News

HUGO MICHELL GALLERY OPENING: LUCAS GROGAN | PAUL SLOAN

Hugo Michell Gallery invites you to the opening of 'CABINETS' by Lucas Grogan and 'The Gleaners' by Paul Sloan on Thursday 16th March, 6-8pm.
_____
Lucas Grogan
CABINETS

In 'CABINETS', Lucas Grogan takes the exhibition’s namesake as a starting point. Rather than the usual contents found in medicine cabinets, “good rooms” and libraries, his cabinets of are filled with an unreal assortment of things we need, things we want and things we can’t forget.

Some Cabinets operate like portraiture; collections that combine the aspirational and impossible with the low brow and familiar. Others like time-capsules, whereby every book title is a competing and conflicting element of the zeitgeist. Or like THE TEST, a combination of both, where the viewer must collect and follow their own thoughts, feelings and experiences to an ultimate resolution. They’re introspective, private and showy all at once.

Newcastle based Lucas Grogan’s distinctive visual language has developed over the years to coalesce into his recognisable style. He uses painting, drawing, needlepoint and installation to explore themes of isolation, inclusion and cultural collisions, through an autobiographical lens. His works are interwoven with dry wit and a piercing sense of humour

_____
Paul Sloan
The Gleaners
Paul Sloan’s ‘The Gleaners’ takes its name from Jean-Francois Millet’s controversial 1857 painting. Sloan—a veteran gleaner of scenes himself—presents a collection of images spring loaded with meaning, which reflect on how we look back in order to look forward.

 

Frankenstein’s monster is imagined within social media. Protest placards of 1960s counterculture morph with self-help slogans. A classical bust recalls an ancient oracle. A turtle carries a soldier’s helmet on its back, alluding to the collateral damage of war. A black cat strides forward purposefully, in defiance of the message painted on its side.

 

In ‘The Gleaners’, Sloan reflects on the cyclical tropes and techniques we use to navigate impending crisis. Rich with the symbolism and seductive graphic impact that are the hallmark of his work, Sloan’s beguiling images provide poetic and prophetic insights for our time.
_____
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.
Paul Sloan, The End, 2023, Gouache on paper (unframed), 55 x 76 cm
Paul Sloan, The End, 2023, Gouache on paper (unframed), 55 x 76 cm

Marc Etherington joins Hugo Michell Gallery as represented artist

NOW REPRESENTING

Hugo Michell Gallery welcomes the addition of Marc Etherington to our represented artists!

Marc Etherington spent his formative years ingratiating himself in the Sydney art community while fostering his emerging painting career. As a self-taught artist, Etherington has maintained a consistent practice in painting and small sculpture for over a decade and honed his unique style. 

Etherington’s naive application and heightened imagination have been integral in establishing his oeuvre. His use of colour and composition combine with his sense of whimsy to take us into an alternate reality at times nostalgic, absurd or humorous but always tapping into something we can connect to. His landscapes and interiors are depicted with an eye for highly amusing detail, touching on themes such as mass production, pop culture and collectibles. 

Currently based in Canada, Etherington has exhibited widely nationally within Australian and internationally. He has been a finalist in such prestigious awards as the Archibald Art Prize, Sir John Sulman Art Prize, and Wynne Prize at the Art Gallery of NSW, the John Fries Award at UNSW Art & Design, and Fisher’s Ghost Art Award at Campbelltown Art Centre.

His works are held in the Artbank collection and numerous private collections in Australia, North America and Europe.

Enquiries to mail@hugomichellgallery.com

Pictured: Marc Etherington portrait for ‘Talking with Painters’ Podcast, 2018. Photo by Maria Stoljar

 

Hugo Michell Gallery Opening: Bridie Gillman, Sam Gold, Jahnne Pasco-White & Justine Varga | Anna Horne

