What's On

Congratulations to Samraing Chea who's a finalist in the Nillumbik Prize for Contemporary Art 2019! Nillumbik Shire Council presents the Nillumbik Prize for Contemporary Art, a biannual acquisitive art prize open to emerging and established artists working in any medium across Australia. The 2019 finalists include: Lyn Ashby, Robert Baines, Anindita Banerjee, Elizabeth Banfield, James Barden, Lisa Bartolomei/David Coen/Donald Gray/Gillian Lever/Josh Peters, Kate Beynon, Aldo Bilotta, Suzie Blake, Julie Bradley, Fleur Brett, Kiri-Una Brito Meumann, Michelle Caithness, Samraing Chea, Isobel Clement, Kevin…

Congratulations to Chris O'Brien who's a finalist in the 2019 Wangaratta Contemporary Textile Award for Yoshe and Chris O'Brien's House. The award exhibition runs from 1 June - 11 August, taking place at Wangaratta Art Gallery. Wangaratta has a long and prominent history of textiles, both in manufacturing, its social history and as a craft form; Wangaratta Art Gallery builds upon this unique tradition through the presentation of this outstanding award.

Showing at the Centre for Contemporary Photography (CCP), Why Take Pictures? returns to one of the fundamental questions in photography, to consider our desire-drive and obsession with taking photographs, the apparatus of the camera and diverse approaches of looking through, or at, the lens. Featuring work by Arts Project studio artist Alan Constable (VIC), alongside Michelle Tran (VIC), Lyndal Irons (NSW), Glenn Sloggett (VIC) and David Wadelton (VIC), Why Take Pictures? considers the divergent motivations and compulsions as to why we take images…

Curated by contemporary artist and academic Catherine Bell, FEM-aFFINITY brings together female artists from Arts Project and wider Victoria whose work share an affinity of subject and process. By situating female Arts Project studio artists alongside other female contemporary artists, the exhibition seeks to uncover shared perspectives and variations on female identity. Drawing upon interdisciplinary and collaborative approaches, and understanding artworks as a complex and nuanced way of thinking about embodied knowledge, the exhibition reveals how feminism materialises in distinctive and uncanny…

Featuring the work of Arts Project studio artists Katie Foster, Robyn Doherty and Rosie O’Brien, alongside artists Beth Caird, Brahmony McCrossin, Jemi Gale, Michael Kennedy and Sarah Brasier, is and on the eyes black sleep of night. Curated by Sarah Brasier and showing at SEVENTH gallery from 19 June - 12 July. “and on the eyes, black sleep of night” brings together artists who have experienced the death of a parent. Each of the artists explore their shared incidents of loss in a variety of ways. Themes of childhood are…

Congratulations to Adrian Lazzaro who's a finalist in the Footscray Art Prize 2019 for his work The Big Strong Golden Boy. The Footscray Art Prize is a biennial non-acquisitive visual art prize, highlighting a range of contemporary artworks from multiple platforms and disciplines. The exhibition represents a significant overview of Australia’s contemporary and innovative art scene, contributing towards Footscray’s reputation as a thriving arts and cultural hub. OPENING: Thursday 20 June, 6pm – 8pm EXHIBITION: Friday 21 June – Saturday 20 July VENUE: Roslyn Smorgon…

Congratulations to Miles Howard-Wilks who's a finalist in The Colville Lloyd Rees Art Prize for his landscape In The Shipwreck. Showing at Colville Gallery, the award exhibition runs from 5-18 July. In 2013 Colville Gallery established the Lloyd Rees Art Prize. This is a biannual independently judged, acquisitive prize that recognizes the Artist's legacy and contribution to Australian Landscape painting. The prize, AUD $20,000, is awarded to the best painting to demonstrate light in the landscape. This year, the position of judge has…

It is only when language breaks down that we are forced to acknowledge its limitations as a communicative devise. This fact, far from stifling artists, often affords an opportunity to point beyond language boundaries to examine alternate modes of communicative potential. At Arts Project, the use of text as a pictorial device has often been used to express the difficulty and ambiguity apparent in different forms of communication: captioned images, automatic writing, abstracted text and pieces of poetry all regularly…

Warren O’Brien’s abstract images reflect the rhythm and repetition of his process. The layering of rich, radiant colours affords the work depth and texture, while the free brush work and dripped paint brings to mind the spontaneous style of abstract expressionism. O’Brien’s use of the repeated arc motif based on the architectural form of the arched window is magnetic in effect, drawing attention to the many complex layers. His recent works demonstrate a shift in his practice and process, revealing…