LINES

This series of paintings depicts abandoned railways and the landscape that surrounds them. I walked many miles along these lines and observed how nature reclaims them in its own time and in its own way. The abandoned railways included in this series are the Derwent Valley railway in Tasmania, the Castlemaine to Maryborough railway in Victoria and the Bangalow to Byron Bay railway in NSW.

The Catalogue

Exhibition View

Established in 2009, Fitzroy Painting is an artist-led independent art school located in Brunswick Street, Fitzroy. The studio provides an inspiring environment for students of all levels to learn new skills, develop their practice, and be part of a supportive painting community. Our tutors are all professional practising artists who believe in sharing their skills and knowledge with their students and supporting them in developing their painting practice.

Artists' subject matter covers a wide range of interests including personal memory, nostalgia, family, travel, nature, landscape and still life. Collectively they share a strong passion for painting and supporting each other's creative endeavours.

The students exhibiting in this exhibition have been attending classes at Fitzroy Painting for many years, are dedicated oil painters, and are representative of the vast cross-section of the Fitzroy Painting community.

This exhibition is particularly significant after two years of lockdowns and no studio access. For many it is the first time the painters have each been able to resume their painting practice and produce a body of work to take part in this exhibition.

The Catalogue

Exhibition View

THROUGH MY EYES

Shane exhibits surrealist portraiture created mainly from old vintage books that have been collected over time. Some of the drawings are of people that have influenced him in some way, and some pieces are just imagination running free. Having always struggled with reading growing up and therefore had an aversion to books, Shane has found by drawing on the pages of text from a book, he has been able to develop a new appreciation and connection to books.

Most of Shane’s portraits have the common theme of missing pupils from the eyes and have hair created in stylish lines. He puts this down to the struggle of making eye contact with people when he was growing up, and the lined hair is a reference to his tattooing days.

Alongside his strong interest in nature, Shane’s work is inspired by the people he meets, and is informed by his work within the disability sector, often drawing clients he has supported by exploring and sharing their stories through his visual language. Shane hopes through his work that you can see beyond the person, and stands by the motto: be kind, always.

The Catalogue

Exhibition View

CONRAD SQUARE

If These Walls Could Talk

If These Walls Could Talk is the third solo exhibition from Melbourne-based artist Conrad Square. This new body of work opens to the general public on Thursday the 17th of November. These reinvigorating artworks foster meaningful connections between people and place; exploring the dialogue between the viewer and their surroundings. Square interprets the interplay between street art, graffiti, advertisements, and political propaganda – which gives each surface a unique vocabulary, creating an abstract composition of fragmented conversations.

Each piece combines traditional materials and methods with a modern aesthetic, in order to create spaces that feel vibrant and fresh – without compromising on design or visual appeal.

EXHIBITION VIEW

‘Amongst - Parallel Sensorium’

The Orchid series paintings aim for viewers to search for familiarity in the absence of identifiable connections, by providing an altered perspective and relationship with reality. The works reference growth, movement and change in the living world and are cognisant of painting as a parallel phenomenological space rather than solely a means of representation. They reflect the history of flower painting in the Western canon, mediated by technology, and yet also resonant with the ever renewing quality of parallel modes of sensory capture, in both nature and in the studio.

Highlighting the Gardenesque and challenging the ubiquitous negativity associated with the term “weed”, Not-So-Spontaneous Ruderal Vegetation aims to deconstruct traditional perceptions regarding the value and potential of spontaneous vegetation. By understanding the “weed” as a plant with unique survival and remediation characteristics such as its capacity to filter toxicity, a greater appreciation can then be attributed towards their availability.

The works together suggest a continual movement through both actual and imagined space, both within and between paintings and the installation, creating a conversation between Landscape Architecture and Fine Art - painting.

Exhibition View

IN THE BOUNDLESS SEA

Robert Mihajlovski’s artworks are of epic dimensions that may be likened to such works as the “Raft of Medusa” by Théodore Géricault. Using the sea as the subject, Mihajlovski creates intricately detailed paintings with infinite little stories, humble lines, like a word that speaks so intimately to each of us.

Rather than figurative or pictorial the three paintings are atmospheric. There are no horizon lines between the sea and the sky, there is no outline as in the iconic wave lithograph of Hokusai, except for a colouration difference on Boat people III, there is no edge at all. The sea is not drawn, is not an image or even looked at or seen, and yet the sea is everywhere.

