/ordinary men in our society. To give them a chance to showcase what they have, to be confident regardless of body size, shape, and colour. We all have imperfection anyway and that what makes us unique and perfect.
I-Xposed celebrates body positivity and self discovery, it is my interpretation of self-portraiture and boudoir. Photography can be extremely challenging even when the subject is fully clothed but bringing things into boudoir and nudity is another level and knowing nude art is not everyone’s cup of tea adds up to the complication but in a way, I want to break the stigma particularly with men by accentuating his rugged and yet sensitive male beauty. To see every part of himself beautifully especially the body part where usually deemed sinful and indecent. To start with, I have braved to photograph myself. The lighting, colour pallet and the composition plays a big part in achieving the balance vis-a-vis technicality, sensual desire, and artistry.
UNMUTED
UNMUTED
SPACE 1-2 & WINDOW ROOM
Exhibition dates : 5 - 17 May 2026
Opening reception : Wed 6 May 2026, 6:00 - 8:30pm
UNMUTED brings together ten artists united by bold, authentic expression. Diverse in style yet connected in energy, this group exhibition explores what happens when creativity is no longer filtered or softened. Raw, layered, and unapologetic, Unmuted is an invitation to witness art that speaks freely and to feel the power of being fully seen and heard.
Christine Quigley
Christine Quigley is a Melbourne-based artist whose practice brings together abstraction, gesture, and atmospheric depth to explore the emotional and perceptual subtleties of painted space. Working primarily in oil with integrated mixed-media processes, she builds layered surfaces that hold rhythm, tension, and quiet luminosity. Her work invites a slow, contemplative encounter, encouraging viewers to sense rather than interpret.
Influenced by early experiences of rural landscape and classical music, Quigley’s visual language is shaped by movement, memory, and the natural world’s understated poetics. These foundations inform the fluidity and sensitivity of her mark-making, resulting in works that feel both grounded and ethereal.
Her paintings have been exhibited across Australia and are held in private collections. Quigley continues to refine a practice centred on presence, materiality, and the evolving emotional resonance of both figurative and abstraction, offering viewers a space for reflection and connection.
Criss Chaney
Criss Chaney is a multidisciplinary visual artist based in Berwick. Over the past decade, she has exhibited internationally across the United States, the UK, Austria, and Australia, and contributes to Melbourne’s creative landscape through both studio and public art.
Her practice is grounded in Urban Pop Art and neo-feminist art, blending expressive painterly techniques with graffiti, collage, and bold typography. Working across acrylic, oil, ink, spray paint, cyanotype, and gold leaf, she builds layered, tactile surfaces that mirror the complexity of competing identities.
Solitary female figures positioned within richly layered visual environments anchor her work. Her paintings invite viewers to slow down and engage with the space between what is seen and what is felt—exploring the shifting boundary between external perception and internal experience.
Drawing from the grit of city walls, fluorescent pinks and purples reclaim softness as strength. Her work explores vulnerability, power, gender, and cultural value systems—holding space for contradiction, curiosity, and subversion.
Cyndy Broekers
Cyndy Broekers is a Melbourne-based mixed media artist known for her evocative, story-rich paintings rooted in personal memory and shared cultural nostalgia.
After a long career in the corporate world, she made a bold pivot into art, where she now explores themes of belonging, childhood and the emotional resonance of everyday moments.
Her layered, expressive works are influenced by retro aesthetics, family slides and the simple joy of growing up in Australia in the 60s, 70s, and 80s. Cyndy’s work invites viewers to reconnect with their own histories; those moments from the past that shaped who we are today.
Her paintings have been featured in local council exhibitions, acquired for public and private collections and showcased in group shows. With a background in coaching and supporting creatives to navigate uncertainty through self-trust, Cyndy brings a deeply human lens to everything she creates.
Elena Simak
Elena Simak is a Melbourne-based mixed media artist whose work explores emotion, light, and the quiet stories we carry. Migrating to Australia in 1995 from Padina, Serbia, she found art to be a universal language while navigating a new country and culture. In Year 12, she was selected for Top Arts, exhibiting at the National Gallery of Victoria, and later completed a Diploma of Arts and Visual Arts. Elena has exhibited widely, created commissions since 2009, supported charities, and refined her practice through the Milan Art Institute, working intuitively and layering each piece with meaning.
