Exhibition Calendar 2024

 

“I’m painting underground, what’s underground. Upside down: water, rockholes, lines beneath the sand-dunes.“

 

2012 Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award Winner Lydia Balbal presents a new body of work in April. A Mangala woman who was married to the Yulparija artist Nabiru Bullen until his death in 2009. Lydia's country is near Punmu in the Great Sandy Desert of W.A. Her people's existence was threatened by severe drought so that they had little choice but to leave their traditional country. Her family were some of the last to walk out to the coastal town of Bidyadanga (then La Grange Mission) located two hours south of Broome in the early 70s. Lydia first began painting in 2007 but has already received significant attention from collectors and the media with her dynamic, visceral works with free, expressive mark making. Depicting her Country, the Woman's Law Line and the king brown snake, we are delighted to present these new works from Balbal.

 

 

FOWLERS GAP RESIDENCY

13—19 May 24

 

Arthouse Gallery in collaboration with In The Field Artist Workshops will host a trip out to Fowlers Gap NSW. Artists include Susan Baird, Jo Davenport, Kate Dorrough, Belinda Fox, Clifford How, Nicole Kelly, Amelia Lynch, Lauren O’Connor, Colin Pennock, Hobie Porter, Emma Walker, Shona Wilson & Joshua Yeldham.

 

 

MULTI AWARD WINNING ARTIST EMMA WALKER

30 May – 22 June 24

Opening Celebration Thursday 30 May, 6 – 8pm

 

EMMA WALKER Immersion (detail), oil & acrylic on carved board, 180 x 150 cm; Emma Walker photographed by Lisa Sorgini

 

Emma Walker consistently and evocatively engages with the natural world, looking at the patterns and rhythms that recur in nature, we are delighted to be showing a new body of work from Walker at the gallery in May.

 

Carving, sanding, digging, grinding, glazing, dripping and scratching into layered timber, the artist creates a unique process and approach to her sculptural wall paintings. From ancient landscapes of sea, rock and sky to the microscopic patterns and rhythms that power existence, her work moves between the micro and the macro in a formative dance. As much about the process of painting as they are with visually imprinting the Australian environment, Walker’s unique imagery emerges from a combination of experimentation and automaticity, each mark growing from the next in a catalytic reaction that emulates the geological occurrences that cause continents to move and shorelines to reshape, etching on the faces of rocks, rivers and ravines.

 

Walker has been exhibiting for over thirty years. Her career has enjoyed the strong support of patrons Ann Lewis AO, Nick Waterlow, OAM and Julian Beaumont OAM. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the National Art School, Sydney, and she has also studied in Italy and travelled extensively. She was a finalist in the Paddington Art Prize (2017, 2013, 2010, 2008) and winner of the prestigious Jacaranda Acquisitive Drawing Award (2014). Walker has held numerous exhibitions in both Sydney and Melbourne, and her work features in several major public and corporate collections including Macquarie Bank, Australian Club, Sydney, Lismore Regional Gallery, Tweed Regional Gallery & Margaret Olley Art Centre and Bathurst Regional Gallery, in addition to various private collections in Australia, Indonesia, the Netherlands, Hong Kong, the United Kingdom and the United States.

 

 

WYNNE PRIZE FINALIST NICOLE KELLY

30 May – 22 June 24

Opening Celebration Thursday May, 6 – 8pm

 

NICOLE KELLY Black Swan Lake – Pink Dawn (detail), oil on polyester, 154 x 185 cm (framed); Nicole Kelly in her studio photographed by William Mansfield

 

Fresh from her selection for the Salon des Refusés 2023 at S.H Ervin Gallery and recently exhibiting in Singapore, Nicole Kelly returns to Sydney with a new exhibition of work lingering between the essence of a subject and the experience of being.

 

Clouded by the romanticism of remembering, her paintings are imbued with experience captured in vibrant strokes of colour and with swift brushwork. Kelly’s works, informed by an interest in literature and the discipline of painting, cast moments of shared stillness in an atmosphere of light. She says of her works “my desire is to push painting beyond a surface likeness of any subject and into the realm of poetics”.

