Whilst we love A Life Outside, we also love that art helps to illuminate interiors, both philosophical and spatial. Art has the power to make us pause, question and feel – all essential ingredients to a life well lived. And through it, we examine our world — and our relationship to it — with more depth, clarity and meaning.
Melbourne Art Fair (MAF) provides an annual opportunity to get acquainted with new and iconic artists, leading galleries and Indigenous art centres. The program (talks, tours, workshops and more) will take place Thursday 20–Sunday 23 February at Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre.
Arthouse Gallery, one of Australia’s leading contemporary galleries—celebrating its 30th anniversary this year—has been exhibiting at MAF since 2000. Starting in a terrace in Paddington as ‘Arthouse: Art for the People’ (its original name), it quickly gained traction. Rather than a white cube, coloured walls became backdrop to exhibitions encompassing painting, sculpture, furniture, jewellery, and glass. With singular passion and vision (which runs in the family; Ali’s brother is celebrated owl conjurer Joshua Yeldham), Arthouse’s following grew. And when Ali found a larger space in an old wool warehouse in Rushcutter’s Bay in the mid-1990s, it soon became the centre of a new vibrant art precinct in Sydney.
Visit Arthouse Gallery
ROBYN SWEANEY
Dreams and imaginings
acrylic on poly cotton canvas
42.5 x 52.5cm (framed)
Image courtesy the artist and Arthouse Gallery
This year at MAF Arthouse Gallery will showcase the work of Wynne and Sulman Prize Finalist, Robyn Sweaney.
Like us, Sweaney is preoccupied with Australian identity and place. She similarly draws upon nostalgia and the interplay between psychology, memory and aesthetic beauty. Her exquisite, tightly choreographed, paintings of homes – particularly post-war architecture – are informed by travel through familiar and unfamiliar, rural and suburban places.
‘These simple houses I have painted are frozen in time and float in an empty space like a mirage on multiple horizon lines unsure of what is going to happen next. Collectively they are a part of all our history, one that once had a covert openness and innocence. They are a reminder of time passing, that things both good and bad are not going to last. The suburbs and the houses lived within them are an ever-evolving backdrop to our lives.
— Robyn Sweaney 2024
Left: KENDAL MURRAY
Heyday, Child’s Play, 2024
mixed media assemblage with purse
16cm x W: 19cm x D: 18cm
Image courtesy of the artist and Arthouse Gallery
Right: KENDAL MURRAY
Waterway, Interplay, 2024
mixed media assemblage with tea set
H: 35.5cm x W: 16cm x D: 12.5cm
Image courtesy of the artist and Arthouse Gallery
Also showcased at Arthouse Gallery’s stand will be Deakin Small Sculpture Prize Winner Kendal Murray.
Murray’s miniature assemblages — contained in vintage makeup compacts and stacks of teacups — explore the importance of childhood play in cultivating wellbeing, health and vitality. Within them, A Life Outside is examined for its foundational impact in awakening the senses, encouraging exploration and imagination.
‘These experiences can influence how we understand and value the environment into adulthood, prompting us to reflect on and appreciate the formative role of childhood play in natural landscapes; where positive and responsible relationships with the natural environment will ensure its protection and guarantee children natural places to play and experience their own wonder and delight.’
— Kendal Murray 2024
We’re looking forward to getting up close and personal with these artists’ works, along with many others, at MAF. And, whilst admiring art is enjoyable – we all know that fairs are hard work. So, feel free to take a breather on our Billy setting at Arthouse Gallery’s stand (which, just quietly, was awarded the best exhibition at last year’s fair).
See you there!
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