News

Hugo Michell Gallery Opening: William Mackinnon + Amy Joy Watson
14
Nov

Hugo Michell Gallery Opening: William Mackinnon + Amy Joy Watson

Hugo Michell Gallery invites you to the opening of William Mackinnon’s ‘1000 Joys and 1000 Sorrows’ and Amy Joy Watson’s ‘Until Sunbeams Find You’ on Saturday 16th November, 1 pm - 3 pm.

This event will also officially launch Mackinnon's monograph publication.

Opening Event & Book Launch | Saturday 16th November, 1pm – 3 pm
Artist Talks | William Mackinnon & Amy Joy Watson in conversation with Hugo Michell
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William Mackinnon
1000 Joys and 1000 Sorrows

"William Mackinnon loves what paint can do and is interested in creating moments of rupture—or rapture—through the serendipities of technique. With seeming ease he captures the velvet sheen of dark, the crackled bark of a tree, the fur of the silent, waiting bushland on a road’s verge. His evocations of sea include not only the shimmer of light hitting the water, and the creaming froth of a wave, but also the feel of sea spray. Signs remain of paint spattered against the canvas, and these lush drip marks remind us of both the liquid possibilities, the very wateriness of paint, and the experience of being submerged ourselves in the deep." - Chloe Hooper
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Amy Joy Watson
Until Sunbeams Find You

In creating the embroidered tarnished brass mesh works for 'Until Sunbeams Find You', Amy Joy Watson continues to develop her own visual language of weaving metallic threads through surfaces to melding celestial and earthly landscapes with the play of light.
The new material direction in this body of work evolved from a happy accident in the studio, where pristine golden mesh developed a patina, inspiring Amy to experiment with developing patinas. Where she once applied watercolour washes to paper, the artist now tarnishes the brass with household acids, embracing the unpredictability of time and the elements.
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Hugo Michell Gallery are proud to partner with Bird in Hand Winery for this opening event.

The exhibitions will be on display from 14 November - 7 December 2024.

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.
Richard Lewer selected for 2024 Ann Bennett Acquisition, Heide Museum of Modern Art
27
Oct

Richard Lewer selected for 2024 Ann Bennett Acquisition, Heide Museum of Modern Art

We’re delighted to share that the Heide Museum of Modern Art is currently showing Richard Lewer’s ‘Making Contact with Colin McCahon’, which has been newly acquired for the Museum collection through the Ann Bennett Acquisition fund.

Drawn from a body of work the artist describes as ‘Disaster Narratives’, consisting of a painted inventory of personal mishaps, embarrassments and social calamities, the pictures in this exhibition tell of two awkward encounters: one that took place while Lewer was a resident artist in Aotearoa/New Zealand at McCahon House, and the other when he participated in the International Studio and Curatorial Program (ISCP) in New York city.

With his wry ambiguous humour Lewer addresses oddly memorable interactions with visiting curators in each location, two of whom he is closely acquainted with and the other a prospective international connection. Naturally everything goes wrong and the visits are undercut by wild assumptions, an unwelcome summoning of spirits, and a curator with an extreme aversion to the cold.

The 2024 Ann Bennett Acquisition will be on display from 12 October 2024 to 30 March 2025 in Heide’s Kerry Gardner & Andrew Myer Project Gallery.

Pictured: Richard Lewer, I was on the McCahon residency in NZ when I had some out of towners Alexie Glass-Kantor and Emily Cormack arrived to stay the night. After dinner they decided to do a seance and try and make contact with Colin McCahon. I wanted no part as I didn't know what to say to my hero Colin if we'd got hold of him. Alexie and Emily went ahead without me and thankfully they got hold of a sailor spirit who'd been there before McCahon. Phew (installation view), 2024, Heide Museum of Modern Art. Photography by Christian Capurro

JAMES DARLING'S CELEBRATION OF LIFE
03
Oct

JAMES DARLING'S CELEBRATION OF LIFE

We are all heartbroken by the sudden loss of our much loved James. He was an essential part of our family and leaves an unfillable absence in our lives.

James was never at a loss for words and would want us to take this opportunity to say how much he loved and appreciated his many and varied friends from all walks of life and corners of the world; from the Greek Islands he loved so much, from England where he spent formative years, from the artistic hub of Adelaide, from his birthplace Melbourne, from the community he chose to call home in Keith and beyond.

We would invite you all to join us in celebrating the life of a truly original artist, farmer, activist, environmentalist, family man and friend.

