News

Clara Adolphs, Richard Lewer, Zaachariaha Fielding, Ildiko Kovacs, and Josina Pumani announced as FINALISTS in the Archibald, Sir John Sulman, and Wynne Prizes

We are thrilled to share that Clara Adolphs and Richard Lewer have been announced as finalists in the 2025 Archibald Prize; and Zaachariaha Fielding and Ildiko Kovacs have been announced as finalists in the Sulman Prize! Also celebrating the inclusion of upcoming exhibiting artist Josina Pumani, who is also a finalist in the Wynne Prize.

The finalist exhibition will be presented from 10 May to 17 August 2025 at the Art Gallery of New South Wales.

Clara Adolphs, Adrian Jangala Robertson (paintbrush and hat), 2025, oil on linen, 62.5 x 62.5 cm

About this painting, Clara states: "I first saw Adrian’s work at last year’s Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair, and I was completely drawn in by a small painting of his depicting two figures, which I soon discovered were family members. I loved his use of colour and mark-making,’ says Clara Adolphs, who lives and works in the Southern Highlands, NSW. Her portrait subject, Adrian Jangala Robertson, is a Warlpiri man from the Central Western Desert region, who is also a finalist in this year’s Archibald.

I spoke to Adrian at the Bindi Mwerre Anthurre Artists studio a few times via video call, alongside the studio manager, before travelling to Mparntwe/Alice Springs for a few days of painting together. We come from different worlds but there are a lot of similarities in our work. He paints his family and I draw on old family photography. Adrian is non-speaking and English is his second language, but we communicated through our painting, sitting side by side,’ says Adolphs.

‘I took a lot of photos, as my usual work is photography-based. Back in my studio, I made several more portraits. This painting is quite simple, but I think it captures Adrian’s quiet confidence and self-assurance as a painter."

Richard Lewer, You are only as good as your last painting, 2025, acrylic on canvas, 200 x 200 cm

Richard Lewer’s self-portrait depicts him stepping back to examine his painting, having taken off his glasses.

"This portrait is an exploration of artistic discipline and the relentless pursuit of improvement. The title of the work, You are only as good as your last painting, speaks to the collective experience of being an artist, the solitude of the studio, and the unending drive to make a painting better than your last,’ he says.

Born in Aotearoa New Zealand and based in Melbourne, Lewer is a five-time Archibald finalist.

"In the portrait, my clothes are flecked with the smears and splotches of paint from months in the studio. There is a physicality to the outfit; it is a palette, a uniform, and a record of repetition, routine and the discipline of making. The glasses in one hand and paintbrush in the other are metaphors for the act of looking and making; the tools of observation and inspiration."

Richard’s latest exhibition ‘The stories that persist are not always true’ is currently showing at Hugo Michell Gallery until 10 May 2025.

Zaachariaha Fielding, The Scandal - Nganalu Tjalamilanu Who Sold Out?, acrylic, ink and aerosols on linen, 240 x 198 cm, 2025. Photo by Andy Francis, courtesy of the APYACC

This work was born from discomfort – painted in the shadow of the APY Art Centre Collective scandal, but shaped by deeper questions. Who controls our stories? Are we selling stories or celebrating them? Why must Black success be regarded with suspicion or framed as cultural betrayal?

Cultural knowledge, once held in ceremony, now sits on canvas. Does this make us sellouts, mark us as survivors, or victors in a game we never designed?

This work doesn’t offer answers. It lives in the grey areas. It’s a protest. A prayer. A reminder that our stories are alive – and so are we. And no matter how they’re told – on cave walls or on canvases – they belong to us.


Ildiko Kovacs, Tracing light, 2025, oil and oil stick on plywood, 240 x 180 cm

About this painting, Ildiko states: "The afternoon sun falls onto my studio wall, cutting a beam of light through the translucent corrugated roof. The shadow it casts moves slowly across the painting I’m working on. Sometimes, the wind in the trees creates a jiggling line.

While contemplating the painting, I trace the light, following the shadowed line. It’s an intuitive response to the brightness and movement of the afternoon sun as it passes through my studio."



Josina Pumani, Ngayuku tjukurpa – Maralinga (My story – Maralinga), 2025, hand-built stoneware, underglaze, 69 x 49 x 48 cm irreg. Courtesy of the APYACC

Josina Pumani has been told the story of Maralinga since she was a little girl. "My family were hurt by the bombs,’ she explains. ‘Many Aṉangu got sick or died, including my uncle Yami Lester, who was blinded by the bomb."

Using the coil method to build her vessel, Pumani has given form to the British atomic weapons testing program undertaken in remote South Australia during the 1950s and 1960s. The effects of these tests were severe and have had lasting impacts on Aṉangu. She uses a vibrant red to represent the poison from the bombs and the internal grey to refer to the smoke. The texture and detailed depictions on the exterior form includes punu (trees), circling toxic winds, and Aṉangu gathering in a wiltja (shelter).

