Well done Victoria Reichelt, 2013 Winner: Sir John Sulman Prize 2013. Victoria pictured with finalists Leslie Rice & Alexander Seton.

Click here to view

Congratulations to all the 2013 finalists in the Archibald, Wynne & Sulman Prizes. Especially Jason Benjamin, Natasha Bieniek, Robert Malherbe, Victoria Reichelt, Leslie Rice, Alexander Seton & Heidi Yardley
Click here to view

Rhys Lee's coastal studio featured in the Geelong Advertiser's GT Magazine. Click here to view.

Ben Quilty's After Afghanistan exhibition is currently on view at the National Art School in Sydney until the 13th April. This touring exhibition features new work derived from Ben's experience travelling to Afghanistan as the Australian War Memorial's official artist in 2011.

The Gallery will be closed from the 22nd of December and will re-open on the 5th of February 2013.

Kirra Jamison provides Inside Out with some insight to her inspiration. Please click here to preview

Linde Ivimey has a survey exhibition at The University of Queensland Art Museum from November 3, 2012 until March 24, 2013. Titled 'If Pain Persists: Linde Ivimey Sculpture', the exhibition surveys Ivimey's works since 2001. Technically complex and intricately executed, the sculptures bring memories and ideas to life - often mirroring Linde's own personal history and emotions.

In Seoul, South Korea, Ben Quilty meets some young art-lovers in the Jan Murphy Gallery stand at the Korea International Art Fair.

Ben Quilty's experience as official war artist in Afghanistan will be featured on ABC's Australian Story next Monday September 3 at 8pm.

Danie Mellor will represent Australia in the National Gallery of Canada's inaugural 5-yearly international survey of Indigenous art in May 2013.

Danie will create an ambitious new body of work specifically for the exhibition, which is titled Sakahan: 1st International Quinquennial of New Indigenous Art. Being developed by First Nations curator Candice Hopkins, the exhibition will show over 100 works by more than 70 artists from around the world.

Candice became interested in Danie after seeing his works in the National Gallery of Australia's first and second National Indigenous Art Triennial exhibitions in 2007 and 2012.

Click here for more details.

Leslie Rice has been announced as the winner of the 2012 Doug Moran National Portrait Prize for his work (pictured), Self portrait (with the muses of painting and poetry).

Jan Murphy Gallery will be showing Les' works at the Melbourne Art Fair in collaboration with Sophie Gannon Gallery, from 1 - 5 August.

Our congratulations also go to Marina Strocchi for receiving a Highly Commended for her painting, The nature of things, in this year's Waterhouse Natural History Art Prize.

Congratulations Les & Marina!

Congratulations to Richard Dunlop who has won 1st Prize in Painting for this year's Waterhouse Natural History Art Prize.

Of his winning painting, 'Freshwater Eel (Colonial Style)', Dunlop writes:

"The colonial painting of fish in the South Australian Art Gallery have always been favourites to revisit, as well as the fishing paraphernalia collected by museums from whaling days. The sense of wonder and terror experienced in colonial days is communicated over many generations in such objects. Eels are a fascinating animal with their ability to cross land on dewy evenings - I painted this one levitating like a Nolan bird."

This work will be on display at the South Australian Museum from 21 July - 9 September. Click here for more details.

Ben Quilty recently spoke with Daniel Browning from Radio National about his experience as an official war artist in Afghanistan.

To listen to the interview, visit the Radio National website here.

Liu Zhuoquan's installation, Two Headed Snake, as part of the 18th Biennale of Sydney.

Museum of Contemporary Art - 27 June - 16 September

http://bos18.com/

Congratulations to Richard Dunlop and Leslie Rice who have both been announced as finalists in this years Doug Moran Portrait Prize.

In this recent Brisbane News article, Phil Brown explores how music and other pop cultural motifs have inspired Adam Lester's current exhibition, Palookaville.

To download a copy of the article, click here .

Palookaville continues at Jan Murphy Gallery until 16 June.

Earlier this month, Joyce Morgan from the Sydney Morning Herald discussed Danie Mellor's inclusion in unDisclosed: the 2nd National Indigenous Triennial at the National Gallery of Australia.

To read the article, click here.

unDisclosed continues at the NGA until 22 July.

The Gallery has recently joined Facebook. To be kept up to date on news and events, make sure to 'like' us by visiting our page, here.

For those who missed Channel Ten's The Project earlier in the week, the segment on Ben Quilty's experience as a war artist in Afghanistan can be viewed on the Channel Ten website by clicking here .

