News

Janet Laurence is working with the Australian Tapestry Workshop to produce a new commission Listen, to the Sound of Plants. The commission is expected to be completed in late February.

…The original artwork is comprised of images from Laurence’s extensive archive of images of plants. These have been digitally collaged photos of paint poured across glass, to create a layered transparency effect.

ATW weavers Chris Cochius, Pamela Joyce and Cheryl Thornton have selected a wide pallet of green’s to create this tapestry, including cotton yarns – which can be used to highlight areas in tapestry. ATW yarn dyer Tong Stefanovski dyed a new range of green cottons to achieve specific tones for the weaver’s requirements.

In Listen, to the Sound of Plants, the weavers are trying to capture the layers and use of transparencies and glass that are the hallmarks of Laurence’s work. The translation into tapestry is quite challenging for the weavers as they navigate the reflective surface elements of the design. They are working to achieve a soft watery effect by using very subtle colour mixing techniques and using many tones that are close together in the colour range.

For full statement, click here.

Hugo Michell Gallery is pleased to announce that it will exhibit at Art Stage Singapore, from 21 to 24 January 2016.

Art Stage Singapore is the leading Asian art fair connecting the world to the best of Asian contemporary art. Art Stage Singapore presents the diversity of contemporary art rising from the region, including galleries and artists from Southeast Asia, China, India, the Middle East, Australia and New Zealand.

William Mackinnon has produced a new short film titled Psychological Landscapes.  “Each painting creates a bridge to the next one. There are no shortcuts or mistakes, it’s layers upon layers until the painting forms.” In this new short, Mackinnon speaks about his process and inspiration as a journey through a psychological landscape.

Congratulations to Stanislava Pinchuk, winner of the Glenfiddich Artist in Residence Prize! Now in its fifteenth year, the Glenfiddich Artist in Residence Prize is valued at $21,000 and includes a three month residency in Dufftown, Scotland. During the residency artists are encouraged to examine the historic and scenic Scottish highlands and distillery. A piece will be acquired by Glenfiddich for the permanent collection as a result of the the residency.

Read more about the residency here!

Press:The Australian, The AU Review

Sera Waters has been announced as the WINNER of the Heysen Prize for Landscape 2016! A huge congratulations to Sera, for taking out this $15,000 acquisitive prize.

“The Heysen Prize was established by the Hahndorf Academy in 1997 to commemorate the nationally and internationally eminent local artist, Sir Hans Heysen (1877-1968).

Sir Hans Heysen had a deep connection with the Australian landscape and is famous for his paintings and drawings of Hahndorf in the Adelaide hills, and the Flinders Ranges. He documented village life in Hahndorf and conserved the mature gums in the surrounding area. Because of the implied realism of his pictures, many think of his art as literal depictions of the landscape that existed in front of him.”

You can see her winning work along with the other finalists at the Hahndorf Academy until December 4th. More details here

Established in 2014, SPRING1883 is a new and exciting hotel-based art fair, presented at The Hotel Windsor Melbourne. Hugo Michell Gallery is pleased to be presenting the work of William Mackinnon, Lucas Grogan, Elvis Richardson, Toby Pola, Tarryn Gill, Richard Lewer, Will French, Tony Garifalakis amongst others for SPRING1883.

Artists have been selected for their ability to respond to their surrounds and to complement a domestic interior. Elvis Richardson will transform the living room, revisiting her ‘Trophy’ series where she further develops her conceptual practice, studying memorialisation, lifestyle, death and taxes.

In the adjoining bedroom, Lucas Grogan presents an intricate hand-embroidered quilt, 18 months in the making. Fabricated during his travels across Europe, Asia and the South Pacific, this quilt is a reflection on and reaction to his personal experiences and the wider human condition. Off the back of her hugely successful series exhibited during the 2016 Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art: Magic Object, Tarryn Gill presents a large-scale totem pole referencing legends, folktales and the uncanny. After his sell-out show at Hugo Michell Gallery in February, William Mackinnon will exhibit a new body of work for Spring 1883, observing themes of home, coastal Australia and journeys physical and psychological. Toby Pola’s work plays with our perception of material through a honed understanding of woodcarving. The works for SPRING1883 reflect Pola’s sense of irony and highlight the site-specific nature of the exhibition.

