OPENING NIGHT Tuesday 23 September 6pm – 8pm
Recent Work brings together a new series of paintings by Graeme Drendel that extend his distinctive exploration of solitude, ambiguity, and the quiet complexity of human presence. Long-time followers will recognise the visual continuity, stark horizon lines, muted colour palettes, and isolated figures or objects. Drawing on his early experiences in Victoria’s Mallee region, Drendel offers an honest, expansive backdrop that is flat, quiet, and unrelenting.
The figures in these works are contemplative, often inward-looking, their placement in the landscape charged with mystery and narrative tension. In some cases, human presence is implied rather than shown, replaced by solitary objects like a suitcase, a water tank, or an upholstered armchair. These paintings feel both familiar and unsettling, humorous and sombre, refined yet open to interpretation.