Phil Brown from Brisbane News recently met with Richard Dunlop to discuss his latest exhibition, Classical Arrangements. The article provides an insightful look into the artist's work, as well as the influences that have inspired his practice.

To download the article, click here.

Classical Arrangements is currently on view at the gallery, and continues through until May 5.

Michael Fox recently spoke with Richard Dunlop on his forthcoming exhibition, Classical Arrangements, at Jan Murphy Gallery.

The interview was conducted for Super Art Business and can be downloaded here.

Classical Arrangements opens on Tuesday, 17 April, and continues through until Saturday, 5 May.

The Gallery will be closed from Friday, 6 April, and reopen on Tuesday, 10 April. 

Congratulations to Rhys Lee, Ben Quilty and 

Victoria Reichelt features in Bookshelf, a recent publication by Thames & Hudson. Bookshelf is the first book to take the title as its subject, and presents over 200 inventive and experimental shelving designs including, Bookcases as Art.

Download article here .

A short video captured by Andrew Quilty of Ben at work, can be viewed here . This is an engaging glimpse of the artist's approach to painting.

Victoria Reichelt has been featured in the recent edition of the Italian Vanity Fair. 

THREE REALMS: Gonkar Gyatso

This is an exciting year for the Gallery with two forthcoming exhibitions by newly represented artists, Victoria Reichelt and Linde Ivimey, as well as exhibitions by Michael Muir and Lara Merrett.

The Gallery will be closed form the 23rd of December and will re-open on the 31st of January 2012.

Thank you to all artists who kindly donated their work to David Band's Fundraising Auction. The auction raised $230,000 and was held on Sunday the 30th of October at Deutscher & Hackett auction rooms, Melbourne.
We would also like to thank all those clients who purchased or left bids. Your generosity is sincerely appreciated by David's family.

The latest edition of Vogue Living features two pages on Jason Fitzgerald. In an interview with Margie Fraser, Jason discusses his practice and talks about the lead up to his recent show at Jan Murphy Gallery.

Download article here.

We have just returned from the Korean International Art Fair, Seoul, where we were among 17 Australian galleries exhibiting. With over 200 international Galleries displaying work, it was an exciting way to showcase the gallery to the 80,000 viewers who visited over a six day period.

We are very pleased to announce the recent acquisition by the Art Gallery of South Australia of Alex Seton's sculpture, 'My Concerns Will Outlive Yours'. Of this piece, which featured in his most recent exhibition at the Jan Murphy Gallery, Project Curator Lisa Slade writes:

As I am sure you are well aware, Ben Quilty won this years Archibald Prize with his portrait of Margaret Olley. The Archibald is currently on view at TarraWarra Art Museum, Victoria. TarraWarra Estate produces beautiful wine. To coincide with the Archibald Prize, Quilty was asked to select an image of his work to reproduce on a label. Subsequently, the release of the quite 'feminine' 2008 TarraWarra Chardonnay is labelled with a portrait of Ben's mate 'Evo'. Usually only available through the cellar door, TarraWarra is releasing 50 dozen to Jan Murphy Gallery clients. To order, please download the PDF form here, and fax directly to the winery.

I was fortunate enough to try the Chardonnay when last in Melbourne for the opening of the Archibald—you won't be disappointed. Following is a link to Ben speaking with winemaker Clare Halloran about their creative processes.

View on YouTube here.

Heidi Yardley is a finalist in this years Doug Moran National Portrait Prize. The winner of the world's richest portrait prize will announced on the 3rd of May.

Yardley has painted fellow artist Rhys Lee, the work is titled Rhys Lee- Doppelganger. Of her work, Yardley writes:

"Rhys Lee's sculptural self-portrait appears as his doppelagnger or evil twin.  The confrontation in his gesture implies a dark humour: as he attempts to kiss his 'other' he is met with a mocking grin signifying his own mortality."

http://www.moranprizes.com.au/

The gallery would like to congratulate Jason Benjamin, Angus McDonald and Ben Quilty for their inclusion in this years Archibald Prize. Quilty's portrait of Margaret Olley, McDonald's portrait of Dr Ann Lewis & Benjamin's painting of musician Gareth Liddiard can all be viewed on the Art Gallery of New South Wales Web site: http://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/exhibitions/archibald-wynne-sulman-prizes-2011/finalists/.

Congratulations to Heidi Yardley & Kirra Jamison for their inclusion in Art Collector's 50 Most Collectable Artists for 2011. Page 198 has a great 2 page article on Heidi Yardley which is well worth reading. 