Exhibition View

FOURPLUSFOUR is a self taught artist. Not dedicated to one style, he loves to experiment and let the art dictate where it wants to go, often finding golden moments in what some may call mistakes.

Drawing inspiration from life, music, language and loved ones, his work is often gritty and multi layered, much like life, as this is at times where beauty, courage, and truth reside. In his first exhibition, FOURPLUSFOUR celebrates the strength, creativity, sacrifice, vulnerability, intelligence, and warmth of those females who make this world a better place, and particularly those royal women who taught him how to be a man.

Exhibition View

DUSTIN J VOGGENREITER

Dustin J Voggenreiter is an Australian artist whose work communes with ancestral spirits. By engaging with both contemporary abstraction as well as poetic, improvised performance, Dustin's work aims to fill the gaps left by an ambiguous ancestry. But where recorded history fails and loose ends abound, his acts of wrestling with the scraps of stories left by his ancestors results in work that is firmly rooted within the culture of Post-Truth  - where a sentimental form of hoodoo takes precedence over factual evidence. 

Working predominantly with an eclectic, unconventional material palette, his art invites interactivity, shimmering and wavering like a mirage as the viewer alters their vantage point. His works are at once pleasurable explorations of texture, colour, and improvisation, as well as a being a meditation on the invisible forces underlining human nature.

Exhibition View

Image by Julian Di Martino

GROUP SHOW : The 69 Collective

‘Catch-2022’, a group exhibition by members of The 69 Collective .

The novel Catch-22 was published in 1961. From the novel came the concept of ‘Catch-22’ which broadly means a no-win problem or an absurd dilemma. Some artworks may revolve around the concept of Catch 22 whilst others are simply works that members of The 69 Collective have a desire to show. The 69 Collective is throwing out the net. The artworks exhibited being the ‘catch’ of 2022.

Artists

Andrew J Pearson  - Aneta Bozic - Birgit Kreuzkamp - Betty Nicholson - Carol Rowlands - Cornelia Weel - Daniela Strauss - Darron Davies -Dominique Dunstan - Felicity Gordon - Filomena Roberts - Gloria Glennon - Irene Amorosi - Julie-anne - Armstrong-Roper - Julian Di Martino - Kate Carey Peters - Katy Bowman Liza Posar - Louis Balis - Lucy Allnutt - Maggie Brown -  Margot Sharman - Marija Newbold - Matthew Scariot - Michelle Eattell - Nada Jovic - Natalia Serafini - Paula McLoughlin -  Paulina Campos - Rain White- Rom Jagielski - Rose O’Shea - Sharon Crabb - Sharon West - Siobhan Hannigan - Stephen Glover -  Sue Bottomley - Sue Pavlovich - Voula Christopoulos

SHADOW BY MURAT AKSAKAL

You can tell the human beings in these paintings are in a lot of suffering by looking at them. They feel dissatisfied and helpless in the face of massive devastation. They represent the rage that lies beneath our smiles and wordless screams. Instead of burying our suppressed emotions in bright and colourful paintings, I want them to smack you in the face with a fading effect - a technique I have picked up.

It's a therapeutic concept. The more we face them, the better we will understand the source of darkness inside us. These individuals serve as a mirror for our traumas, frustrations, and doubts. Now you'll be able to see your reflections.

NATURE SERIES BY CARLY HOUSIAUX

During the lockdowns I had access to a small garden surrounded by high walls, a small patch of paradise within the suddenly still and silent city. It was fecund and abundant, with green tendrils growing wild; a space to nurture and be nurtured.

I would sit and observe the garden for hours, watching and listening. Fascinated by the many and varied life that would come, day after day to visit the little space.

These moments provide a comfort and joy that can never be manufactured, hoarded or held. They are experiential moments of profoundity, that have no expectation and require no result. In those liminal moments, we are the universe experiencing itself.

I wanted to honour those moments and celebrate the beauty and peace I found. This series of works are meditations on those fleeting moments and memories, both real and imagined. An attempt to distil the colours, shapes and textures that represent that time and feeling. I hope I convey some of the magic, majesty and reverence I felt bearing witness to this theatre of life; my untethering from the demands of a constructed and moribund reality.