 

Winner of the prestigious Brett Whiteley Travelling Art Scholarship (2009) and the Hurford Hardwood Portrait Prize (2018), Kelly is well recognised for her landscape, portraiture and still life painting. She has undertaken residencies in France (2019, 2018, 2017, 2010) and Spain (2016) and has completed major public commissions for the Sutherland and St George Hospitals in Sydney. Her work has been selected for inclusion in the Lester Prize for Portraiture at the Art Gallery of WA (2019, 2018, 2017, 2015), Portia Geach Memorial Award (2021, 2020, 2019, 2015, 2014), Salon des Refusés (2023, 2020, 2019) and Wynne Prize at the Art Gallery of NSW (2015). Kelly’s work is held in the collections of the Moran Art Foundation and Lismore Regional Gallery, among others. She has also recently completed her Masters of Fine Art at the University of New South Wales researching contemporary painting and poetic literature.

 

 

HERMANNSBURG POTTERS EXPLORE LIVED HISTORY THROUGH THE CERAMIC MEDIUM

27 June – 20 July 24

Opening Celebration Thursday 4 July, 5 – 7pm

 

VOIGHT RATARA Five Stories of Country, terracotta and underglazes, 26 x 14 x 14 cm; The Hermannsburg Potters photographed by Bec Capp

 

The Hermannsburg Potters are a dedicated group of Western Arrarnta artists creating vibrant handmade ceramic pots that encompass collective and individually lived histories in their distinct Country. The exhibition will feature the men of the community following a workshop with ceramicist Billy Bain.

 

 

ILTJA NTJARRA MANY HANDS CREATE CONVERSATION OF LAND CONSERVATION THROUGH REPURPOSED ROAD SIGN PAINTINGS

27 June – 20 July 24

Opening Celebration Thursday 4 July, 5 – 7pm

 

REINHOLD INKAMALA Boxing Arras / Kangaroos, acrylic on repurposed road sign, 120 x 120 cm

 

We are delighted to present a new exhibition from Iltja Ntjarra Art Centre, following their exhibition with us in 2023, where the majority of works were acquired by the Powerhouse Museum.

 

Painting on repurposed road signs this unique and innovative body of work speaks to the way country is named and boundaries are drawn since colonisation. Whether used to direct traffic or to communicate specific rules, signs like these are crucial in governing our relationship to the land. In bright and arresting colours, they are used to convey laws and regulations across the continent. In the hands of the Iltja Ntjarra artists, their function is subverted to communicate important information relating to Country, its beauty, cultural practices and customary lore on traditional lands. Each sign has been painted with images of Country in the Hermansberg style. Alongside these beautiful images are messages that urge us to look after these precious lands for future generations, telling us that it is not something to be owned or taken advantage of for profit.

 

The Iltja Ntjarra artists' road signs featured in the 23rd Biennale of Sydney in 2022 and in 'Belonging / Tjoritjarinja' at Ngununggula in the Southern Highlands, 25 March - 21 May 2023. Their works have recently been acquired by the Murdoch University Art Collection as well as the Powerhouse Museum.

 

 

HIGHLY ACCLAIMED ARTIST BELINDA FOX

25 July – 10 August 24

Opening Celebration Thursday 25 July, 6 – 8pm

 

BELINDA FOX Lead the Way III (detail), watercolour, ink, acrylic spray, collage on board, 132.5 x 242.5 cm (framed); Belinda Fox in her studio photographed by Melinda Schawel

 

Following a major survey exhibition at Mildura Arts Centre, Belinda Fox presents a new exhibition of work in July.

 

Drawing from her virtuosic skills as a former Master Printer and fusing together profoundly personal and global concerns, Belinda Fox’s work lays bare the paradoxes endemic to contemporary human experience. Working in painting, drawing, glass, sculpture, printmaking and collaboration, Fox examines the volatility of our era, excavating the iridescent beauty that flickers below the shadowy surface of conflict and despair. Currently based in Melbourne, Fox presents us with a series in which beauty is a gateway into dense conceptual terrain patchworked with blackness and light, an ‘antidote’ to our polarised epoch; a bridge connecting us through a shared – albeit almost forgotten – humanity.