The Gallery will be closed from the 24th of December until the 1st of February 2011.

We would like to wish you a Merry Christmas and to thank all those who have made 2010 an exciting and successful year.

 

Next year is shaping up to be just as eventful with our first exhibition opening on the 22nd of February.  Of her forthcoming exhibition, Almanac, Nicola Hensel writes:

 

“Almanac is a recurring motif but also a kind of modus operandi. I like that long history they have. Ground level knowledge, based on observation, gathered and shared. I particularly like the tradition of farmer’s almanacs where generations of crusty old blokes noted bird movements, animal habits, planetary shifts and accumulated it all in inexpensive booklets of deep understanding.  I like thinking of my drawing practice like that. The more I observe and draw, the more I build my understanding of things.”

 

Straddie, a group exhibition including works by Rhys Lee, AJ Taylor, Heidi Yardley, Richard Dunlop and Adam Lester, will follow Almanac.  Each artist is spending time at Stradbroke Island and painting their interpretation of this unique location. Straddie will open on the 15th of March.

 

Of course, our 2011 calendar will be available for viewing on our website in early February or please contact the gallery if you would prefer to receive a printed copy via mail.

 

Curator Lisa Slade chats with Jason Benjamin about his recent exhibition, We Built Cities.

In a quest for inspiration, artist Jason Benjamin recently spent time in and around Southern New South Wales –and more specifically, Monaro.

In the past, Benjamin’s paintings have been so intricately tied to emotion that they were really depictions of his mind.  However, increasingly aware of the presence of the land itself ghosting his efforts, Benjamin has put aside his own narrative and let the landscape reveal its inherent meaning. Of this exhibition Benjamin writes,
 “I wanted the overall expression and narrative to place us somewhere eerily familiar but somehow outside of time and place”.

Please join us for drinks from 6pm on Wednesday November 3.

Join us at the gallery on Thursday the 21^st of October to listen to Angus McDonald in conversation with Suzi Muddiman, Director of the Tweed Regional Gallery, as they discuss notions of portraiture and Angus’s inclusion in the Archibald Prize.

 

Enjoy both an artist’s and curator’s perspective on what makes a great portrait and decide for yourself, as McDonald’s portrait of ‘Zoe’ is hanging in his current exhibition –The Time in Between.

 

Drinks will be served from 6pm and the conversation begins at 6.30pm. As numbers are limited, please RSVP to nicole@janmurphygallery.com.au

Thanks to all those who attended ‘The Fine Art of Dress’ on Saturday the 11^th of September. There was an overwhelming response which necessitated an extra two parades – apologies to those who still missed out.

 

The Jan Murphy Gallery was proud to work with Shan from Camargue, who chose outfits to complement our Aboriginal exhibition perfectly. Guests were also treated to Mumm Champagne and parades in Unique France, who teamed with Biffi, Philip Bacon Galleries, who’s models wore Easton Pearson and Bruce Heiser Gallery who showcased the stunning outfits of Paul Hunt.

 

The entire day was choreographed by Strut & Fret Production House and was part of the Valley Fiesta.  Discussions are already underway for an even bigger and better event for next year, so watch this space!

A century ago art provocateur Marcel Duchamp overturned the definition of sculpture when he exhibited a found object as art. Fifty years later conceptualists, earth artists and performance artists tried to abandon the object altogether in an embrace of art as idea and experience. Today, it seems that the sculptural object is back and along with it artists’ renewed fascination for physical and transformative sculptural processes like casting and carving. In this exhibition however, sculptural processes are adopted not by artists usually associated with three dimensions, but by those usually more at home in the world of two.
 
For this year’s art fair Jan Murphy set her artists David Band, Kirra Jamison, Rhys Lee, Ben Quilty, Leslie Rice and Alexander Seton, the challenge of working differently and for most of them this meant taking a step into three dimensions. For sculptor Alexander Seton this meant the challenge of investing bronze with the physical presence of marble, his conventional material of choice.
 
Painters have long been drawn to sculpture – to the promise of breathing life into their work – and this Pygmalion complex has taken hold with the generation of sculptural works in timber, resin, pewter and bronze. Most of the artists are also showing two-dimensional work, thereby providing a touchstone for viewers and inviting a conversation between the known and the new.
 