James Darling’s Celebration of Life
2pm on Sunday 13th of October.
Norwood Concert Hall
175 The Parade, Norwood
(Main entrance on George St)
RSVP please – https://www.trybooking.com/events/landing/1296397
All welcome

With our love,
Lesley, Julian and Bernice, Alice and Damien

Pictured: James Darling on Duck Island property, 2018. Photo courtesy of JumpgateVR.
Hugo Michell Gallery Opening: Ildiko Kovacs + Sam Gold
03
Oct

Hugo Michell Gallery Opening: Ildiko Kovacs + Sam Gold

Please join us for the launch of Ildiko Kovacs’ ‘Fallen into Line’ and Sam Gold’s ‘The Marrow of a Swollen River’ at Hugo Michell Gallery on Thursday 10th October, 6-8pm.
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Ildiko Kovacs
Fallen into Line

One of Australia’s most respected abstract painters, Ildiko Kovacs is renowned for images that, whilst grounded in her sense of the Australian landscape, are at the same time deeply personal meditations on her life and emotions. Alive with energy and movement, the surface of Kovacs’ works are renowned for their sensual flowing line played against passages of consummate mark-making. Washes of underpainting reveal themselves from beneath layers of colour, while Kovacs’ elegant and bold lines dictate the movement of our gaze across the picture plane.
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Sam Gold
The Marrow of a Swollen River

About this body of work, Sam shares: “A body is a map of memories – of desires and sensations that shape our understanding of self and our communities. This new work observes the inner and outer landscapes of queerness, tacit knowledge and interconnectedness as it converses with notions integral to the primacy of movement, transition, and poetics of the body. Underscoring the ways in which our bodies and identities are at once intertwined and perpetually in flux, this work speaks to the politics and complexities inherent to non-binary and queer identities."

This project has been supported by Arts South Australia, Department of Premier and Cabinet. 

Sam Gold, Muscles holding bones (detail), 2024, porcelain and glaze, 64 x 69 x 11 cm irreg.
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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.
Acknowledging the passing of James Darling
06
Sep

Acknowledging the passing of James Darling

It is with profound sadness that we share the sudden passing of James Darling, a deeply respected artist whose work has left an indelible mark on the arts community.
As partners in life and artistic collaborators, James Darling and Lesley Forwood created monumental and ephemeral installations using mallee roots collected and conserved on their Duck Island property in the South-East of South Australia.
Their installations, which engaged with themes of ecology, land management, and the Australian rural experience, have been exhibited across Australia and Internationally including the Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide; Pori Art Museum, Finland; Centro Culturale Conde Duque, Madrid; La Defense, Paris Summer Festival, Paris; The Esplanade, Singapore; Setouchi International Arts Festival, Japan.
In 2018 they presented ‘Living Rocks: A Fragment of the Universe’, at Hugo Michell Gallery, Adelaide, which went on to represent Australia at the 2019 Venice Biennale, Italy as an official collateral event and in 2022 it was restaged at the ZKM Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe, Germany.
In addition to his artistic contributions, James was a passionate supporter and dedicated patron of the arts; deeply committed to encouraging creative talent and celebrating the power of art.
“James’ impact on the arts has been profound and his personal friendship and support have been pivotal in my career from a very early stage.
He was a unique and singular individual, whose vibrant personality cannot be captured in just few words.
His tenacious passion for creative practice extends beyond his own international profile, to that of supporting others. A champion of the arts and a generous soul, his wit and cheekiness has absolutely left a lasting impression. I am honoured to have called him a friend.” – Hugo Michell
While our hearts are broken, our thoughts are with Lesley, James’ family, his friends, and all those who have been touched by his work and generosity of spirit. His activism, artistic ingenuity, and passionate interest in conservation will be remembered by all who had the privilege to know him and experience his work.
Pictured: Selected works by James Darling & Lesley Forwood, courtesy the artists and Hugo Michell Gallery
Hugo Michell Gallery Opening: Binygurr Wirrpanda + Min Wong
04
Sep

Hugo Michell Gallery Opening: Binygurr Wirrpanda + Min Wong

Please join us for the launch of Binygurr Wirrpanda’s ‘Dancing Brolgas’ and Min Wong’s ‘You can’t talk butterfly language to caterpillar people’ on Thursday 12th September from 6-8pm.
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Binygurr Wirrpanda
Dancing Brolgas
In the accompanying catalogue essay, Will Stubbs writes: “Each particular pattern carries the essence of an estate of land which is held in the hundreds of songs which are encoded in that design. These epic song cycles are a cross between poetry and the Latin Mass. They retell the movements of ancestral forces through the landscape.”
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Min Wong
You can’t talk butterfly language to caterpillar people
Birthed from a broken heart, this work examines the emerging principles of interpersonal neurobiology as an embodied and relational process to support compassion, kindness, resilience, and well-being in our personal lives, our relationships, and our communities.
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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.
Min Wong, I told you a lie, 2024, print on velvet, 110 x 80 cm
Julia Robinson launches solo exhibition and publication launch as 2024 SALA Feature artist
31
Jul

Julia Robinson launches solo exhibition and publication launch as 2024 SALA Feature artist

Julia Robinson’s solo exhibition ‘Split by the Spade’ and publication launches on 30th July at Adelaide Central Gallery. 

Julia Robinson’s ambitious new installation ‘Split by the Spade’ is the latest entry in her ongoing series of odes to the folk horror genre. This exhibition promises to be a finely crafted, immersive experience by Robinson, highly esteemed graduate and staff member of Adelaide Central School of Art and the 2024 SALA feature artist.