 

Forging an international career in Australia, USA, Europe, Hong Kong, Singapore, Korea and Jakarta, Fox has received several notable awards including the Paul Guest Drawing Prize (2010) and Burnie Print Prize (2007) and been a finalist in the Swan Hill Print & Drawing Award (2022, 2018, 2006, 2004) and Fremantle Art Prize (2007, 2006, 2003). Her work is held in major collections including the Art Gallery of New South Wales, National Gallery of Victoria, National Gallery of Australia, Manly Art Gallery & Museum, Queensland University of Technology Art Museum, Artbank, Fremantle Arts Centre, Print Council Of Australia, Swan Hill Regional Gallery and Wollongong University.

 

 

NGV TRIENNIAL ARTIST JOSHUA YELDHAM

29 August – 14 September 24

Opening Celebration Thursday 29 August, 6 – 8pm

 

JOSHUA YELDHAM Bougainvillea Owl (detail), acrylic on hand-carved board, 246.5 x 201.5 cm (framed); Joshua Yeldham photographed by Jo Yeldham

 

Joshua Yeldham's work continues to inspire, and with the close of 2023, was announced as an artist in the National Gallery of Victoria's Triennial 2023 exhibiting work alongside Tracy Emin, Yoko Ono, Sheila Hicks and David Shrigley. In August 2024, Arthouse Gallery will present a new exhibition of work featuring paintings, carved photomedia, sculpture and ceramics.

 

Drawing from a deep observation and a reverential love of nature, Joshua Yeldham’s art practice forms a complex interplay between narrative and myth, imagination and experience. Through his highly symbolic visual vernacular, the artist takes us on an inward odyssey exploring the threads that weave cultural ideologies, philosophies and religions across East and West. Working across painting, kinetic and musical sculpture, carved works on paper and photography, Yeldham has developed a singular aesthetic that often conflates these various mediums.

 

Joshua Yeldham has exhibited widely throughout Australia and internationally. In 2017 he was awarded the renowned Nancy Fairfax Artist Residency at Tweed Regional Gallery & Margaret Olley Arts Centre, that culminated in a critically acclaimed survey exhibition. Yeldham has been a finalist in numerous prestigious awards including the Wynne Prize (2019, 2018, 2017, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2009), Archibald Prize (2013), Sulman Prize (2006, 1998) and Mosman Art Prize (2005, 2003) and in 2015 he participated in the London Art Fair, ART15. Yeldham’s work is held in many important collections including Mosman Art Gallery, Manly Art Gallery and Museum, Australian Stock Exchange, University of Wollongong and BHP Billiton Collection, as well as numerous private collections in Australia and overseas.

 

 

SYDNEY CONTEMPORARY ART FAIR
JOSHUA YELDHAM

Sydney Contemporary Art Fair

5 – 8 September 24

 

JOSHUA YELDHAM Yeomans Bay – Bird Rock (detail), acrylic & cane on hand-carved board, 202 x 246 cm (framed); Joshua Yeldham in his studio photographed by Jo Yeldham

 

Arthouse Gallery is delighted to announce that Joshua Yeldham will be our feature artist at Sydney Contemporary. Showcasing a second body of work following his exhibition at Arthouse Gallery in August, the works will be on display at Carriageworks from September 5– 8, 2024.

 

Major galleries take part across Australia and abroad with thousands of new artworks on display, it is the perfect place to discover, love and collect contemporary art.

 

 

NICOLA MOSS' DYNAMIC WORLD OF PAPER CUT-OUTS

19 September – 12 October 24

Opening Celebration Thursday 19 September, 6 – 8pm

 

NICOLA MOSS Forest Walk, acrylic and paper on linen, 171 x 171 cm (framed); Nicole Moss in her studio photographed by Ella May Fitzgerald

 

Len Fox prize finalist Nicola Moss explores the fragility of landscape through her stunning paintings composed of intricate paper cut outs at Arthouse Gallery in September.