NATURE SERIES BY MIA SCHOEN

En Plein Air Various/Jacana Weather

Through painting I've been exploring energetic expression and distilling my experience of nature and landscape through two differing source modes.

Through the En Plein Air painting practice I have adventured so to speak and immersed myself in place from the highly cultivated Botanic Gardens to the wilder spaces of rivers edge and mountainside. The act of painting in-situ in this way allows for a kind of meditation in place – temperature, colour, shifting light, the expanded and contracted moment become an overview of experience directly connecting the painting to an energetic remembrance of place.

The Jacana weather paintings present a small cross-section of the ever changing and awe-inspiring moments I have been documenting in the skies around my home and studio. ‘Weighted’ scenes are expanded from the mechanical eye, whose stasis, push the real to the unbelievable.

EMILY BICKERTON

Through the organic material of clay, this small body of work is an effort towards making sense of the duality of form and function, a practice of the art of letting go in the ceramic process, and a gentle sensitivity to material and finish. Each piece arrived in mind after sifting through the work of different sculptors across a large scope of mediums, whilst maintaining a firm commitment to intuitive impulses as sketching and building the work had begun. Though upon reflection they perhaps make little sense as a collection of work together, the objects were formed at times with the poetry of David Whyte echoing in my ears through headphones, other moments in a deafeningly quiet air of contemplation as I slushed the clay between my fingers, or a racing mind filled with thoughts best left alone. Fundamentally, they share a connection rooted in exploration, coming into knowing oneself and learning to accept how I am presenting in this way in the world, at this particular moment in time.

@emilybickerton

Memories lie dormant until needed. If we do not or cannot recall them, they are forgotten. My sculptures spring from a personal incident of forgetting, one where I could not recall the details in a photograph from a family album. There is much writing which explains photographs with extended physicality (frames, jewellery, alters, etc.) embed memories into our brain more successfully. My sculptures attempt to re-engage with the forgotten by creating physical manifestations of the gaps in recall in photographs. I recreate the forgotten elements to reconnect with an experience, to drag it back from the pit of forgetting and reset it into memory. A speculative process certainly, but one that has helped draw me closer to the forgotten. 

Title : Processing

Polystyrene, wood, and acrylic paint

Dimensions: 200 cm high,  60 x 60 cm approx. wide and deep

$6,500.00

Below the surface

I believe that there is an inner reality visible to our imaginations which may be accessed through the exploration of the moods and emotions evoked by individual colours and their relationships in a painting. This reality may also be evoked by the relationship of colours, shapes, textures and marks, applied to the work, and its overall balance and composition.

In the collection of work in this exhibition, I seek to explore this reality seeking to create a sense of excitement, wonder and drama, as well as energy and complexity.

Most of the paintings are abstract and have been created intuitively without a reference to any images derived from nature. The two works which relate to a tropical forest, have been inspired by my experience living in the South Pacific, and photographs of a South Pacific jungle.

The Catalogue

The Exhibition View

Imperfect Icons

‘Imperfect Icons’ is a series of paintings that explore personal iconography. Denisenko’s interest in icons was sparked by the influence of being raised with Russian Orthodox religious iconography, having the childhood impression of icons being what was perfect, unobtainable - almost mythical. In adolescent and early adulthood the ‘icon’ was synonymous with pop culture heroes before becoming a mode of self-curation - being one's own icon from a fashion/style standpoint.  Now icons have become cherished family and friends, specifically family. While working on this series Denisenko’s historic family farm established by her Russian migrant grandparents was sold, bringing an end to a family era spanning 63 years. Seeing members of an inner circle through a lens of maturity that recognises how they have shaped others and herself she sees them as expressions of "wabi sabi" - perfectly imperfect. They have known both joy and pain, have accepted themselves for who they are, and while not always angelic, they are authentic, real, whole and inspired. 

The Catalogue

GROUP SHOW : WOMAN, LIFE, FREEDOM

Sol Gallery dedicates one of the galleries to Iranian and Kurdish artists for solidarity with Iranian and Kurdish women in their struggle for freedom.

This exhibition is dedicated to Mahsa Amini

I raise up my voice — not so that I can shout, but so that those without a voice can be heard … We cannot all succeed when half of us are held back.
- Malala Yousafzai

Curated by Avan Anwar and Sol Gallery

Nature Abstracted

Eddy Burger is a Melbourne based writer, performer and visual artist lately focused on lurid manipulated photos and surreal spontaneous line drawings. His exhibition Nature Abstracted is a collection of artworks that use nature’s natural designs to form works modern and/or abstract, comprised of his photographic abstract rock-design series and his sculptural Mallee root series.

