News

An update regarding Hugo Michell Gallery accessibility during COVID-19.

We are closely monitoring Government instruction regarding the COVID-19 outbreak and as a result have suspended all upcoming opening night events. The gallery spaces are open with the current exhibition program to continue as scheduled.

To ensure the wellbeing of our visitors and staff, we will be observing social distancing and increasing cleaning and hygiene procedures. As recommended, if you are unwell or have been in close contact with someone who is unwell or has travelled overseas within the last 14 days please stay at home and visit us online.

It is important for our cultural sector that we continue to support artists and creative outcomes. We extend our support and sympathy to all impacted in our community.

For those who wish to engage with the gallery at a distance, we will be increasing our social media and online content. As always, you can contact the gallery directly to book an appointment or to receive digital materials regarding available works.

Fiona McMonagle’s solo exhibition ‘Classy’ launches on the 14th of March at Bayside Gallery!

“Melbourne-based artist Fiona McMonagle is well-known for her watercolours that probe the darker side of pedestrian life in the suburbs.

Featuring watercolour, oil painting and video works that span the last decade plus a suite of new paintings, this major exhibition focuses on notions of class within Australian society, and recollections of suburban youth subculture.

Close to life-size and at times confron­­­­­­­­ting, a large number female subjects – featuring pop culture icons, friends and archetypal others – illustrate McMonagle’s exploratory use of the watercolour medium. These delicate yet brutal works convey the ambiguities of representing ourselves and others.
A special feature is the ambitious animation ‘The park at the end of my road’, which is displayed for the first time since its commission by the 2016 Adelaide Biennial.”

Join the opening celebrations from 2-4pm Saturday 14 March.

Hugo Michell Gallery invites you to the opening of ‘Outside Painting’ featuring work by Nadine Christensen, Katrina Dobbs and Bill Hawkins. We’re also thrilled to present ‘PAK-UH-JING’ by Daniel Emma (Daniel To and Emma Aiston) on Thursday 12th March from 6 – 8pm.

‘Outside Painting’ is a three-person group exhibition looking at how creative influences sustain and expand contemporary painting practices. The exhibition features the work of two emerging Melbourne artists; Katrina Dobbs and Bill Hawkins and the work of Nadine Christensen a mid-career artist with an extensive exhibition history committed to painting practice.

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Adelaide design duo Daniel Emma (Daniel To and Emma Aiston) present ‘PAK UH JING’, a selection of study models exploring an interest in the packaging of everyday items, relating to foods, travel, loved ones, personal childhoods, and general nostalgia.
Within each of these pieces Daniel Emma continue to investigate colour and material combinations, a constant in their work.
“This theme brings us monumental joy and satisfaction enabling us to create pieces that are ‘just nice’.”

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

Exhibition runs until 8 April.

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.

The 2020 Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art: ‘Monster Theatres’ launches Friday 28th of February. Julia Robinson will present new work, installed at the Museum of Economic Botany in the Adelaide Botanic Garden.

“…’Beatrice’, expands on ideas of the natural and the unnatural through signifiers of splicing, mutating, doubling and decaying and responds to the short story: ‘Rappaccini’s Daughter’ (1844) by Nathanial Hawthorne, that for me embodies many of these concerns and examines ideas of the monstrous.” – Julia Robinson

Presented by the Art Gallery of South Australia, ‘Monster Theatres’ will run 29 February – 8 June 2020.

Lucas Grogan’s solo exhibition ‘Long Story Short’ opens on the 29th of February at Maitland Regional Gallery!

“Lucas Grogan’s work spans multiple disciplines including quilts, murals and painting. As the title suggests, Grogan’s sense of humour has permeated his bold, fastidiously patterned, highly graphic, pun-filled signature blue artworks that reflect his personal experiences in a range of media. This exhibition will include painting, embroidery, quilts and a large immersive wall installation including a mural to be created by the artist during the installation of the exhibition. Other artworks in the exhibition will be borrowed from a number of private and public collections including the National Gallery of Australia. For the first time these artworks as selected by the artist will be brought together to be shown in the artists home town of Maitland.”