Probing the intersection of politics and ecology Nicola Moss' collaged works highlight the importance of green spaces amid congested urban environments. Relying on an archive of papers coloured using paint, graphite, printmaking and various stains, Moss' materials travel with her as she explores the physical landscape. Impressions from tree bark frottage rubbings, for example, become collaged elements of her compositions. Framing nature as a source rather than a resource the artist highlights how intrinsic sustainable green spaces are to our well-being, both physical and mental.

 

Moss has exhibited throughout Australia, Japan, Sweden and the USA, was awarded the Moreton Bay Region Art Award (2012) and in 2019 was selected to participate in the artist in residence program at the Scuola Internazionale di Grafica, Venice. She has been a finalist in numerous awards including the Len Fox Painting Prize (2022), John Leslie Art Prize (2020), Fisher’s Ghost Art Award (2019), STILL: National Still Life Award (2019) and Sunshine Coast Art Prize (2018, 2017, 2014). Her work is held in many important collections including the Bathurst Regional Art Gallery, Moreton Bay Region Art Collection, HOTA (Home of the Arts) and the Social Securities Appeals Tribunal, Brisbane.

 

 

DESERT ARTIST, WYNNE & SULMAN PRIZE FINALIST JO BERTINI

17 October – 9 November 24

Opening Celebration Thursday 17 October, 6 – 8pm

 

JO BERTINI Breath of the Last Wild River, iridescent pigments & oil on French polyester canvas, 203.5 x 203.5 cm (framed); Jo Bertini photographed by Thomas Studer

 

Critically acclaimed, multi-prize winning and well-loved artist Jo Bertini returns to Sydney from her home in New Mexico for an exciting exhibition exploring desert landscapes.

Bertini’s paintings are an exploration of the true nature of wilderness. Drawing from the traditions of artists on scientific and ecological survey expeditions into the most remote and inaccessible regions, Bertini celebrates her long and intimate engagement with the desert. Her work bears witness to natural and human histories of nomadism observing the seasonal rhythm of landscapes and the people connected to them. With loose yet refined brushwork, she finds a balance between simple and complex, rescuing beauty from desolate landscapes.

 

An award winning painter, educator and writer, she has thirty years of experience as a professional exhibiting artist. Her works are held in the collections of Artbank, National Museum of Australia and the National Portrait Gallery. Bertini has been a finalist in numerous art prizes, including the Portia Geach Memorial Award (2022, 2021, 2017, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2009, 2008, 2006, 2005, 2004), Wynne Prize (2015), Tattersalls Art Prize (2019, 2015, 2014), Calleen Art Award (2014, 2013), Mosman Art Prize (2023, 2014, 2013, 2011, 2007, 2006, 2004, 2002, 2001) and Sulman Prize (2011, 2010).

 

 

NORTHERN RIVERS ARTIST HOBIE PORTER

14 – 30 November 24

Opening Celebration Thursday 14 November, 6 – 8pm

 

HOBIE PORTER Looking Through the Angophoras (Berry Island) (detail), oil on polyester canvas, 166.5 x 86.5 cm (framed); Hobie Porter photographed by Justin Ealand

 

The fragility of the natural environment and the human impact on our climate is a topic that is defining our time, Hobie Porter's virtuosic landscapes explore this fraught subject in a new much anticipated exhibition at Arthouse Gallery in November.

 

Rendered with microscopically detailed trompe l’oeil, the paintings conjure the notion of environmental catharsis and transformation while, paradoxically, questioning the concept of sustainability and humanity’s intoxication by our own consumption. While exploring anthropogenic notions of loss and neglect, Porter’s paintings also poetically point towards transcendence and redemption.

 

Porter has exhibited nationally since 2004 with major exhibitions at Bundaberg Regional Art Gallery, Lismore Regional Gallery, Tweed Regional Gallery & Margaret Olley Arts Centre and in 2017 was invited to participate in the 'North Head Project' at the Manly Art Gallery & Museum. His work is held in numerous public collections, including Warrnambool Art Gallery, Bundaberg Regional Art Gallery, Tweed Regional Gallery & Margaret Olley Arts Centre, Mosman Art Gallery and Manly Art Gallery & Museum.