Pumani works through the APY Art Centre Collective’s Tarntanya/Adelaide studio and has been making ceramics since 2024. This is her first time as a finalist in the Wynne Prize.

We look forward to presenting an exhibition by Josina Pumani in September 2025.

Register your interest at mail@hugomichellgallery.com

Clara Adolphs and Bridie Gillman announced as FINALISTS in Ramsay Art Prize

We’re thrilled to share that Clara Adolphs and Bridie Gillman have been selected as finalists for the 2025 Ramsay Art Prize!

The Ramsay Art Prize is a $100,000 acquisitive prize for contemporary Australian artists under the age of 40, supported in perpetuity by the James & Diana Ramsay Foundation.

This year's expert judging panel was comprised of leading Australian artist Michael Zavros; Associate Professor and Program Director of Visual Art at the Queensland College of Art and Design and recipient of the inaugural Ramsay Art Prize’s People’s Choice Prize, Julie Fragar; and Emma Fey, Deputy Director of the Art Gallery of South Australia.

All finalists will exhibit in a major exhibition at the Art Gallery of South Australia from 31 May to 31 August 2025, and the winner will be announced on Friday 30 May 2025.

Fiona Roberts joins Hugo Michell Gallery as represented artist

Hugo Michell Gallery welcomes the addition of Fiona Roberts to our represented artists!

Fiona Roberts is an Australian contemporary artist whose immersive installations examine themes of psychological and physical safety. Born in Darwin and based in Adelaide, Roberts’ work explores the interplay of symbolism, superstitions, rituals, and belief systems. Her practice frequently addresses dualities such as fear and safety, attraction and discomfort, and the broader complexities of the human experience.  

Roberts holds a Bachelor of Visual Art (Honours) from Adelaide Central School of Art and a Master of Teaching from the University of South Australia. Her solo exhibition, Hereafter, at Hugo Michell Gallery in 2024 engaged deeply with themes of mortality and transformation.

Roberts’ work explores the interplay between familiarity and latent complexity, as seen in exhibitions like Façade (2018) at Adelaide Central Gallery and Intimate Vestiges (2015) at KickArts Contemporary Arts in Cairns, which examined domestic spaces by juxtaposing the comforting aspects of home with their concealed dangers and hidden histories. She has exhibited both locally and internationally, most notably in Pure Not Proper (2018), Los Angeles, TAKE!EAT! (2015), London, and A Book Between Two Stools (2014) at the Boghossian Foundation in Brussels.

She has received awards such as the BankSA Best Visual Art and Design Award at the 2018 Adelaide Fringe Festival and has received multiple grants from the Australia Council for the Arts. Her work has been featured in numerous publications including Victionary’s Dark Inspirations (Hong Kong), Dark and Fetish Art (Japan), and more recently her work was featured on the cover of Art Collector magazine. 

Her works are held in national and international collections; such as the Art Gallery of Ballarat in regional Victoria, and several pieces on permanent display at Galila's POC in Brussels, Belgium.

We congratulate Fiona on her achievements and look forward to working together in the future!

Fiona Roberts' 'Hereafter' at Hugo Michell Gallery, 2024. 
Fiona Roberts' 'Façade' at Adelaide Central Gallery, 2018.
Fiona Roberts' 'Façade' at Adelaide Central Gallery, 2018.

Gallery closure over Easter long weekend

Wishing you a joyful Easter long weekend!

Please note that Hugo Michell Gallery will be closed for the Easter long weekend, re-opening Tuesday 22nd April with our current exhibitions:

Richard Lewer | The stories that persist are not always true
James Dodd | SOUR DREAMS

Exhibitions continue until 10 May 2025. Please also note that the gallery will also be closed for the Anzac Day Public Holiday on 25th April.

Pictured: James Dodd, TANGY SPOIL, 2025, acrylic on canvas in powder coated aluminium tray frame, 79 x 53 cm

Sera Waters announced as Finalist in 2025 Wangaratta Contemporary Textile Award

We’re delighted to share that Sera Waters has been selected as one of 10 finalists in the 2025 Wangaratta Contemporary Textile Award.

The Wangaratta Contemporary Textile Award celebrates the diversity and strength of Australian textile art. Now in its ninth iteration, the Wangaratta Contemporary Textile Award was initially established to mark Wangaratta's long and prominent history of textile manufacturing and craft making. In furthering this unique tradition and social history the award celebrates and strengthens the development of contemporary textile practice in Australia. With the significant investment of project partners, the Kyamba Foundation, prize money now stands at $40,000, representing the richest textile prize in Australia.