Exhibition runs February 22 to May 17.

Hugo Michell Gallery invites you to the opening of Paul Yore’s ‘Crown of Thorns’ and Clara Adolphs’ ‘In Between Days’ on Thursday 6th February 6-8pm.

Gippsland-based artist Paul Yore’s solo exhibition ‘Crown of Thorns’ brings together new textiles, assemblages and collages, continuing the artist’s decade-long personal and candid investigation into the intersection of religion, sex, politics and popular culture. Taking its title from a passage in the Gospel of Mark in which Jesus is mockingly dressed in purple and adorned with a crown of twisted thorns, Yore’s exhibition readily draws upon the iconography of his Catholic upbringing, most notably the cross or crucifixion. However, Yore’s irreverent treatment of traditional subjects is laced with a queer critique of the foundational institutions of “Western” society; specifically the moralising presence of a corrupt Church, and its role in propping up a broken political system, a dynamic which in turn has fueled centuries of colonial violence, as well as the subjugation of women, trans and queer people.

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“Bundanoon-based artist Clara Adolphs is becoming somewhat of a fixture in the art prize and award circuit. An Archibald finalist in 2016 and 2019, and collecting the 2017 Eva Breuer Travelling Art Scholarship, the artist mines an archive of castoff vintage photographs to make works that contemplate the passing of time and the universality of small moments.
To capture her anonymous, enigmatic subjects, Adolphs turns to a palette knife and brush, working quickly with thick impasto paint in a kind of performance that reimagines and replays the lost moment within the photograph’s frame.” – Varia Karipoff (via Art Guide)

Please join us in celebrating the launch of our first exhibitions for 2020!

Exhibition runs until FRIDAY 6 March.

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.

David Booth [Ghostpatrol] will take over the National Gallery of Victoria’s Great Hall with an interactive drawing installation.

A celebrated street artist, David made his name painting the walls of Melbourne’s laneways. Today his artwork includes drawing, printmaking, sculpture and multimedia installations across both public and private galleries around the world.

Inspired by Keith Haring’s use of chalk on the streets of New York City and Leonard French’s colourful stained-glass ceiling in the Great Hall, his geometric characters are ready for children to fill with their chalk drawings.

Booking are not required for this free event! See NGV website for more details about The NGV Kids Summer Festival.

Runs 11 – 19 January, 10am – 3pm

Hugo Michell Gallery is please to announce our Exhibition Program for 2020! Beginning the year with exciting new works by Paul Yore and Clara Adolphs, we’re thrilled to celebrate artists throughout the year working across a diverse range of mediums.

Committed to presenting exciting and innovative work at the forefront of contemporary art, our programming for 2020 extends to Art Fairs and a number of special events.

To register your interest in any of these exhibitions, contact the gallery directly.

Paul Yore – Crown of Thorns
6 February to 6 March
Clara Adolphs – In Between Days
6 February to 6 March

Nadine Christensen, Katrina Dobbs & Bill Hawkins – Outside Painting
12 March to 8 April
Daniel Emma
12 March to 8 April

New Collectors
16 April to 16 May

Hayley Millar-Baker
21 May to 20 June
Honor Freeman
21 May to 20 June

Fiona McMonagle
25 June to 25 July
Jahnne Pasco-White
25 June to 25 July

MELBOURNE ART FAIR
Richard Lewer
18 June to 21 June

Lucas Grogan
30 July to 29 August
Paul Sloan
30 July to 29 August

William Mackinnon
3 September to 3 October
Pip Ryan
3 September to 3 October

Marc Etherington
8 October to 7 November
Pepai Jangala Carroll
8 October to 7 November

Elvis Richardson
12 November to 9 December
Bridie Gillman
12 November to 9 December