Also featuring: Justine Varga, Stanislava Pinchuk [Miso], Narelle Autio, Nana Ohnesorge, Dan McLean/Paul Sloan, David Booth [Ghostpatrol], Amy Joy Watson and Sera Waters

Visit us in Room 124 from Thursday 18 – Sunday 21 August.

See SPRING1883 website for full details.

Congratulations to James Dodd, Paul Sloan and Sera Waters who have all been selected as finalists in the Heysen Prize for Landscape 2016. Established in 1997 by the Hahndorf Academy, the Heysen Prize commemorates the life and career of renown Australian landscape painter Sir Hans Heysen.

This acquisitive, biennial prize is worth $15,000 and will be exhibited at the Hahndorf Academy from the 8th of October till the 4th of December. The winner will be announced at the launch on Saturday the 8th of October.

For more information, click here.

Congratulations to Janet Laurence who has been selected to participate in the 56th October Salon in Belgrade, The Pleasure of Love: Transient Emotion in Contemporary Art and the XIII Bienal de Cuenca: Fragile. 

56th October Salon, Belgrade

The 56th October Salon in Belgrade, The Pleasure of Love: Transient Emotion in Contemporary Art will feature Janet Laurence alongside fellow Australian artist Tracy Moffatt. Curated by David Elliot, the 56th October Salon includes 60 artists both emerging and established, Laurence will be exhibiting two major works Underlying (2016) and Vanishing (2009).

“Laurence explores what it might mean to heal, albeit metaphorically, the natural environment. Trees are the lungs of our cities – they exchange carbon dioxide and oxygen – and they usually live for several generations. Today, however, very old trees are dying in our cities, while the crops and fields in the outback have been transformed into vast barren expanses. Janet Laurence fuses this sense of communal loss with a search for connection with powerful life-forces. Her work alerts us to the subtle dependencies between water, life, culture and nature in our eco-system. In the face of this, we yearn for a form of alchemy, for the power of enchantment or transformation. It seems that the only place for that sensation is the place of art. In the tradition of Joseph Beuys, and some of the Arte Povera artists from the 1960s, such as Jannis Kounellis or Mario Merz, Janet Laurence reminds us that art can act as a kind of transformation point for ideas and it can provoke its audience into a renewed awareness about our environment.” – Victoria Lynn

Exhibition runs from 23 September to 6 November 2016

For more information click here.

XIII Bienal de Cuenca

Janet Laurence will also exhibit in the XIII Bienal de Cuenca in a parallel exhibition Fragile curated by Natalia Bradshaw. This marks the first time Australian artists have been included in the Bienal de Cuenca, Laurence will be exhibiting alongside fellow Australian artists Maria Fernanda Cardoso, Reko Rennie and Caroline Rothwell.

“…Janet Laurence too explores impermanence, transparency and opacity Within her presentation for Cuenca. Known for her elegiac installations That address pressing environmental issues, she explores the physiology of medicinal plants from Ecuador and Their vital relationship to the human world Through This new, site-specific work. A long table supports glass vials, plastic tubing and laboratory equipment plant alongside locally sourced samples, all partially concealed (or Alternately revealed) fabric beneath a white veil. The imperiled state of the natural world, due to human intervention and catastrophe, is a recurring theme Within Laurence’s practice. All living things are Interrelated, she points out, and if we continue to treat the natural world With disregard, we will impact our own future survival as a species. Recently, Laurence has Explored the concept of the hospital as a space for the rehabilitation of plants and ecosystems under threat. The incorporation of laboratory equipment and white gauze in her works, treats including Cuenca, Suggests a space for healing and resuscitation.Through This new work, themes of interdependence and equilibrium are Brought to the fore, offering a sustainable future if we choose to acknowledge our own fragility and place Within the wider scheme of things.” – Rachel Kent, Chief Curator, Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) Sydney, Australia

Exhibition runs from 21 October to 31 December 2016

For more information click here.