News

Easter Long Weekend Closure
31
Mar

Easter Long Weekend Closure

Wishing you all a safe and fun-filled Easter long weekend!

Please note, Hugo Michell Gallery will be closed across the long weekend and we will respond to your requests Tuesday 6 April.

Save the date: Thursday 15 April 2021
‘Jan Murphy Gallery at Hugo Michell Gallery’

A collaborative exhibition, presenting new works from six leading contemporary artists, represented by Jan Murphy Gallery.


Pictured: Lara Merrett, Alot can happen in a day, 2021, acrylic and ink on linen, 183 x 174 cm.

Kate Just in ‘The National’ at the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia
24
Mar

Kate Just in ‘The National’ at the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia

Launching this Friday, featuring new work by Kate Just, The National 2021: New Australian Art is a celebration of contemporary Australian art. The final of three biennial survey exhibitions. Through ambitious new and commissioned projects, 39 artists feature across three venues, the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Carriageworks and the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia.
Kate Just’s ‘Anonymous was a woman’, is an ongoing work that involves the repetitive production of hand knitted panels (16 x 16 inch) bearing the text ‘Anonymous was a woman.’ Stretched around canvas, each uniquely coloured work resembles a textile plaque. The muted tones of the work refer to a palette of jewels or minerals, natural or long buried treasures. Assembled on the wall in a grid, the works conjure a columbarium or monument to past lives or lost artworks.
The work is inspired by a quotation in Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own (1928). In this feminist polemic, Woolf questions the ways women’s authorship has been judged as inferior to that of men, and systematically made invisible. Woolf says, “I would venture to guess that Anon, who wrote so many poems without signing them, was often a woman.” Over time this quote has been rephrased as “Throughout most of history, Anonymous was a woman.” Just states, “Through the making of the work, I meditate upon the immeasurable contributions that women have made to culture and society, and mourn the losses sustained by the erasure or exclusion of many of these gifts from the canon of art history.”
Pictured: Kate Just, ‘Anonymous was a woman (installation detail)’ 2019-21, knitted wool, 41 x 41 cm each panel.
Bridie Gillman Joins Hugo Michell Gallery as a Represented Artist
05
Mar

Bridie Gillman Joins Hugo Michell Gallery as a Represented Artist

Hugo Michell Gallery welcomes the addition of Bridie Gillman to our represented artists!

Informed by ideas of place, and the ways in which experiences and memories shape personal perspective of a site, Bridie Gillman expresses these observations in paint using colour and abstract gestures. This process of responding to past experiences from the context of the studio environment offers a different way of connecting to a place.

Bridie Gillman graduated from Queensland College of Art with a Bachelor of Fine Art (First Class Honours) in 2013. Her work has been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions throughout Australia and internationally, including Museum of Brisbane, Brisbane; Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre, Sydney; The Walls, Gold Coast; Blindside, Melbourne and Run Amok, George Town, Malaysia. She was previously a finalist of the Brett Whiteley Travelling Art Scholarship, 15 Artists, the MAMA National Photography Prize, and in 2019 was winner of the Moreton Bay Region Art Award. She has undertaken residencies in Kedewatan, Indonesia, in 2019 and George Town, Malaysia, in 2015, among others.

Congratulations to Bridie on all of her achievements, we’re thrilled to be working with her! 

Pictured: Bridie Gillman, Disoriented, 2021, oil and enamel on linen, 187 x 207 cm

Hugo Michell Gallery Open: Richard Lewer + Honor Freeman
04
Mar

Hugo Michell Gallery Open: Richard Lewer + Honor Freeman

Hugo Michell Gallery invites you to the opening of Richard Lewer’s ‘Richard’s Disasters, a true story’ and Honor Freeman’s ‘Sunlight for a pandemic’.
 
*Please note*
If you wish to join us for the opening of these exhibitions, RSVP to mail@hugomichellgallery.com is essential.
 
Richard Lewer’s ‘Richard’s Disasters’ is an autobiographical body of work that recalls some of the artists most personal experiences.
“I have always used storytelling in my work to reach out to or connect people, observing and mirroring the human condition. I play with the idea of what is considered private, and put that into public space.
 
Everyone has milestones, tragedy, or significant events that have shaped them. Here, I’m using myself as a tool to shine a light onto a few of these stories. I have had so many experiences – some of them my first memories, some deeply personal and private – that are unfortunate, embarrassing, humorous, absurd, tragic, frightening, unbelievable, or plain odd. Traumatic events like these often get buried out of sight, but I think it’s important to let down your guard, to be exposed, to be vulnerable. Sharing them in the work often means that people reach out to me, as they have had similar experiences. We so very rarely get to see each other’s vulnerabilities, but we all have burdens that we carry.”
 