Since 2003, Julia Robinson's textile-focused sculpture and installation practice has ruminated on enduring human narratives around sacrifice, sex, and death. Living and working on Kaurna land in Adelaide, South Australia but drawing on the folkloric and, importantly, folk horror traditions of her British ancestry, Robinson conflates humour and horror in ever more unexpected ways. In this, the first major publication dedicated to Robinson's practice, curator Leigh Robb, novelist and poet Hannah Kent, and visual artist Jess Taylor examine her work through their respective lenses and weave together the visual art, literature, folklore, and film most influential to Robinson's practice. The essays and poems contained within are accompanied by reproductions of key works in stunning detail which reveal the artist's keen understanding of historical costuming and sewing techniques. This monograph surveys over twenty years of a prolific and wildly imaginative visual art practice, that combines exceptional technical skill, fantastical invention and thoroughly researched cultural touchstones.

‘Split by the Spade’ will be on display at Adelaide Central Gallery from 30 July to 6 September as part of the 2024 SALA Festival.

Zaachariaha Fielding, Ildiko Kovacs, and Richard Lewer announced as FINALISTS in Mosman Art Prize
31
Jul

Zaachariaha Fielding, Ildiko Kovacs, and Richard Lewer announced as FINALISTS in Mosman Art Prize

Congratulations to Zaachariaha Fielding, Ildiko Kovacs, and Richard Lewer who have been selected as finalists in the 2024 Mosman Art Prize!

Also congratulating previous exhibiting artist Marisa Purcell and Christopher Zanko, who will be exhibiting with us in 2025, for also being named as finalists.

The Mosman Art Prize is the longest running and most prestigious municipal art prize in Australia. Winning entries form the basis of the Mosman Art Collection, a valuable and historic collection that surveys Australian painting since 1947. The Mosman Art Prize is an acquisitive award of $70,000 sponsored by Mosman Council.

Finalist works will be on display from 10 August to 6 October 2024 at Mosman Art Gallery, NSW.


Richard Lewer, Let Me Tell You a Story, 2024. Acrylic on found table, 150 x 90 cm

Zaachariaha Fielding, Paralpi, 2024, acrylic on linen, 152 x 122 cm

Ildiko Kovacs, Shine, 2024, oil on linen, 122 x 70 cm.

Julia Robinson major solo exhibition 'Split by the Spade' launches at Adelaide Central Gallery
31
Jul

Julia Robinson major solo exhibition 'Split by the Spade' launches at Adelaide Central Gallery

Julia Robinson’s solo exhibition ‘Split by the Spade’ launches on 30th July, at Central Gallery, Adelaide Central School of Art.

Launching in tandem with the 2024 South Australian Living Artists (SALA) Publication, Julia Robinson’s ambitious new installation ‘Split by the Spade’ is the latest entry in her ongoing series of odes to the folk horror genre. This exhibition promises to be a finely crafted, immersive experience by Robinson, highly esteemed graduate and staff member of Adelaide Central School of Art and the 2024 SALA feature artist.

Robinson’s long-standing themes of death, decay and renewal are explored through her signature blend of historical costuming techniques and archaic found objects. This body of work takes inspiration from Andrew Michael Hurley’s 2019 novel Starve Acre, a text that is emblematic of folk horror with its bleak narrative and sinister pseudo-folklore that challenges the concept of the rural idyll. Motifs from the novel – a gallows tree, a fallow field, and a burial site – are conjured by the artist to haunt the gallery as a series of textile apparitions.

‘Split by the Spade’ will be on display at Adelaide Central Gallery from 30 July to 6 September as part of the 2024 SALA Festival. The project has been supported by Arts South Australia.

Enquiries to mail@ugomichellgallery.com
Hugo Michell Gallery Opening: Narelle Autio + Cassie Thring
24
Jul

Hugo Michell Gallery Opening: Narelle Autio + Cassie Thring

Please join us for the launch of Narelle Autio's 'The Eyes of Her' and Cassie Thring's 'Goodbye Toki Hello' on Thursday 1st August from 6-8pm, presented as part of the 2024 South Australia Living Artists Festival.
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Narelle Autio
The Eyes of Her
Narelle Autio’s vibrant images of Australian outback and coastal life have won her widespread acclaim and continue to capture the hearts and imaginations of viewers. Her sophisticated use of colour, light and composition create photographs that evoke the complex beauty of Australia’s landscape, which is otherwise eroded by postcards and clichés.
-The Eyes of Her-
Across the ocean, under the waves.
Calming the sea gods.
She calls us,
Into the undersea.

Narelle Autio's 'The Eyes of Her' at Hugo Michell Gallery, 2024.
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Cassie Thring
Goodbye Toki Hello
Cassie Thring is a multi-disciplinary artist whose practice explores the tension found between loss and hope. Thring’s new body of work 'Goodbye Toki Hello' has emerged from time spent researching the collapse and subsequent resurrection of Japan’s wild ibis population. Informed by a recent residency in Japan, she will be presenting new sculptural and print works employing unequal amounts of tragedy and humour.
Cassie Thring's 'Goodbye Toki Hello' at Hugo Michell Gallery
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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.