But don’t expect monuments or public art statements, these sculptures are for living with. Intimately scaled, they present the challenge of something new to both artist and collector. By working in series, editions or multiples, these artists are able to make art available to a broader audience. Artists in the United Kingdom and Europe have in recent times begun working this way, demonstrating, like these artists, their technical finesse and conceptual agility. Just as the earliest sculptural practices involved the making of small scaled figures (the most famous being the 25,000 year old Venus of Willendorf) contemporary artists are embracing the votive, the magical and the intimate.
 
Join us at Stand # 60, 4-8 August,
Royal Exhibition Building, Melbourne
 
www.melbourneartfoundation.com
 

Please join Heidi Yardley at the gallery on Thursday 15th July at 6pm when she will be speaking about her latest exhibition Gift For The Darkness.

Inspired by a visit to Victoria's famous 'Hanging Rock', the site always held fascination for Yardley not only for its natural beauty and mystery but as the site of the film 'Picnic at Hanging Rock' directed by Peter Weir in 1975.

This exhibition explores aspects of the Australian landscape and it's mythology with the human figure at the heart of the story. Clues to our collective consciousness of past Australian mysteries include the dingo as a possible reference to the disappearance of Azaria Chamberlain. However, the images do not offer literal interpretation but create a kind of mood and a melancholy familiarity. Amongst this is suggestion of ritual, lending an eerie quality to otherwise unassuming landscapes. At times decorated in body paint or sporting cuts and bruises, her figures seem lonely in their attempt to connect with primeval urges. The mystery and brutality of the Australian landscape is always present.

It was great to spend some time with Adam Lester in his studio and to preview his forthcoming exhibition, Gumbo.

Adam graciously answered all manor of questions regarding his work and practice and clients were treated to a sneak peak into the 'inner sanctum'—his studio. Studio visits give a rare and privileged insight into the working mind of the artist.

Gumbo will be hanging from Tuesday 15 June and can be previewed at the gallery or online under 'Upcoming Exhibition'.

For those who missed the ABC's Artscape on Tuesday night, the Ben Quilty and the Maggots video can be viewed on ABC's Artscape website by clicking here.

This is an insightful look into Ben's world and should not be missed.

Congratulations to Robert Malherbe who is a finalist in both the Archibald and Wynne Prizes. Selected from 849 entries, Malherbe's portrait of fellow artist Luke Sciberras is liiustrated to the right. A list of all finalists may be viewed at: http://www.thearchibaldprize.com.au/finalists/archibald/ The winners will be announced on Friday 26th of March.

Both Marina Strocchi and Dean Bowen are also finalists in this years Wynne Prize. $25,000 is awarded by the judges for the best landscape painting of Australian scenery in oils or watercolours.

We wish all of our finalists the best of luck.

A Picture Book First and Foremost is a recent
publication illustrating the work and environments
of Australian artist David Bromley. Capturing the two
distinct and unique languages of Bromley’s work –
the female portrait and the children’s series,
this publication is presented in two unique editions.
The standard edition includes three books within
a handmade slip, while the limited edition presents
the three volumes in a hand made leather school
bag, with a limited edition print.  
 
One of the three volumes is dedicated entirely
to the artist’s various studio spaces. Beautifully photographed by Earl Carter, the images in this
book provide a rare glimpse into the magical worlds
that Bromley occupies.
 
Bromley’s only Queensland signing of A Picture Book First and Foremost will take place at the Jan Murphy Gallery on Sunday 21 March, 2-4 pm and in conjunction with the launch of his new exhibition, Pin-ups and Picture Books.
 
All Welcome.

Danie Mellor is the 2010 recipient of the Adelaide Perry Prize for Drawing awarded by the Adelaide Perry Gallery, PLC Croydon.  His winning work, The Offerings (A Custom Ritual) is a diptych and mixed media on paper.

The first exhibition for 2010 is A.J. Taylor's Brisbane River. Hanging from Tuesday the 23rd of February, this latest body of work is a continuation of his fascination with the 'framed' view. However, unlike previous shows, the location takes a more significant role.

Hours spent on or around the iconic Brisbane River in the past two years has provided Taylor with ample photographic material. Far from being simple 'scenic views', these works continue to challenge our perceptions of the traditional landscape.

Like the impressionist artists that have inspired him, Taylor's aesthetic goal is to test our visual limits,making us complicit in the visual dynamic between experience and form.  As is now characteristic of his work, the margins or edges are unresolved, forcing the viewer to question what initially appears to be a familiar, almost comfortable view.He asks: "Can I make truly evocative painting from an apparently mundane landscape; something taken for granted as everyday and therefore uninteresting?"