Eddy has been photographing rock designs for decades, primarily along Victoria’s coastal regions, such as Lorne, Apollo Bay and Wye River on the Great Ocean Road. His emphasis is on the amazing designs that can be found in coastal rocks, be they on the shoreline or the cliffs, in sunlight or shade, wet, pale or dark, grey or subtlety coloured, perhaps accompanied by shells, seaweed, sand and animal tracks. Nature did much of the work so Eddy’s job was finding, isolating and cropping to create the perfect composition, accentuated by the manipulation of colour and tone. The aesthetic is of abstract art created by the natural world, yet this series varies from remaining close to the natural colours and tones, which in themselves look marvellous and remarkable, to the totally abstract, void of any semblance of rock, though their designs were created by nature.

Eddy loves playing around with tone, colour and texture using digital manipulation software, often with the intention of making something miraculous out of the ordinary, though these rock designs are far from ordinary. In a previous BlackCat exhibition he produced hundreds of variations of the same image, yet the photos in this exhibition were derived from varied images, still with some duplication but also with more closely cropped, zoomed-in versions that highlight the fact more great compositions can be found if one zooms in or out.

The sculptural component of this exhibition is Eddy’s Mallee Root series. It was created independently of his abstract rock-design series yet both emphasise miraculous beautiful designs found in nature, which eddy then emphasises, manipulates and transforms to varying degrees in order to create something remarkable and/or that looks really good. In many, the wood’s natural colour and patterns are visible, some surfaces polished or varnished, while others are painted, carved and decorated. Eddy sources his roots from firewood stores and has to clean them as well as strip them of bark, which is often shaggy and hides the roots’ remarkable shapes, textures and grain.

The Artwork

Images: (left to right) Jade Walsh, Lauren Tausend

The Feelings Mutual

‘The Feelings Mutual’ is a project by two artists who work with textiles; Lauren Tausend and Jade Walsh. Two separate exhibitions showing alongside each other with common threads of heartbreak, love and vulnerability.

The Artwork

While every artist has their own process or unique rhythm, my own can often be sporadic. I find this creates its very own venture when viewing my work, it creates wonderment and the chance to see something different with every glimpse. As I try to keep this in mind, I let myself trust the process as each layer builds upon the last, merging together to create subtle nuances of masked chaos. 

Using a combination of acrylic and oil paints, and with a loose direction in mind, I begin layering up each piece with ample motion, large brushes, and wide free-flowing strokes, focusing on vibrant and playful, but also emotionally charged colours. Moving deeper into the details of each piece I spend time blending colours, layers and building texture, using circular motions to create a softness between each colour.

Initially my work appears as abstract representations of flowery galaxies but after giving them your focused attention, you begin to realise how much more there is to discover in each piece, and every piece tells a different story to the observer, emphasising the viewers own aesthetic senses, taking them on an expedition of possibilities through their own style of escapism.

Nothing about my work is meant to confuse the viewer, each piece is created with the purpose of enjoyment and wonder, but that is only the beginning. The pieces require you to spend time with them, to sit with them and get lost in the layers, forever noticing little changes. The longer you spend with each piece, the more connected you find yourself, sinking deeper into the layers of mayhem, fading beauty, and forgotten detail beneaththe aesthetic layer of the finished piece. Each piece is like a good story, you can’t rush through it, you don’t know everything that happens by looking at the cover but give it time, and the piece will tell you its’ story.

The Catalogue

This series of works is an attempt to spread empathy for the plight of others who have completely different lives, and to break-free from sexual or ideological suppression. Each individual human being has the right to be recognized as valid and possess autonomy over their own bodies.

Throughout my travels, I’ve seen many representations of phallic symbols and penises. There is such a wide variety of male genitalia on displays, everything from penis candles and candy, bottle openers… even penis aprons! This left me to wonder – where are all the representations of female genitalia? Is this symbolic of the gab in gender equality that still exists today?

During my time as a tattoo artist after coming back from Australia, I placed some art pieces of female genitalia in my work area to observe the clients’ reactions. They seemed reluctant or too shy to even say the word “vagina”, myself included. Why is this word so tabooed, and what makes it so offensive? Does a word ‘vagina’ have a place to be discussed in the world today?

