News

Richard Lewer, Winner of the 2015 Albany Art Prize

Congratulations to Richard Lewer, winner of the 2015 Albany Art Prize! This prestigious national painting prize is an acquisitive prize for $25,000, including a studio residency. The winning work, Untitled from the Mostly Sunny series, was presented by Hugo Michell Gallery during Melbourne Art Fair 2014.

Lewer’s statement about the piece:

Last year the Western Australian government implemented a shark culling program off the swimming beaches of Perth and the South West coastline following the deaths of 7 people. Being a surfer, I was spooked by the fatal attacks, but like many locals, was also concerned about the efficacy of the government’s fear-driven policy and the brutality of the baited drum lines used to capture the sharks.

My work explores extremes and conflict; the shark culling program attracted local, national and international attention, and public demonstrations were held around the country; as a social realist I joined the 6000-strong protest at Cottesloe Beach to document the fervent debate in my local community.

The work will be exhibited alongside the other finalists in the regional city of Albany  from September 4 – October 11 2015.

See Albany Art Prize website for more details.

Richard Lewer, Untitled, 2014, from Mostly Sunny, oil on epoxy-coated steel, 100 x 100 cm.

Image: Richard Lewer, Untitled, 2014, from Mostly Sunny, oil on epoxy-coated steel, 100 x 100 cm.

Tony Garifalakis in ‘Neverwhere’, Gaia Gallery, Istanbul

As part of the Australia in Turkey 2015 cultural interchange, Tony Garifalakis is exhibiting in Neverwhere at Gaia Gallery in Istanbul. Garifalakis exhibits in Neverwhere alongside other Australian artists Brook Andrew, Mikala Dwyer, Lou Hubbard, Veronica Kent, Claire Lambe, Clare Milledge, and Kathy Temin. Curated by Vikki McInnes, Neverwhere presents a range of artistic backgrounds to create a display of national identity through diverse symbolic acts.

To find out more visit Neverwhere | The Guide Istanbul.

Tony Garifalakis, Untitled #28, 2014, from Mob Rule (Family Series), enamel on type C print, 60 x 40 cm unframed, unique edition of 2.

Image: Tony Garifalakis, Untitled #28, 2014, from Mob Rule (Family Series), enamel on type C print, 60 x 40 cm unframed, unique edition of 2.

Hugo Michell Gallery at Sydney Contemporary 2015

Hugo Michell Gallery is thrilled to announce that it will exhibit the work of the following artists at Sydney Contemporary 2015:

Tony Garifalakis

Lucas Grogan
William Mackinnon
Trent Parke
& more

Sydney Contemporary 2015 will be held at Carriageworks from 10 – 13 September 2015.

Hugo Michell Gallery will be at stand D-01!

 Tony Garifalakis, Dream, 2012, from The Affirmations, adhesive vinyl on paper shooting target, 87.5 x 56.5 cm.

Image: Tony Garifalakis, Dream, 2012, from The Affirmations, adhesive vinyl on paper shooting target, 87.5 x 56.5 cm.

Paul Sloan and James Dodd in ‘CACSA Contemporary 2015’

The third instalment in a series of survey exhibitions presented by the Contemporary Art Centre of South Australia, CACSA Contemporary 2015 features work by represented artists Paul Sloan and James Dodd, whose Pigment High is open at Hugo Michell Gallery until 22 August 2015.

You can see Dodd’s Painting Machine in operation at Light Square Gallery alongside the work of Zoe Kirkwood, who exhibited at Hugo Michell Gallery in 2014, and who will be part of our 2016 exhibition program. Sloan’s paintings are exhibiting at Light Square Gallery at 172 Morphett Street, alongside artist Ray Harris, whose work exhibited at Hugo Michell Gallery most recently in the 2015 Young Collectors exhibition.

We’d like to congratulate all the artists on the high calibre of work. CACSA Contemporary 2015 is across multiple venues in and around the Adelaide CBD. Visit the website for more details www.casca.org.