—
 
‘Sunlight for a pandemic’, by Honor Freeman continues the artist’s exploration into the poetic potential of the simple and ubiquitous bar of soap. A small yet quietly powerful object that has gathered heightened meaning during the last 12 months. Using the mimetic qualities of clay via the process of slip casting, this sunlight series interacts with ideas of liquid made solid. The porcelain casts remember the almost obsolete objects; the liquid yellow slip solidifies becoming a precise memory of a past form – a ghost.
 
“Yellow and its many shades, is a colour I find myself especially drawn towards and I am currently embracing a yellow phase: mustard, lemon, chartreuse, citrine, straw, ochre, gold, daffodil, sunshine, canary, saffron, turmeric, honey, sulphur.
 
Emotive and joyous, it is the colour of sunshine, enlightenment and hope, used by ancient cultures to embody and harness the divine power of the sun. Yellow is also the colour of ‘Sunlight soap’, one of the first bar soaps to be individually packaged and marketed for the masses in 1884, and still available today, “gentle on hands, and everything they wash”.”
 
This project has been generously supported by the Arts South Australia and the Australia Council for the Arts.
 
Please join us in celebrating the launch of these two exhibitions!
 
Exhibition Opening Thursday 11 March 6-8pm
Exhibition runs from: 11 March – 10 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.
 
Richard Lewer, 92 Lewis Street., oil on brass, 50 x 50 cm
 
Honor Freeman, Obsolescence (detail), 2021, porcelain, 32 x 32 x 3 cm
Hugo Michell Gallery Open: Narelle Autio + Kate Just, Jamie O’Connell, Min Wong
28
Jan

Hugo Michell Gallery Open: Narelle Autio + Kate Just, Jamie O’Connell, Min Wong

Hugo Michell Gallery invites you to our first exhibition opening of 2021! Featuring Narelle Autio’s ‘Place In Between: The Changelings’ and ‘Neon’ with work by Kate Just, Jamie O’Connell and Min Wong.
 
*Please note*
If you wish to join us for the opening of these exhibitions, RSVP to mail@hugomichellgallery.com is essential.
 
The call of the ocean has long been a focus of Narelle Autio’s work. Spending her childhood growing up in sun-soaked Australia she has had a lifetime relationship with the beach and is fascinated by the need for many of us to return to water. A primeval need connecting us to our ancient ancestors, pulling us back to where we came. The images dive into our collective memories and speak too many of their own personal experiences.
Cinematic in nature and using the play of light and colour familiar to all her work, she captures the complex relationship and drama of our love for the sea and our willingness to risk our lives to enjoy it. – Stanley Barker Books (Place In Between)
 
—
 
‘Neon’ featuring works by Kate Just, Jamie O’Connell and Min Wong.
 
Please join us in celebrating the launch of these two exhibitions!
 
Exhibition Opening Thursday 4 February 6-8pm
Exhibition runs from: 4 February – 5 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.
 
Pictured: Narelle Autio, Changeling II, from ‘Place in Between: The Changelings’, 2020, pigment print, 162 x 110 cm
 
Pictured: Kate Just, Not Okay, 2018, neon sign, 20 x 70 cm, edition of 4
Temporary Gallery Closure
18
Nov

Temporary Gallery Closure

In line with SA government direction, our gallery spaces are now temporarily closed. As always, we are accessible online and you can contact the gallery directly to receive digital materials regarding exhibitions and available works.
 
All orders through the Hugo Michell Gallery online shop will be processed once we are able to return to the gallery.
 
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.
 
Look forward to seeing you in person, on the other side!
 
Pictured: Paul Yore, HANG IN THERE, 2020, Wool needlepoint, 45 x 29 cm (irreg)
Hugo Michell Gallery Open: Elvis Richardson + Bridie Gillman
09
Nov

Hugo Michell Gallery Open: Elvis Richardson + Bridie Gillman

Hugo Michell Gallery invites you to the opening of Elvis Richardson’s ‘Settlement and the Gatekeepers’ and Bridie Gillman’s ‘A space between walls’.
 
*Please note*
If you wish to join us for the opening of these exhibitions, RSVP is essential.
 