The 2025 finalists, selected from over 430 entries Australia wide, are contemporary artists who not only demonstrate a mastery of technique in a broad textile medium, but innovation and excellence alongside a rigorous and robust conceptual practice.

The Wangaratta Contemporary Textile Award 2025 will open on Saturday 24 May 2025 with the winner announced that day. The exhibition continues until 17 August 2025.



Pictured: Sera Waters in her studio, 2020. Photography by Sia Duff

Hugo Michell Gallery Opening: Richard Lewer + James Dodd

Please join us for the launch of Richard Lewer’s ‘The stories that persist are not always true’ and James Dodd’s ‘SOUR DREAMS’ at Hugo Michell Gallery on Thursday 10th April, 6-8pm.

Richard Lewer
The stories that persist are not always true

About this body of work, Richard shares: "We are perhaps the stories we tell ourselves – a curious blend of truth and invention. My vivid childhood memories intermingle with fragments of recurring dreams, unsettling and elusive. Current news stories blend with ancient fables told over centuries, with their tricksters, heroes and villains; their warnings, and moral lessons. The narratives accumulate, layer by layer. Laminex tabletops are designed to withstand the spills and stains of family life, wiped clean again and again. We gather to tell our stories around tables, I like to think the traces of human experience remain. Painting on this resistant surface is challenging; like memory, the paint slips, resists, leaving faint impressions.

Richard Lewer, Let Me Tell You a Story, 2025, acrylic on laminate tabletop, 92 x 122 cm
James Dodd
SOUR DREAMS

The works in SOUR DREAMS arise from an ongoing exploration utilising a device conceived by Dodd known as 'The Painting Mill'. The final resulted paintings present as a refined, vivid and handsome object, charmingly finished in custom-coloured aluminium tray frames. James Dodd states “The Painting Mill outcomes are often saturated, saccharine, dense and fecund. I am regularly driven by colour, my own innate responses to colours and the potential to stimulate via intensity. States of amplification, hallucination and the hyper are all happy play zones for me. Whilst making these works, my imaginings have been towards psychological potentials of colours, psychic messaging of compositions and fantasies of juicy, shimmering psychedelic mirages. The titles for this suite of outcomes are deliberately visceral and explore colours as links to emotions, deep sensations, and the unconscious.”

Richard Lewer, BOMBORA GRIEF, 2025, acrylic on canvas in powder coated aluminium tray frame, 99 x 58.5 cm
Hugo Michell Gallery are proud to partner with Bird in Hand Winery for this opening event.

Hugo Michell Gallery acknowledges the Kaurna people as the traditional custodians of the Adelaide region, and that their cultural and heritage beliefs are still as important to the living Kaurna people today.

Please join us in celebrating the launch of these two exhibitions!

Hugo Michell Gallery Open: Christopher Zanko + Janet Laurence

Please join us for the launch of Christopher Zanko’s ‘Navigating Necessities’ and Janet Laurence’s ‘Garden for an alchemist’ at Hugo Michell Gallery on Thursday 13th March, 6-8pm.
Christopher Zanko
Navigating Necessities
Christopher Zanko is an artist based in the Illawarra/Dharawal region of the New South Wales south coast. Taking great inspiration from the architecture, culture and history of his hometown and influenced heavily by Japanese woodblock carving and wood-relief printing, Zanko has configured a practice using these principles, but has importantly brought it to life through his own lens and lived experience.
About this series Zanko states: "I started making this body of work during the time my parents were selling my grandparents' old house in the Yarra Valley, east of Melbourne. This place was a constant throughout my life: school holidays spent exploring, and as I grew older, a sanctuary to escape to and reset... By carving these scenes into permanency, I create space to unpack and reflect on the memory of place, symbolising change through depictions of spring and autumn gardens, as well as the surrounding bush landscape. The process allows me to hold onto the ephemeral and transform the fleeting moments and feelings into something tactile, enduring."

Janet Laurence
Garden for an alchemist
“The force that through the green fuse drives the flower” (Dylan Thomas, 1933)
Janet Laurence is a prominent Sydney-based artist whose work is exhibited nationally and internationally. Her practice explores the complex and often conflicting relationship between humans and the natural world, particularly in the face of environmental challenges like climate change. Laurence creates immersive environments that investigate the interconnections between organic elements and natural systems, blending themes of ecological healing, communal loss, and the search for a deeper connection with the life forces of nature.

Pictyred: Janet Laurence in her Sydney studio for an interview with Vogue, 2019, photography by Jacquie Manning


Hugo Michell Gallery are proud to partner with Bird in Hand Winery for this opening event.


Hugo Michell Gallery acknowledges the Kaurna people as the traditional custodians of the Adelaide region, and that their cultural and heritage beliefs are still as important to the living Kaurna people today.


Please join us in celebrating the launch of these two exhibitions!