Females frequently have more gracile bone structures and possess less musculature comparing to males. From outside appearances females may appear weak and vulnerable. The females experience of life, however, comes with a necessity of resilience and a tolerance for pain and mental strength. So our physical bodies are simply shells, they are not the sum total of what we are. Shells are only the outer visible layer; they hide all of what is within. 

Considering shellfish, their outer layer is a necessity of protection and survival.  Shellfish simply could not survive their environments without their shells. But the hard external layer of the shell, the protection is also created from within. The beauty of Nacre (Mother of pearl) produced by some shellfish is a form of protection against some parasites that would otherwise destroy the shellfish.

Ottchil(lacquering) is a traditional technique from South Korea that dates back over 1000 years. It is a discipline that requires patience, concentration, and endurance. The applying technique is time intensive and requires a careful awareness of detail. The process utilizes resin extracted from trees and has its roots in providing resilience to furniture. By applying the technique only used for 3 dimensional items as furniture to 2 dimensional drawings, it led to the birth of ‘Ottchill drawings’. It could only happen because the concentration on what is Ottchill, which is the paint. In the same sense, I hope that we all could just accept the part of natural body as it is and be free from conceptual jail.

The Artist

The Artwork

I create portraits of the women that live in my imagination.

Each wears a gossamer garment that is like a tattoo on the skin.

They will always meet your gaze, confident of their place in the world.

Simultaneously archetypal and ethereal.

The Artwork

Heart’s Eye

Heart's Eye is an exhibition of photographic works by Katrina Lezaic in response to the poetry of Melbourne artist and writer, Simon Petkovich. Lezaic’s images respond to the aesthetic and rhythmic quality of Petkovich's poems by editing, rearranging, repurposing and juxtaposing images accrued over 20 years of photographic practice. The finished works combine 2D and 3D elements from digital photography and film, imbued with the artist’s personal journey, memories and life experiences. With an interest in the power of intuition, the works are meditations on the "infra-ordinary" - the non-event and the everyday. Here, everything boils down to rhythm, writing turns into time and the line between the empirical and the surreal grows surprisingly thin.

The Artwork

NO PHOTO EVER SEEN

No Photo Ever Seen, is a photographic project which explores accounts and abstractions related to Unexplained Aerial phenomena, or what is commonly referred to as - UFO Activity. The anchor of the project is based on the mass UFO sighting of April 6th, 1966. The event in question was situated over and within a Westall school ground in Melbourne Australia. It is said that over 300 staff and students saw unidentified flying objects breach their school grounds and it has since been coined as ‘The Westall UFO incident’.

The work is the culmination of Moore’s Master of Arts – Photography project undertaken at Photography Studies College, Melbourne, over the last 18 months. Moore uses assorted photographic and narrative building methodologies to investigate the subject matter and illicit mystery, strangeness and ultimately intrigue into the paranormal. Techniques adopted range from the mix of colour and black and white images, found documents, archival imagery, and personal writings that depict detailed encounters and quotes from UFO witnesses themselves. The project is driven by his own sighting in 2007 in the coastal town of Batemans Bay in NSW.

The Artwork

My practice is mainly material and process driven. These explorations have centred around the discovery of found images and materials. The process involves gestural application of medium and frottage/stamping. The result is a new filter for the viewer, hopefully triggering an imaginative response.

These works have a foundation in nostalgia. They are a response to recollections of my childhood; memories of drawing and expressing myself visually. As a child I would frequently draw imaginary sporting contests with a central figure clutching a ball while flying on someone’s back—I imagined myself as that figure most of the time. During this period I also had access to a large box of rubber stamps and would spend hours using them on butcher’s paper to create landscapes and narratives. The stamps were made of wood and rubber and were old and well used. The familiarity of these objects were a source of comfort and a frequent tool in my youthful process. I enjoyed seeing the areas where the ink printed the edges of the negative space behind the main stamp.

The photographic elements of this show are a manifestation of my desire to highlight the movement of the figure while engaging in sport. By manipulating and deconstructing a selected figure within the image, the beauty of their movement is amplified. At first glance, the expectancy of figure is recognisable to the viewer. On closer inspection, the juxtaposition of their physicality versus their fragility and precision of movement becomes apparent.

