abstract painting

Georgia Spain announced as WINNER of the 2026 Mosman Art Prize
21
Aug

Georgia Spain announced as WINNER of the 2026 Mosman Art Prize

We are thrilled to share that Georgia Spain has been announced as the Winner of the 2026 Mosman Art Prize!

About this painting, Georgia shares: “’The different ways to ward off words (After NS)’ explores bodily transformation, feminism, mythology, and the multiplicity of the self. I made this painting with the lineage of feminist mother artists close by. Here, poking out one’s tongue symbolises something larger: a defiant stance against the expectation that you can’t do or be it all. The work explores the tension between these demands and the possibility of making space for many selves at once.”

Established in 1947, the Mosman Art Prize is Australia's oldest and longest-running local government art award. Valued at $70,000, it is a prestigious national open painting prize funded by the Mosman Council. The winning artwork is acquired each year to form the historic Mosman Art Collection.

An exhibition of finalist artworks will be on display from 20 August to 26 October 2026 at Mosman Art Gallery, NSW.

Pictured: Georgia Spain, The different ways to ward off words (After NS), 2026, acrylic on canvas, 176 x 115 cm

Hugo Michell Gallery Opening: Bridie Gillman + Julia Robinson
10
Mar

Hugo Michell Gallery Opening: Bridie Gillman + Julia Robinson

Please join us for the launch of Bridie Gillman’s ‘Land marks’ and Julia Robinson’s ‘The Felling Place’ at Hugo Michell Gallery on Thursday 12th March, 6-8pm.
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BRIDIE GILLMAN
Land marks
Bridie Gillman is a multidisciplinary artist whose practice is informed by ideas of place, and the ways in which experiences and memories shape our perspective of a site. With her childhood spent in Indonesia, Gillman, in her work, references ideas of place and notions of belonging.
Of this series, Bridie Gillman states: “’Land Marks’ developed in Yogyakarta, Indonesia (affectionately – Jogja). Each piece has been made in response to a patchwork of everyday observations – a fleeting moment while on a motorbike or a slower studied observation while waiting for a meal. Translated through colour, these seen things and places become landmarks through which I navigate my way around town." 
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JULIA ROBINSON
The Felling Place
‘The Felling Place’ is a foray into eco-horror and plant horror: branches of the horror genre that stem from our fractured relationship with the natural world and might be characterised by narratives where nature is not only sentient but malevolent. In these narratives plant life may strike back at humans and horror comes from our terrifying encounter with ‘monstrous’ vegetation.
About this new body of work, Robinson shares: “The new work draws particular inspiration from David Lowery’s 2021 film The Green Knight, adapted from the anonymously penned fourteenth century alliterative poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.
My work brings an eco-horror reading to this adaptation wherein the Green Knight represents the personification of a vengeful nature come to challenge the warmongering humans with an axe – their preferred weapon of choice for ecocide.”
Save the date for an artist talk with Julia Robinson on Saturday 11th April, 1pm.
Pictured: Julia Robinson, Woundwood (Detail), 2025, axes, jacquard, silk, thread, felt, interfacing, steel, magnets, 100 x 107 x 12 cm irreg. photography by Sam Roberts
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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.
Hugo Michell Gallery Opening: Marisa Purcell + Kate Ballis
19
Jun

Hugo Michell Gallery Opening: Marisa Purcell + Kate Ballis

Please join us for the launch of Marisa Purcell’s ‘Light Savour’ and Kate Ballis’ ‘Liminality Antipodes’ on Thursday 27th June from 6-8pm.
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Marisa Purcell
Light Savour
"After a drive back to the city from the bush at dawn, Marisa Purcell, mesmerised by the early morning light and its ability to shapeshift a landscape, drove straight to the studio and started work. With a lush palette of greens, she recreated the moment she had seen through the windscreen — night passing the baton to day, light carried on the fog and splintering through the trees. Purcell has long been interested in windows and frames — both what we see through a window and what we don't see.
To the edges of her paintings are clues to what lies within, a cipher to decode the ceaselessly captivating ambiguity of light and colour. One painting calls to mind the experience of flash blindness; the moment when harsh light floods the retina, causing both an explosion of colour and a temporary loss of vision. Another is like a fragment of Monet’s Water Lilies writ large “Everyone will see a different colour,” she says, on the erraticism of light, perception and colour. “Like a lamp in front of a mirror, these works reflect their own source of light.” – Ariela Bard, exhibition catalogue essay
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Kate Ballis
Liminality Antipodes
In the liminal spaces where the ethereal touches the terrestrial, my infrared exploration of the South Island of New Zealand captures a world both familiar and otherworldly. As alizarin crimson mountains rise and teal waters mirror the rich deposits of pounamu (greenstone), these surreal landscapes bridge the realms of reality and myth.
About this exhibition, writer Dylin Hardcastle writes: “To find a home in Liminality, in the threshold of a horizon, between deep sky and wide lake, where the near and far feel not so far apart, is to surrender, voluptuously, to something felt. It is an ability to sit between regions - opaque and edged - and to feel, instead, the incredible release of shapelessness.”
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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.
Hugo Michell Gallery Opening: Sally Bourke + Bridie Gillman
12
Apr

Hugo Michell Gallery Opening: Sally Bourke + Bridie Gillman

Hugo Michell Gallery invites you to the opening of Sally Bourke's 'Silence is just a sound' and Bridie Gillman's 'The Bend' on Thursday 18th April, 6-8pm.

Sally Bourke
Silence is just a sound

In Sally Bourke's exhibition 'Silence is just a sound', abstracted portraits serve as portals to the depths of memory. With a deft hand and keen introspection, Bourke captures the essence of silence—not as absence, but as a profound presence. Through her evocative paintings, she invites the viewer into a realm where silence reverberates with the echoes of the past, offering a nuanced reflection on the complexities of human experience. Her paintings beckon us to listen, to immerse themselves in the quietude where memories echo softly.


Bridie Gillman
The Bend

This exhibition has been made in response to a specific moment experienced while walking in Washpool National Park, NSW, on Gumbaynggirr, Bundjalung and Ngarabal Country. A dramatic shift in light and atmosphere on a bend of the track that called us to pause. From within the bend – hanging, holding vines connect trees to each other, drawing lines to follow from one point to another, left to right, light to dark. This experience and the observations made, act as the starting point for the paintings, translated through colour and line.

Collected field recordings blend seamlessly with Reuben Schafer's instrumentation to create a captivating soundscape.

Bridie Gillman, The Bend I, 2024, oil on linen, 168 x 213cm


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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.