 

The Gallery will be closed from the 25th of December until the 2nd of February 2010. 'Brisbane River' an exhibition of small works by A.J Taylor will open at the end of February.

Gonkar Gyatso & Huang Xu
4th December – 19th December

In keeping with the spirit of the 6th Asia Pacific Triennial, Jan Murphy Gallery in collaboration with  
China Art Projects, Beijing, presents an exhibition of recent works by Gonkar Gyatso and Huang Xu.
 
Gonkar Gyatso was born in 1961 in Lhasa and studied Fine Art in Beijing and London. He currently  
lives and works between New York and London, where he founded the contemporary Tibetan art gallery, The Sweet Tea House. Gyatso's work examines the cultural hybridism of globalization through his own experiences of life in the Tibetan Diaspora. He has exhibited internationally in galleries and museums in Europe, North America, China and Australia and his work is held in the collections of the Newark Museum (USA), the Pitt Rivers Museum (United Kingdom), Queensland Gallery of Modern Art (Australia), Burger Collection (Switzerland), Rossi & Rossi (London), Red Gate Gallery (Beijing) and numerous private
collections. He was selected to participate in the 53rd Venice Biennale and will be exhibiting at APT6  
in Brisbane.
 
In his Brisbane debut, contemporary Chinese artist Huang Xu, presents a series of otherworldly, oversize C-prints of discarded plastic bags remodeled in 3D scanners. These images, both mysterious and sublime, evoke the sumptuous folds of delicate, silken garments, recalling the traditional fabrics of his country’s imperial past and reflecting critically on his nation’s rush to modernity. Huang Xu was born in Beijing in 1968.  He established the Substratum Art Studio in 1989, the Migrant Bird Art Studio in 1991 and the Big Basin Studio in 2003.  He has exhibited in the United Kingdom, Australia and China and works in Beijing.

Congratulations to Alexander Seton who beat 42 other leading Australian sculptors to take first prize in the Woollahra Small Sculpture Prize. 

Established in 2001,this prestigious prize attracts strong support from artists, collectors and critics and is one of only two national prizes that showcases the quality and diversity of sculptures of smaller dimensions.

An acquisitive award of $10,000, Seton won the prize with his work ‘I…U’, a Bianca marble hooded jumper with resin inlay. This work considers notions of self-presentation and communication. A ‘hoodie’ jersey lies crumpled on the ground, as if casually discarded by the wearer. Obscured lettering can be read on the crumpled chest of the jersey, ‘I…E…U’. The ambiguous missing centre word ending in E could be love, hate or something else?  The partial message in SMS text shorthand within the carved folds implies the transience, and inbuilt melancholy of frustrated and abbreviated expression.

James Guppy’s recent Survey exhibition, Seduction and Subversion, has just opened at the Tweed River Art Gallery. Exhibiting works from 1989 to 2009, this show is a well curated and thoughtfully constructed collection of paintings spanning the last twenty years. There is a comprehensive catalogue (available from the Jan Murphy Gallery), with essays by Alison Kubler and Andrew Frost.

Thank you to those clients who kindly agreed to lend their works to this show. Travelling to 10 venues over two years, their generosity has not gone unnoticed.

Seduction and Subversion will be exhibited at Tweed River Art Gallery, until 15 November 2009. It then travels to Ipswich Art Gallery: 28 November 2009 – 17 January 2010, before making it’s way down the East coast.

Currently exhibiting at the beautiful TarraWarra Museum of Art, Healesville, Victoria, Quilty’s survey show has been getting rave reviews. Initiated by The University of Queensland Art Museum, this exhibition looks at the past seven years of Ben’s production. Including his iconic Torana cars, budgerigars, portraits, skulls and more recent Rorschach’s, this show (and catalogue) is a must for all Quilty fans.

Again, our thanks go out to all those clients who have lent their works – even a small Quilty leaves a large hole on the wall! Your paintings will be back soon as this show ends on 15 November 2009.  For those of you who are interested, we have copies of a number of reviews from The Age, Sydney Morning Herald, Art Monthly and The Courier Mail.

You may also be interested to read Germain Greer’s article on Ben Quilty in ‘The Guardian’.

Ben’s next solo exhibition is scheduled with the Gallery for May 2010.

David Bromley’s long awaited book is finally at the printers. A three volume production divided into ‘Boys Own’, ‘Nudes’ and ‘Studios’, A Picture Book First and Foremost is 240 pages in total. Available in both limited and normal editions, please call the gallery if you would like to pre-order a copy, +61 7 3254 1855.