Image: Courtesy James Dodd

Justine Varga, Finalist in the 2015 Bowness Photography Prize

Congratulations to Justine Varga, who has been announced as a finalist in the 2015 Bowness Photography Prize! Now in its 10th year, the non-acquisitive prize was established to promote excellence in Australian Contemporary photography. The finalists will be exhibited at the Monash Gallery of Art, open from 25 September with an official launch on 1 October, when the winner will be announced.

For more details, visit www.mga.org.

Justine Varga, Enter, 2015, from Accumulate, type C hand print, 123.5 x 98.5 cm, ed. of 5.

Image: Justine Varga, Enter, 2015, from Accumulate, type C hand print, 123.5 x 98.5 cm, ed. of 5.

William Mackinnon & Nadine Christensen, Finalists in the 2015 Arthur Guy Memorial Painting Prize

Image: Nadine Christensen, Untitled (Interior), 2014, acrylic on board, 120 x 150 cm.

Congratulations to William Mckinnon and Nadine Christensen, who have been selected as finalists in the 2015 Arthur Guy Memorial Painting Prize! The exhibition is on at Bendigo Art Gallery from August 29 – November 1 2015. An acquisitive cash prize of $50,000 will be awarded to the artist by a section panel of independent judges.

For more information visit www.bendigoartgallery.com.

Image: William McKinnon, The great indoors, 2015, oil and automotive enamel on synthetic linen, 190 x 240 cm.

Image: William McKinnon, The great indoors, 2015, oil and automotive enamel on synthetic linen, 190 x 240 cm.

Ildiko Kovacs, Finalist in the 2015 Wynne Art Prize

Congratulations to Ildiko Kovacs, finalist in the 2015 Wynne Art Prize! The Wynne Prize is an annual award for the best landscape painting of Australian scenery in oils or watercolours, or for the best example of figure sculpture by Australian artists. Finalists are displayed in an exhibition at the Art Gallery of New South Wales from 18 July – 27 September 2015.

Image: Ildiko Kovacs, Sunlit, 2015, oil on plywood, 180 x 245 cm.

Richard Lewer in VAULT Magazine

"I just think [art and sport are] so intertwined and close, and I always have. When I was at art school, I was a bit embarrassed by the idea that I had my tennis racquet underneath the table, but the connection for me has always been so strong. When I started boxing, I was training at five in the morning and five at night alongside professional boxers, and that’s when I saw that what they were doing in terms of skill and training was exactly what I’d be doing in the studio. And that’s where that connection became really clear to me."

An extract from Richard Lewer: You Wouldn't Make This Stuff Up an interview with Richard Lewer by Rebecca Gallo in VAULT Magazine

William Mackinnon in The Surfer's Journal

"William Mackinnon’’s landscape paintings portray the Australian terrain and the road laid upon it with ebullience, wonder, whispers——and even terror. The artist makes paintings you can almost inhabit. His visions of the rural parcels around Melbourne capture the vastness of his domain in manners both terrestrial and emotional. But movement and displacement abound in his pictures too, conveying temporal urgency with stunning effect.

In day-lit, long-range views of wooded cliffs along the sea, and racy snapshots from nocturnal car rides wrought with dazzling, painterly invention and compositional risk, Mackinnon suggests the notion that the extraordinary abounds in the mundane and that the search for a perfect wave is not unlike the struggle to make a perfect work of art."

An extract hot off the press from The Speed of Light and Dark: The paintings of William Mackinnon 
by Alex Weinstein in The Surfer's Journal

Trent Parke's 'The Black Rose' media and reviews, part 2

Trent Parke's The Black Roseis reaching its final days on show at The Art Gallery of South Australia. The media coverage is pumping!

Here's part 2 for all you Trent Parke junkies:

Review: photographer Trent Parke's double shot of darkness
by John McDonald in The Sydney Morning Herald

Trent Parke's The Black Rose
by Gretchen Shirm in The Saturday Paper

The Black Rose: Trent Parke
by Richard Butler on Visual Arts Hub

In Search of Lost Past in Trent Parke's The Black Rose (paywall)
by Christopher Allen in The Australian

Trent Parke - The Black Rose
in In Daily