Australian painting
Please join us for the launch of Clara Adolphs’ ‘Sleep Shadows’ and Drew Spangenberg’s ‘Containers’ on Thursday 21st August, 6-8pm.
CLARA ADOLPHS
Sleep Shadows
Sleep Shadows
In this new body of work, Clara Adolphs turns inward, exploring the quiet threshold between memory and imagination. “I often see myself in the people that I paint, or find something familiar about them,” she explains. “I wanted to draw into this focus with the show.”
Working from photographs both found and taken, Adolphs isolates figures from their original contexts and places them in new, intimate compositions that speak to a silent conversation between artist and subject. “Perhaps the repetition of painting brings me closer to them?” Melding borrowed memories with her own, she has been led by a desire to distil moments into feeling, creating a sense of quiet contemplation.
DREW SPANGENBERG
Containers
Containers
‘Containers’ celebrates the vessel primarily as an object of aesthetic value rather than function. While rooted in utility, these forms have a visual focus, elevated beyond their practical origins. Each piece retains its capacity to function as a container honouring the history of the vessel while embracing contemporary reinterpretation.
Spangenberg is a contemporary glass artist based in Adelaide, South Australia. His work combines traditional glassblowing techniques with a refined contemporary aesthetic, defined by clean lines, harmonious forms, and a considered approach to colour and composition.
This project has been supported by Create SA.
Hugo Michell Gallery are proud to partner with Bird in Hand Winery for this opening event.These exhibitions are presented as part of every*where, Adelaide Design Week 2025.
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.
We are thrilled to share that Richard Lewer’s 2024 body of work ‘Steve’ has been acquired by the National Gallery of Australia (NGA) and will be presented in the NGA’s collection display in 2025-26 before touring nationally.
Richard Lewer’s ‘Steve’ is a gentle exploration of the complexity of a family coming to terms with a dementia diagnosis. Through animation and a suite of paintings on domestic Laminex tabletops, this exhibition tells the story of man named Steve presented from the perspective of his family as they cope with the effects of his illness. In addition, the artist weaves his own personal story into the work with a group of paintings that look back on personal moments from Lewer’s own life.
Pictured: Richard Lewer’s ‘Steve’, 2023-24, acrylic paint on Laminex tabletops, dimensions variable; Richard Lewer, Steve [video], 2023-24, animation and super-8 footage, 4:39 mins, HD/4K.
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
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
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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.
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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.