HUGO MICHELL GALLERY AT MELBOURNE ART FAIR

Hugo Michell Gallery are thrilled to return to Melbourne Art Fair 2025, presenting the work of two early career South Australian artists; Sam Gold and Zaachariaha Fielding, and Paul Yore as part of BEYOND 2025.


Sam Gold, Mmm I like your flow, humble little flow, 2025Stoneware porcelain and enamel, 102 x 36 x 11 cm irreg. Photography by Connor Patterson.

Sam Gold is an emerging ceramicist, who pushes the structural and conceptual capacity of clay. As objects, they materialise a kinship between Gold’s physical body, their psychological and emotional self, and the clay body, allowing Gold to explore states of futility, failure, resilience and grit, porousness yet inscrutability.


Zaachariaha Fielding, Untitled (672-24AS), 2024-25, acrylic and mixed media on Belgian linen, 199 x 294 cm, photography by Sam Roberts

Zaachariaha Fielding is a multi-disciplinary artist who hails from Mimili community on the APY Lands in far north South Australia. Fielding comes from a long line of multi-disciplinary artists and after a successful music career over the last decade, he now explores the visual language of his culture through painting.

Paul Yore’s installation ‘FUCK ME DEAD’, a vibrantly mosaiced hearse, upcycled and modified from an iconic Australian car, the ’70s Ford Fairlane, will be presented as part of Melbourne Art Fair’s 2025 BEYOND sector, curated by Anna Briers, Curator, Len Lye & Contemporary Art, Govett-Brewster Art Gallery (Aotearoa), in collaboration with STATION.

Paul Yore, Fuck Me Dead (installation view, Carriageworks), 2022, mixed media assemblage comprising funeral hearse, found objects, glass, shells, LED lights, acrylic paint and plastic flooring, 592.5 x 379 x 149 cm

Melbourne Art Fair will be open from 20–23 February 2025 at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre.

Pictured (Top): Pictured: Zaachariaha Fielding, Untitled (671-24AS), 2024, acrylic and mixed media on Belgian linen, 166 x 151 cm, photography by Sam Roberts

 

Hugo Michell Gallery Open: Fiona McMonagle + Lucas Grogan

Please join us for the launch of Fiona McMonagle’s ‘Eve’ and Lucas Grogan's ‘A Travel Guide’ at Hugo Michell Gallery on Thursday 6th February, 6-8pm.

Fiona McMonagle
Eve

Throughout history, women have been held to unreasonably high moral standards, with their actions scrutinised and vilified. Cast as scapegoats for society’s problems, this pattern dates back to foundational myths like Eve’s story, which framed her as the cause of humanity’s suffering. The French phrase “Cherchez la femme” embodies this mindset, implying that women are naturally disruptive, tempting, or at fault, perpetuating harmful stereotypes and scapegoating.
McMonagle’s new body of work, Eve, explores these dynamics, depicting women’s faces boldly and unapologetically, inspired by the confrontational format of mugshots.

Lucas Grogan
A Travel Guide

“Everywhere you go, there you are. But time and experience changes who you are and where you want to go next,” shares Grogan about his upcoming exhibition.
‘A Travel Guide’ is an exploration of time, labour, and experience. Two expansive quilts form a library of icons; symbols that have multiple different interpretations based the individual’s life experiences, cultures, and perspectives. Rotating sculptures of travel signposts point toward esoteric and existential places, both real and imagined.
 
Lucas Grogan, A Guide (with yellow tailed black cocktaoos), 2025, wood, polymer, acrylic, and motor, 85 x 25 x 25 cm 
Hugo Michell Gallery are proud to partner with Bird in Hand Winery for this opening event.
Please join us in celebrating the launch of these two exhibitions!
Hugo Michell Gallery acknowledges the Kaurna people as the traditional custodians of the Adelaide region, and that their cultural and heritage beliefs are still as important to the living Kaurna people today.

2025 Exhibition Program Announced

We are delighted to share our full 2025 exhibition program, please reach out to register your interest in any upcoming exhibitions. 

6 February – 8 March
Fiona McMonagle | Lucas Grogan

19 February – 23 February
MELBOURNE ART FAIR
Zaachariaha Fielding | Sam Gold | Paul Yore

13 March – 5 April
Christopher Zanko | Janet Laurence

10 April – 10 May
Richard Lewer | James Dodd

15 May – 14 June
Tony Garifalakis 

19 June – 19 July
Zaachariaha Fielding | Daniel To + Emma Aiston

24 July – 16 August 
Clara Adolphs | Drew Spangenberg

10 September – 14 September
SYDNEY CONTEMPORARY ART FAIR

25 September – 25 October
Buku Art Centre 

30 October – 29 November
Georgia Spain | Kate Mitchell