Image above: Days of Summer 2008-23 hand-coloured woodcut with lapis lazuli on paper edition unique 44 x 59 cm
“…I was inspired to create this series of images by becoming aware of the abundance of beauty in the flora and fauna around us. I have become very conscious of the variety, subtlety and grandeur of each form of life; and I hope that viewers will respond to these images in the same way.” – Salvatore Zofrea
We are delighted to announce Salvatore Zofrea’s online exhibition Days of Summer, running from November 2023 through to March 2024.
This exhibition is a culmination of over twenty years of printmaking and comprises 40 woodcut prints of Australian fauna and flora. This particular set has been painted by the artist using precious lapis lazuli pigment. To view the online exhibition click here.
Days of Summer coincides with presentation at Clayton Utz organized by 3:33 Art Projects, where you can view Zofrea’s extensive collection of works including his iconic 30 metre long work, Midday light, depicting wildflowers in the shimmering Australian light.
Image above: Midday light 2021 oil and lapis lazuli on canvas 25 panels 152 x 122 cm each
Currently, Zofrea is working on his Four Circles series, depicting Australian wildflowers in their natural light at various times of the day – morning, midday, afternoon and evening. Each circle consists of 25 panels, each one being 153 cm high x 122 cm wide, totalling 30 metres in overall length.
Information about the 3:33 Art Project exhibition can be found at 333artprojects.com.
Please email sydney@australiangalleries.com.au with all enquiries
To read more about Salvatore Zofrea and view a selection of the artist’s work, click here.
In the Arnhem Land community of Ngukurr, elder Clarry Rogers is worried plans to allocate water to new gas fracking and cotton industries could damage his important dreaming and bush tucker sites along the Roper River.
“I’m pretty concerned about it, that’s why we want to [have] our voice heard, I know cotton takes a lot of water,” he said. “The level of the water [we believe] could drop and then we’ll be suffering because we won’t be getting any flows from the Roper.” Other Indigenous communities along the river’s 300 kilometres, in its 81,000 square kilometre catchment, are also concerned.
A group has banded together to raise attention to the issue, commissioning Melbourne artist Simon Normand to paint a 13-metre map petition of the river. Ngukurr elder, Robin Rogers, said he said he felt the images were more powerful than words. “That maps tells everything, it’s just like a bible,” he said. “It’s the map of the dreamings, like kangaroo, mermaid and goanna. “So white men can understand what we’re talking about.”
Mr Normand travelled through communities including Ngukurr, Jilkminggan and Minyerri, to ask traditional owners what dreamings they would like added to the map.
“The main thing we’re trying to show is that it’s a united voice,” he said.
“It’s really about the communities having the opportunity to voice their belief system in a way that shows the connection to country in such a huge region. “There’s eight different language groups all represented on the one river, and I think that’s why it’s so powerful.”
Clarry Rogers said the group would present the Roper River map to federal ministers in Canberra.
“When it’s all finished and it’s ready to be presented to the federal government, I’m willing to go to Canberra with Simon and other traditional owners from the area that we’re supposed to be looking after,” he said. “We will be talking to the politicians and explaining that it will affect us if the water is taken from the Roper, that we will suffer.”
Read the full article here.
Sourced: www.abc.net.au
For further information visit territoryrivers.org.au
Australian Galleries is thrilled to announce that Simon Normand will be exhibiting an extensive new body of work for the first time with our Melbourne gallery in February 2024.
Please email melbourne@australiangalleries.com.au with all enquiries.
This beautiful painting from Marina Strocchi‘s current exhibition, The vineyards of Madden’s Lane was one of a selection of the artist’s paintings and prints on display this weekend at the Melbourne Italian Festa.
‘The Melbourne Italian Festa is a magical gathering where the Italian community and everyone who’s head over heels for Italian culture come together.’
The Festa was held at the Royal Exhibition Building, Carlton on Sunday 26 November from 11am – 9pm.
Visit the Melbourne Italian Festa website for more information.
Marina Strocchi’s solo exhibition The Yarra Valley is on view at Australian Galleries Melbourne
open 7 days 10am – 6pm until Saturday 2 December
All current exhibitions can be viewed in full via our website.
Image above: Still Life: West Australian gum blossoms 1985 synthetic polymer paint on hardboard 122.7 x 91.5 cm
Vicki Varvaressos, a renowned Sydney based expressionist painter has been exhibiting since 1975 and has presented over 35 solo exhibitions. Working in both figuration and abstraction, Vicki’s style is distinct and unique, depicting contemporary life and her internal world. A selection of Varvaressos’ paintings is currently on display at the Art Gallery of New South Wales brick vase clay jug exhibition, curated by Glenn Barkley.
brick vase clay cup jug
on view until 7 January 2024
Art Gallery of New South Wales
South Building Lower level 2
To view the exhibition online click here
Guest curator Glenn Barkley selected the artworks in brick vase clay cup jug by typing the words of the exhibition title into the Art Gallery of New South Wales’ online collection database, retrieving objects linked only by a word or medium. Unlike the typical approach to making an exhibition, where works are grouped conceptually according to meanings or historical associations, this selection process is non-hierarchical and echoes the random groupings seen in gallery storage. Usually guided by pragmatic considerations – maximising space and access or caring for the collection – these incidental groupings can create inspiring and surprising links between disparate objects, art-handling equipment and exhibition furniture.Barkley has then taken cues from these search results, either aesthetic or conceptual, to cast a wider net through the collection, creating new connections – many of which are personal, visual, intuitive and emotional – between artworks.