 

 

WYNNE AND SULMAN PRIZE FINALIST ROBYN SWEANEY

5 – 21 December 24

Opening Celebration Thursday 5 December, 5 – 7

 

ROBYN SWEANEY Greenhouse Effect, acrylic on polycotton, 43 x 53 cm (framed); Robyn Sweaney photographed by Oh Boy Agency

 

Highly acclaimed and regarded artist Robyn Sweaney explores nostalgia and suburbia in her tightly-choreographed paintings in a new exhibition coming to the gallery in December.

The artist’s preoccupation with the Australian architectural vernacular – particularly from the post war period – is rooted in an enduring fascination with the physiognomy of cultural identity. Domestic dwellings divulge more than their mere exteriors, functioning as physical incarnations of the aesthetic, ideological and social structures influencing human behaviour. Informed by travel through familiar and unfamiliar rural and suburban places, Sweaney finds that, ‘certain elements of place resonate an unexplainable reaction within me – something ignites deep within memory. The landscape is somehow opened up by the search itself and my response can reach beyond its visual appearance.

 

Sweaney has exhibited regularly since 1992 and been involved in over ninety group exhibitions. She was the winner of the Wynne Trustees’ Watercolour Prize, AGNSW (2019) and has been the finalist of many major awards including the Wynne Prize (2023, 2019, 2017, 2011), Salon Des Refusés (2022, 2021, 2018, 2016, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2010, 2009, 2008), Jacaranda Acquisitive Drawing Prize (JADA) (2018, 2014, 2010, 2008, 2004), Mosman Art Prize (2015, 2010, 2009), Paddington Art Prize (2023, 2015, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009), Moran Prize (2012, 2011), Portia Geach Memorial Award (2019, 2013), Fleurieu Art Prize (2013) and the Sulman Prize (2009). Her work is held in public and private collections throughout Australia including The State Library of New South Wales, Artbank, The Gold Coast City Art Gallery, Tweed Regional Gallery, Stanthorpe and Grafton and Lismore Regional Galleries.

 

 

WOOLLAHRA SMALL SCULPTURE PRIZE FINALIST KENDAL MURRAY

5 – 21 December 24

Opening Celebration Thursday 5 December, 5 – 7pm

 

KENDAL MURRAY Sun Ray, Holiday, All Day, mixed media assemblage, 16.5 x 17 x 15 cm, 34 x 27 x 25 cm (display)

 

Capturing the attention of visitors to Sydney Contemporary in 2023 with her whimsical, imaginative miniature sculptural worlds, Woollahra Small Sculpture Prize finalist Kendal Murray draws 2024 to a climactic close.

 

Her miniature sculptures stage dream-like narratives that transport us to a place of wishful thinking, where we are invited to play, imagine, and fantasise about possibilities outside the reality of the everyday. Found objects such as tea cups and saucers, mirrored compacts and grass covered purses are used as eccentric stages for her tiny characters to enact a range of playful and dramatic scenarios. Each tableau vivant in miniature is imbued with social, symbolic and personal meanings that entice us to invest our own desires into the pleasurable outcomes of the stories being told, while offering a mirror to our idiosyncrasies.

 

Murray has had numerous solo and group exhibitions nationally and her work is held in public and private collections in Japan, Hong Kong, New Zealand, the UK, New York and Australia, including the Powerhouse Museum, Goulburn Regional Gallery, Coffs Harbour Regional Gallery, University of Western Sydney, University of New South Wales and the Commonwealth Bank Collection. She has been the recipient of several awards including the Deakin Small Sculpture Prize (2015) and the Beowulf Award in the Woollahra Small Sculpture Prize (2015). Her work has also been selected as finalist many times in the Woollahra Small Sculpture Prize (2023, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2010, 2004, 2001). She holds an MA (Hons) in Visual Art and is currently an Adjunct Fellow in the School of Humanities and Communication Arts, Western Sydney University.