Julie Fenna
Julie Fenna is a London-born, Australian-based artist whose vibrant mixed-media and oil paintings are deeply inspired by a lifelong love of animals and the natural world. Julie has dedicated her practice to capturing the spirit of her chosen country by creating art that explores resilience, challenge, joy, and the simple beauty found in nature.
Guided by the belief that art should capture the full spectrum of emotion, Julie’s work serves as a bridge between the mundane and the extraordinary. Through a masterly use of intense contrast and vibrant hues, she distils the beauty of the everyday into scenes of curiosity. Each piece is a gentle command to the viewer: stop, smile, and find wonder in the small things.
Kimberley Cardow
Kimberley Cardow is a Melbourne-based contemporary artist inspired by exploration, travel, and a deep love of nature and everyday moments. Raised in Sydney, her early connection to adventure continues to shape her creative path. Since moving to Melbourne in 2008, her work has evolved through observing Australia’s diverse environments and experiences abroad. Kimberley’s paintings are known for their vibrant colour, pattern, and texture, balancing expression with intimacy. While her earlier work focused on floral details, her practice now also embraces birds, people, and place. She believes painting is a powerful way to share feelings and invite others to see the world through her eyes.
Lydia Beker
My art is an intuitive journey where I explore new ideas and possibilities, allowing each mark to guide the next. I love to experiment with mixed media, building layers that unfold naturally as the painting reveals its own direction. I finish my work in oil paint, which brings richness and depth to the surface.
Nature, in all its beauty and mystery, is a constant presence in my work, along with a touch of fantasy and wonder. My paintings move between abstract and recognisable forms, evolving freely and allowing what I love to shine through.
Through my art, I hope to spark curiosity and connection, an invitation to pause, explore your imagination, and rediscover your own creative spirit.
Mary Ann Fox
Mary Ann Fox is a mixed-media artist with an abstract, realistic style. Working with pastels, oils, acrylics and various mixed media, Mary Ann infuses her work with an element of realism, sometimes symbolism or storytelling that can at times be combined with a touch of humour.
Mary Ann’s art reflects a deep appreciation for both the natural world and the human experience. Her work has been recognised for its originality and emotional depth, most recently winning 1st Prize at the Crib Point Art Show.
Through her art, Mary Ann invites viewers to see the world through her eyes, offering a fresh perspective on the familiar and a playful twist on the ordinary. Her pieces are a testament to her belief in the beauty of realism intertwined with the unexpected, creating a visual dialogue that can be thought-provoking and sometimes delightfully surprising.
Narnie
Narnie is a rising Australian artist, returning to creative expression following a healthcare career that has spanned more than 20 years. Born and raised in Melbourne, Narnie has spent years working with Victorian families through roles in NICU, Midwifery and Maternal & Child Health. She weaves her own experiences of childhood and parenting with those she has observed to explore themes of nostalgia, joy, and authenticity.
Narnie’s work has a core focus of remembering who we were before the world told us who we should be. Using vibrant colours and expressive brushstrokes, Narnie’s work calls us to remember, reflect, and find our own way back to our authentic selves.
Tracy Lee Warusevitane
Tracy Lee Warusevitane is a Melbourne-based contemporary artist working in abstract realism. Her practice explores growth, resilience, courage, and transformation, capturing moments of emotional intensity and personal awakening. Inspired by global travel, human connection, and her own evolution, she creates work that balances recognisable form with expressive abstraction.
Working in mixed media and oil, Tracy builds layered surfaces alive with movement, texture, and luminous colour. Her compositions often feature the human figure, wildlife, and symbolic elements, inviting reflection and emotional connection.
Exhibited in group shows and collected privately, her paintings resonate with those drawn to personal development and purposeful living, offering refined contemporary works that embody strength, expansion, and the beauty of becoming.
Agugn
Growth 8
Linocut reduction print on handmade abaca paper
34.5x37cm
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Exhibition dates : 25 August - 6 September 2026
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Please contact/email us for an additional domestic/international shipping cost. The artwork purchased from the exhibition will be available for collection after the exhibition period. Thank you for supporting our artists.