‘I paint the things that interest me, that’s what I’ve always done regardless; whatever the content. It’s what I’m involved in and what I’m interested in at the time.’ – Vicki Varvaressos, 2015
You can also view Vicki’s works at the Art Gallery of New South Wales lower level 1, 20th century galleries and Members’ Lounge.
Vicki Varvaressos Six foot Caucasian with beard 1976 synthetic polymer paint and collaged paper on canvas 171.9 x 245.7 x 4.5 cm (lower level 1, 20th century galleries).
Thea and Maggie taking tea 1981 synthetic polymer paint on canvas 154 x 130 cm (Members’ Lounge).
We are delighted to announce that Vicky Varvaressos’ solo exhibition with Australian Galleries Sydney will be held from 10 – 29 September 2024.
Please email sydney@australiangalleries.com.au with all enquiries
To read more about Vicki Varvaressos and view a selection of the artist’s work, click here.
John Wolseley The life of inland waters – Durabudboi river (detail) 2015 – 2018
watercolour, graphite and woodcut on paper
Essays on Earth is a collaboration between multidisciplinary artist Brodie Ellis, painter and printmaker John Wolseley and poet Paul Kane, uniting the work of three leading artists of the Bendigo region.
Across three gallery spaces, Ellis and Wolseley’s focused observations of the natural world, expressed through photography, sculpture, painting and moving image, are arranged in dialogue with the elemental themes and poetic reflections of Kane’s recent series of ‘verse essays’, titled Earth, Air, Water, Fire (2022).
Grounded in a deep ecological awareness, Essays on Earth conjures complex systems of nature and their interconnectedness with human experience, inspiring wonder and appreciation for the delicate beauty and mysteries of the natural world from the minuscule to the vast.
Essays on Earth
Bendigo Art Gallery
42 View Street Bendigo
Current until 14 Jan 2024
Image above: Rona Green Petal 2023 hand coloured linocut edition 57 38 x 28 cm
Photography by Tim Gresham
Printmaker Rona Green has curated a group exhibition at the Art Gallery of Ballarat,
Whereabouts: Printmakers Respond, inviting 56 emerging and established artists from across Victoria to submit a work that responds to their relationship to place, country and home.Australian Galleries artists Sue Anderson, David Frazer, Rona Green, Kyoko Imazu, Glenn Morgan, Heather Shimmen and Deborah Williams all have works in the exhibition.
Whereabouts: Printmakers Respond
Now Open
Art Gallery of Ballarat
40 Lydiard Street, Ballarat VIC
Exhibition Launch
Saturday 16 December 2023
Free entry. All welcome!
Exhibition current until 4 February 2024
For further information on this exhibition, visit The Art Gallery of Ballarat’s website here
Sue Anderson Cygnet Boats 2023 drypoint edition 57 20 x 30 cm
printed by Bill Young Photography by Tim Gresham
David Frazer walking home 2023 wood engraving 11.5 x 15.5 irregular edition 57
Photography by Tim Gresham
Kyoko Imazu Horseshoe Bend 2023 etching and aquatint edition 57 17.5 x 29.5 cm
Photography by Tim Gresham
Glenn Morgan Cats 2023 linocut edition 57 26 x 28 cm
Photography by Tim Gresham
Heather Shimmen Chaos 2022 hand coloured linocut edition 57 38 x 28 cm
Photography by Tim Gresham
Deborah Williams celestial movement 2023 screenprint edition 57 28 x 38 cm
Photography by Tim Gresham
Image above: Kevin Mortensen and Stuart Purves at Australian Galleries Melbourne, 2016
All at Australian Galleries are deeply saddened to hear of the passing of Kevin Mortensen, who died peacefully in the Wonthaggi Hospital on the morning of Friday 10 November, with his close family by his side.
Kevin has exhibited with us for several decades. He had a unique way of viewing the world and the human condition, a vision which he expressed through extraordinary sculpture, constructions, paintings and etchings.
His exhibitions always brought with them a great intelligence, integrity and the challenge, through his art, of seeing familiar things in a new way through his artistic eye.
The beautiful publication ‘SERIOUS PLAY: The Art of Kevin Mortensen’ by Professor Rob Haysom was released in 2016.