The block elements are created from reclaimed and waste building insulation. The line of the figure, the stamp, is generally made of reclaimed perspex in relief. The resulting impression stamped into the foam block becomes the starting point of the story. The block is then pushed and pulled with medium until it gives up its individual tale. I call the collective works “narrative blocks”, which can be curated in any order. The viewer can rearrange the blocks in any order to reflect their own stories.

The Artwork

Images: (left to right) Freya Skarsgard, Georgia Laurie

In-between worlds by Freya Skarsgard

Freya’s artistic research is concerned with the role of contemporary sublime as a means of processing personal experiences that may be acquired in the dialogue of human and phenomena of nature (‘divine’, or ‘more than human’).

Freya is specifically interested in the encounters with the natural world. When being influenced by the reality of physical momentum the spectator perceives a spectrum of subtle but strong emotional reflections which can be paralleled with the harshness of rapid social and ecological shifts of contemporaneity. She considers experiencing the feeling of awe as a starting point for one’s ability to deepen the genuine connection with the planet.

Represented in the form of deities, clothed in human form, this ancient image has been known to mankind for many centuries. In her paintings, Freya shows us a rare moment of encounter between mere mortal man with a god in a human likeness. This moment traditionally interprets a possible origin of how the natural lore was acquired by humans. Looking back to our mythical and literal legacy, deities may bestow new knowledge to people in exchange for their own unfathomable goals.

In this body of work, Freya aims to convey the imagery of nature in two forms – a dreamscape-based re-interpretation of the natural environment and through the anthropomorphic image of nature that often appears as a deity. Fluctuating in between these two modes of perception, Freya articulates the duality and complexity of the divine bond of mankind and Nature.

Georgia Laurie

Fundamentally my work is about myself, the sitter and everything in-between. The paintings that I have made as a apart of the ‘In Between Two worlds’ show dwell on the solo effort of navigating through the world at a time of uncertainty and isolation. At once reminiscent of both a dystopia and a dreamscape, the paintings take the viewer on a serene journey through the feeling of being alone with one’s thoughts. By turns contemplative and at times playful, the paintings are an imagined vision of our current world. The subjects portrayed stand strong, traversing the chaos suggested by the barren landscapes. I explore the elegance, sophistication, and power of femininity, whilst also conveying a sense of vulnerability and self-examination. These ideas bind together to create a narrative that is vivid yet strange, mysterious, and atmospheric.

Though self-isolation has forced us to beat a path through rugged terrain, it is also a way for us to better know ourselves, to find richness in solitude and to reconnect with our inner being. We can shape our sense of grief and loss through expressing contrasting states of being; stillness vs movement, grace vs strength, struggle vs acceptance.

My process starts by first staging a photoshoot, the resulting images are then dissembled through collage to create multiple perspectives within the one composition. When I reach a balance between the found, cut, and created elements in the image, I then begin to construct the painting, using the collage as my guide, building up the density of colour slowly through successive glazes in oil. When producing a body of work, I immersed myself completely in each stage of the process, painting every day as a way of navigating through our complex world

The Artwork

Fractured, Scattered and Gathered – A Pandemic Retrospective

The global pandemic has fractured our perception of everyday existence. These pictures are the results of reflections during several lockdowns in Melbourne, where Ben Goh uses the allegory of a broken mirror to fragment his photographs. The exhibition showcases cracked images that depict scattered families, an overwhelmed society and a dystopian reality. This body of work honours not just those who suffered through these times, but also those who continued to serve. It offers the viewer an alternate perspective of grace and gratitude as we look towards the future.

Goh has always been captivated by reflections. His previous projects turned photographs into impressionist paintings using reflections from water bodies. In his latest exhibition, he sketches distorted images using broken mirrors to present a narrative of the pandemic - the struggles and the overcoming of them.

The Artwork

Nah, You’re Not

Curiosity, chaos and connection underpin my multidisciplinary art practice and explorations within Nah You’re Not. Constantly reaching to my inner child, I create raw, personal work with a playful approach.