Elvis Richardson’s ‘Settlement and the Gatekeepers’ is a suite of new works using painted metal and photography that expand upon previous iterations of Settlement 2016 investigating the aesthetics and personalities found in domestic interiors and access to the Australian dream of home ownership.
—
Of the exhibition Bridie Gillman states: My practice is informed by ideas of place, and the ways in which experiences and memories shape our perspective of a site. Everyday observations that could be easily overlooked or forgotten are remembered and expressed in paint using colour and abstract gestures. This process of responding to past experiences from the context of my studio environment offers me different ways of connecting to a place when I am physically no longer there. Memories of a place often shift over time, with details fading and colours changing. My practice welcome’s the distortion that occurs in the process of remembering.
 
Please join us in celebrating the launch of these two exhibitions, our final shows for the year!
 
Exhibition Opening Thursday 11 November 6-8pm
Exhibition runs from: 11 November – 9 December
 
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.
 
Pictured: Elvis Richardson, Settlement #3, 2020, Pink powder-coated, bent mild steel gate, 188 x 90 x 45 cm
 
 
Pictured: Bridie Gillman, I thought they were pretty (“Bridie, why did you buy this?”/“Bridie, kenapa kamu beli ini?”), 2020, oil on linen, 183 x 137 cm
Sydney Contemporary Presents 2020
02
Oct

Sydney Contemporary Presents 2020

Hugo Michell Gallery are thrilled to be presenting the work of Richard Lewer and Lucas Grogan in Sydney

Contemporary Presents 2020!

“Designed to showcase art a little differently, Sydney Contemporary presents 2020 is an experiential platform that takes you on an art buying adventure from the comfort of your own home. Explore, discover and buy from over 450 artworks by 380 Australian and International artists all created in 2020. We always remember the story of when, how and why we bought an artwork so why not take this opportunity to acquire a work created during this iconic year, and support our artists.”

Running from 1-31 October.

Hugo Michell Gallery Open: Marc Etherington + Pepai Jangala Carroll
01
Oct

Hugo Michell Gallery Open: Marc Etherington + Pepai Jangala Carroll

Hugo Michell Gallery invites you to the opening of Marc Etherington’s ‘Cave Paintings’ and Pepai Jangala Carroll’s ‘Ngayulu ngaranyi nyaratja (I was standing there)’.
 
*Please note*
– If you wish to join us for the opening of these exhibitions, RSVP is essential.
 
Of his exhibition ‘Cave Paintings’, Marc Etherington states:
“The show is about how since moving to Canada a year and a half ago, I have been feeling a bit of isolation and missing my family and friends. It’s hard starting off in a new country. I’ve found solace is listening to Nick Cave’s music which is like listening to a familiar old friend. These paintings are about me wondering what Nick and I would get up to if we were best friends.”
 
—
 
“Art is also a type of memory theatre for Pepai Jangala Carroll. Although based for decades in Pukatja…Carroll’s custodial home country is his father’s country near Kintore in the Northern Territory. Carrying the recurring title of Walungurru, in this naming, like the act of painting and working in clay, is recuperative for Carroll, enabling him to call up Luritja/Pintupi country.” – Lisa Slade, 2016.
 
Please join us in celebrating the launch of these two exhibitions!
 
Exhibition Opening Thursday 8 October 6-8pm
Exhibition runs from: 8 October – 7 November

 

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.

Clara Adolphs Joins Hugo Michell Gallery as a Represented Artist
29
Sep

Clara Adolphs Joins Hugo Michell Gallery as a Represented Artist

Hugo Michell Gallery welcomes the addition of Clara Adolphs to our represented artists!

Referencing abandoned photographs, Clara Adolphs works explore the notion of time and memory. She is fascinated by the question of what remains after a moment has passed. 

Based in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales, Adolphs completed her Bachelor Degree in Fine Arts at the University of New South Wales in 2008. Adolphs has exhibited in numerous solo exhibitions in commercial and public galleries. Adolphs has also been a finalist in the Archibald and Sulman Prize.

In 2018 Adolphs was the recipient on the Eva Breuer Traveling Scholarship, travelling to Paris for a residency at the Cite International des Arts. She has also undertaken residencies at Corridor Projects, ArtSpace Mackay, Leigh Creek, The Armory, and the New York Studio Art School.

Adolphs has work in numerous private and public collections including ArtBank, Goulburn Regional Gallery and Gold Coast City Gallery.

We congratulate Clara on all of her achievements and are thrilled to be working together in the future.