We had the pleasure of exhibiting a magnificent series of Kevin’s work in Melbourne earlier this year, and Stuart was so pleased to meet with Kevin just last week, where the two had the opportunity to thank eachother for the rich history they have shared. Kevin was a highly respected figure in the art world and will be greatly missed.
Kevin Mortensen Fans in a stream 2020 ink and charcoal on paper 71 x 100 cm
Kevin Mortensen Early birds 2022 oil on linen 82 x 102 cm
Kevin Mortensen Climate change (gold) 2022 bronze and paint 64 x 70 x 21 cm
Image above: Sue Anderson Swift 2022 multi coloured lithograph edition 12, 59 x 42cm unframed
The Victorian Forest Alliance recently held a fundraising art auction, ‘Art for Forests’, to raise funds for forest protection.
Established in 2021, the Victorian Forest Alliance brings together more than 38 grassroots organisations that are actively protecting native forests across Victoria.
Artists Sue Anderson, Petrus Spronk, Thornton Walker and John Wolseley each donated a work to the cause.
This year, Art for Forests raised close to $30,ooo.
The auction is available to view online here.
Thornton Walker Waiheke Island, NZ ink and watercolour 26 x 34 cm (framed 50.5 x 57 cm)
John Wolseley Australasian Grebes on the the Witjibar River with Lacustrine Insects 2018-2022 etching and watercolour edition of 15 58 x 45 cm unframed
Petrus Spronk Ceramic Bowl 9 cm diameter
Congratulations to Camie Lyons on her latest commission of sculptures and works on paper for the Trenery flagship store in Melbourne as well as in selected Trenery stores nationally.
Camie Lyons skillfully weaves elements of strength and fragility in her work. Her sculptures are made from found Australian native branches, which she bends and binds into arresting forms, then casts in bronze—a process that can take several months. The finished works serve as a wellspring of inspiration for her charcoal drawings.
“The whole process begins with me walking in the bush. When you’re going out on those great, long walks, you start breathing in time with it, your footprints are making a beat, you start this whole rhythm of collecting.” – Camie Lyons, 2023
To view the wonderful interview with Camie Lyons in her studio as she creates these beautiful custom-designed pieces for Trenery, click here.
Camie Lyons is a Sydney-based artist that works across a variety of mediums including sculpture, painting and drawing. Lyons’ artistic practice is largely inspired by and incorporates her intuition and experience as a contemporary dancer. Gathering from this, she explores the free-flowing possibility of lines, form and movement created by the human body. Lyons studied Fine Arts at RMIT in Melbourne and later completed her Masters at the College of Fine Art (COFA), UNSW in Sydney. She has held several solo exhibitions with Olsen Irwin Gallery in Sydney and Scott Livesey in Melbourne, and has showed internationally at Australasian Art Projects and the Australian High Commission in Singapore, as well as The Cat Street Gallery in Hong Kong.
Lyons has travelled extensively throughout her life and has been an Artist in Residence in Sweden, Bulgaria, Bull Bay (TAS) and most recently at the Haefligers cottage in Hill End (NSW). In 2019, Lyons completed four large scale drawing commissions for Tiffany & Co. which are now on permanent display at their new flagship store in Sydney. And in what will be her first regional museum exhibition, Lyons will be showing a new body of work that was produced during the Hill End AIR at Bathurst Regional Art Gallery in 2019. Her work is in several public and private collections in Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Sweden, France, London, Thailand and New York.
Most recently, Camie was the winner of ‘Sculpture at Scenic World’ in the Blue Mountains (2021) and the Mount Eyre Art Prize (2023). She has also been awarded Highly Commended at both the Hawkesbury Art Prize and ‘Sculpture in the Garden’, held at Rosby Vineyard, Mudgee (2023). Her work graces both public and private collections worldwide.
Images above courtesy of Trenery.
Image: Jenny Rodgerson Self portrait with mudras 2023 oil on linen 165 x 107 cm
Congratulations to Michelle Hiscock and Jenny Rodgerson, who have been selected as a finalists in the 2023 Portia Geach Memorial Award.
Michelle Hiscock The Listener (Christopher Lawrence, broadcaster musician and conductor) oil on paper 29.5 x2 5.2cm
The Portia Geach Memorial Award is Australia’s most prestigious art prize for portraiture by women artists. The Award was established by the will of the late Florence Kate Geach in memory of her sister, Portia Geach. The non-acquisitive prize is awarded by the Trustee for the entry which is of the highest artistic merit, ‘…for the best portrait painted from life of some man or woman distinguished in Art, Letters, or the Sciences by after any female resident who was born in Australia or was British born or has become a naturalised Australian and whose place of domicile is Australia’.
The exhibition of finalists is now showing at the S.H Ervin Gallery, Sydney until 17 December 2023
Visit our online stock rooms to view available paintings and works on paper by Michelle Hiscock and Jenny Rodgerson