Hugo Michell Gallery invites you to our first opening of the year 'Responsive Forms' by Bridie Gillman, Sam Gold, Justine Varga and Jahnne Pasco-White; and solo exhibition 'Colour me soft' by Anna Horne, on Thursday 9th February, 6-8pm
_____
Responsive Forms
Bridie Gillman, Sam Gold, Jahnne Pasco-White and Justine Varga
This exhibition brings together artists whose practices span painting, photography, and ceramic sculptures. Through innovative approaches to form and colour, the artists create artwork that is responsive to their own experiences, emotions, and perceptions. Together, they demonstrate how artists can wield the emotionally expressive power of abstraction to communicate new ways of understanding ourselves and the world around us.
_____
Colour me soft
Anna Horne
About this solo exhibition, Anna Horne shares: "'Colour me soft' continues my interest in manufactured materials that reference our built environment and embody contradictory states of balance and imbalance, softness and hardness. Using concrete, wire, packaging, spray paint, aluminium and rope, this body of work plays with the aesthetics and materials of the built world. Through these elements I explore the human desire to build and create stability, querying the need to make things last ‘forever’ and maintain permanency despite the inevitability of change."
_____
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 and our 2023 program!
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.
Anna Horne, Build it Up, Tear it Down, 2023, concrete, wire mesh, copper wire and paint
Anna Horne, Build it Up, Tear it Down, 2023, concrete, wire mesh, copper wire and paint. Photography by Sam Roberts

Paul Yore's 'WORD MADE FLESH' now showing at Carriageworks

ARTIST NEWS
Paul Yore’s ‘WORD MADE FLESH’ is now showing at Carriageworks as part of Sydney Festival and Sydney World Pride.

‘Paul Yore: WORD MADE FLESH is a new architecturally-scaled installation, anarchically composed of improvised makeshift structures, mixed media sculpture and found objects, collage and assemblage, painting, video, and pulsating sound and light. Conceived as a cacophonous, kaleidoscopic ‘gesamtkunstwerk’, WORD MADE FLESH’ imagines a queer alternative reality.

This work has been curated by Max Delany, in collaboration with Paul Yore and Devon Ackerman, and will be on display at Carriageworks from 5 January to 26 February 2023. Visit the Carriageworks website for more information. 

Press:
Sydney Morning Herald: Paul Yore's delierious Word Made Flesh pulls into Carriageworks
Concrete Playground: 9 of the best Sydney Festival 2023 Events

City Hub Sydney: Carriageworks on track for Sydney WorldPride


Pictured: Paul Yore, WORD MADE FLESH (installation view), 2022, Carriageworks. Photography by Zan Wimberley

 

Hugo Michell Gallery Open: Summer in the Stockroom

'Summer in the Stockroom' brings together new works and gems from the Hugo Michell Gallery stockroom. Featuring works by Clara Adolphs, David Booth [Ghostpatrol], James Dodd, Sally Bourke, Zaachariaha Fielding, Richard Lewer and Trent Parke, this exhibition is a celebration of the ongoing creativity of our artists. 

This exhibition is on display from 8 December 2022 to 27 January 2023. 

Hugo Michell Gallery is open Tuesday-Friday 10am-5pm until 21st December 2022 after which the gallery will be open by appointment. 

Julia Robinson announced as winner of the 'Absolute Best South Australian Artist Award' for SA Life

We are thrilled to share that Julia Robinson has been awarded the Absolute Best South Australian Artist Award for SA Life’s ‘Absolute Best Awards’ for 2022.

The awards celebrate the finest in South Australian food, drink, travel and design, as well as the individuals and businesses leading the way in their fields.⁠

Congratulations to all the nominees for this category - Margaret Ambridge and Daryl Austin!

To read more about this year's finalists, pick up a copy of the December issue of SALIFE.

Portrait of Julia Robinson, 2022. Photography by Sam RobertsPortrait of Julia Robinson, 2022. Photography by Sam Roberts

Richard Lewer commission unveiled with opening of Sydney Modern Project

The expansion of the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney – titled the Sydney Modern Project – has now been officially launched with the gallery unveiling nine Australian and international artists that have been commissioned to create works as part of the build.

For this commission, Richard Lewer went behind the scenes to capture the stories and portraits of people involved in the design and construction of the Art Gallery’s new building. His multipanel painting and suite of drawings celebrate the labour and personalities of those who have helped build Sydney’s newest cultural and architectural landmark.

Sera Waters' 'Future Traditions' open at the Art Gallery of South Australia

We are thrilled to share that Sera Waters’ exhibition ‘Future Traditions’ is now open to the public at the Art Gallery of South Australia.

In this second iteration of the Guildhouse Fellowship, South Australian artist Sera Waters imagines a new future for us all – one where ancient textile traditions can craft hope in the face of climate change.