Nah, You’re Not is an exhibition exploring the imbalance between my strong connection to my Italian heritage and deep disconnect to my Aboriginal culture. Formative experiences have led to a disconnect from my Aboriginality. As a child, when I eventually learnt that I was not only Italian, but Aboriginal also, I was excited to share this knowledge with my friends and people I met. It was a new element to my identity I could now explore. When I felt it was right, I would intertwine the news into the conversation. I would simply say, “I’m Aboriginal”. With no hesitation, the response was almost always, something akin to “Nah you’re not!” Shut down by dismissive comments, over time I gradually crept back into my shell, too scared to mention my Aboriginality again.

Well, it is now time to confront the “Nah you’re not’s”.

To learn about my history and form clarity, I began to manipulate personal found images into digital collages. With vibrant colours and roughly cut out imagery of Italian and Aboriginal culture, my playful and chaotic approach to artmaking is apparent. Alongside these collages hang individual pieces of pasta embellished with dot painting, an intertwined presence of tangible elements from both cultures.

This body of work has been an all-consuming, rewarding journey, which is just beginning. I am encouraged to share my explorations in the hope that I can provide a space for empowerment. I am proud to share Nah You’re Not with you.

The Artwork

Through My Eyes by Cornelia Weel

Painting for me is the wonderfully unique experience which results in a personal style that usually allows the canvas to explode with colour. As a colourist, the last few  years were peppered with lockdowns,  a sense of isolation on many levels, became my challenge. This can be clearly seen in the two works entitled “HEADS OF STATE“ It is knowing the deepest darkness within the green of life.

The main body of my work for this exhibition, draws upon the CONSTRUCTION that goes into. making up the visuals of our city. However, because I delight in the use of a strong colour pallet, I have chosen to “put flesh” on the cold, empty structures that dominated our skyline and many urban areas.

In isolation, the human endeavours became fixed in my mind’s eye and were able to be merged with shapes and colours which in turn became a driving force For my current exhibition, my art process reflected life situations through a range of acute emotions and chaos leading to a place of calm and serenity. Art became a bridge builder enabling me to continue looking forward.

I am transfixed as I see colour bouncing!

Cornelia Weel

If These Walls Could Speak! by Marija Newbold

The Abbotsford Covent in Melbourne, now a significant arts precinct,  has a dark history of the treatment of ‘fallen’ women and their babies in the last century.  I have visited this place many times, these days to enjoy making art and appreciating its transformation.

Looking at the walls I related them to people hiding behind their own protective layers, what stories would they share. Like the peeling walls that reveal beauty and character, we too are able to shed and peel away  layers and reveal our truth.

On one of my visits, I reflected upon my educational years within a similar convent interstate. I stood alone, remembering how I felt within its walls, recalling some good and some bad experiences, peeling away the layers,  the generation of stories and events that lay behind the patina of plaster and paint.

This body of work shows my intention to capture the rawness and beauty, that comes from the peeling to reveal whats beneath the surface.

Marija Newbold

Perpetual Learner

I have been a painter for the last thirty years – I got the bug when I was given a set of oil paints and some small canvass boards as a birthday gift. Now, in my sixtieth year, I can afford the luxury of time to create in my own studio.

I have some experience of exhibiting; group shows, some competitions, and have sold well, and I taught beginners for a short time from a private Gallery. After the last Global Financial Crisis, I took a few years off– art is always the first to feel the effects of economic down-turns – but when I picked up the brush again eighteen months ago it was with a renewed vigor and hyper-active enthusiasm.

My new work is simply about solidifying my artistic identity and introducing myself to the larger Melbourne/Australian arts community. I am passionate about my art, and my variety of life experiences helps enhance my images and the stories I need to tell. I also want to impart more than just a captured moment: I need my works to have a before and after - as if I have created a full sense of time that has a past, a present and a future. As any good story should.

I try to create believable characters. Even my lollipops have character - in their shape and form, size, and their individual twists and twirls, they identify differently but are similar in their biology. I hope they impart a fun yet striking statement about inclusion for all genres of humanity.

My birds are characters. Some are even larrikins. The three amigos (Rainbow lorikeets playing in a low tree branch) are a perfect example of inner-city characters and how they live peacefully and undisturbed amongst us. I came across them, no more than a metre away in a small gum tree while walking my dog one morning, and they were just as curious of me as I was of them.

I am excited about my current works and, more-so, what I have planned for the future. A recent trip to East Arnhem land has burned a deep impression in me and I have already begun work on a solid series.

I hope Melbourne’s art fans enjoy my images as much as I enjoyed bringing them to life.

@the_artist_anka

The Artwork