Waters is well known for her revival of endangered ways of making, whereby age-old embroidery techniques are restored to comment on our complex and often confronting colonial histories. In this exhibition, the past paves the way for a new future and by reclaiming the traditions that our great-great-great-grandmothers performed we can move, together, towards an alternative liveable future.

‘Future Traditions’, presented in Gallery 9, hinges on community and those who have kept this knowledge alive over generations. A shared space, the exhibition includes experiments, artefacts, texts, events, workshops and works of art.

The exhibition will be on display from 26 Nov 2022 to 16 Apr 2023.

Sera Waters, Noticing Sampler, 2022, cotton on repurposed and hand-dyed linen, 50 x 32 cm. Photography by Grant Hancock

Zaachariaha Fielding joins Hugo Michell Gallery as a Represented Artist

Hugo Michell Gallery welcomes the addition of Zaachariaha Fielding to our represented artists!

Zaachariaha Fielding is a multi-disciplinary artist originally from the Mimili Community in the Aṉangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Lands, currently working out of the APY Collective on Kaurna land/Adelaide. Having established himself as a critically acclaimed musician, the frontman for duo Electric Fields, Fielding is compelled to create art in whichever form is available to him.

About his work, Fielding shares: “I was raised on desert country in the eastern Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Lands, and come from a long line of multi-disciplinary artists. I am compelled to make work that honours the visual language of my ancient culture. The iconography reflects the way I live my culture in the present, as a constant feature of my world, and visualises how I interact with the beings that populate the Tjukurpa I’ve inherited.”

Fielding’s work has been recognised in major art awards, most notably as a finalist in the Ramsay Art Prize at Art Gallery of South Australia and the NATSIAAs Awards at Museum and Art Gallery of Northern Territory.

His work is currently held in the collections of the National Gallery of Victoria and Artbank.

We congratulate Zaachariaha on his achievements and look forward to working together in the future!

Portrait of Zaachariaha Fielding by Saul Steed, 2021

Portrait of Zaachariaha Fielding, 2021. Photography by Saul Steed

Hugo Michell Gallery Open: Bulthirrirri Wunuŋmurra & Binygurr Wirrpanda | Amy Joy Watson

Hugo Michell Gallery invites you to the opening of 'Yirrkala - Next Wave' by Bulthirrirri Wunuŋmurra & Binygurr Wirrpanda and 'Goodnight Air' by Amy Joy Watson on Saturday 5th November.
Artist Talks | Saturday 5th Nov, 1:30pm
Opening Event | Saturday 5th Nov, 2-4pm
_____
Bulthirrirri Wunuŋmurra & Binygurr Wirrpanda
Yirrkala - Next Wave
'Yirrkala - Next Wave' shines a light on two early career artists working out of Buku-Larrŋgay Mulka Indigenous Art Centre, Yirrkala. Striking a balance between continuity with their forebears’ artistic legacy and innovative artmaking, the exhibition showcases works by Bulthirrirri Wunuŋmurra & Binygurr Wirrpanda that speak to the concept of water as a metaphor and tool for discussing abstract concepts of existence in Yolŋu culture.
Tides, rain, springs, dew, mist, clouds are all drawn on to discuss these abstract concepts of existence. And so, this next wave of Yirrkala artists is breaking on the shore of mainstream awareness.
_____
Amy Joy Watson
Goodnight Air
In 'Goodnight Air' Amy Joy Watson builds on her distinctive visual language that explores geography, light and emotional states through delicate woven landscapes, made of metallic thread.
Across embroidered works on paper and tarnished brass mesh, this new body of work explores art making as a process for healing and recovery.
In the wake of post-natal anxiety and acute insomnia, Amy’s slow and gentle hand stitching process revealed itself as a form of active meditation, one that is vital to her mental health.
Shimmering golden threads represent the cascading water or “liquid sunshine” that manifests in visualisations that appear during moments of contemplation and meditation.
_____
Binygurr Wirrpanda, Mäna at Lutumba, 2022, etching and on found metal sign, fixative and etched aluminium, 92 x 126 cm

Binygurr Wirrpanda, Mäna at Lutumba, 2022, etching and on found metal sign, fixative and etched aluminium, 92 x 126 cm

Amy Joy Watson, Untitled, 2022, Metallic thread, brass mesh and brass frame, 114 x 92 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.