From July 6th – 29th, 2023 Michael Reid Sydney will exhibit Mundhurr- The Gift, a comprehensive collection of new work by Gaypalani Wanambi, Muluymuluy Wirrpanda and Djurrayun Murrinyina, three female artists shaping the next generation of Yolŋu artistic practice.

There are no words for ‘thank you’ or ‘please’ in the Yolŋu tongue. At first this raises so many questions. Is there no gratitude in this society? Are there no manners? Is there such paucity of expression in the language? Are they just rude!?

The answer to these questions is surprising. It stems from a fundamental philosophical foundation in Yolŋu life. These terms are unnecessary; Everyone is so connected as one family that the flow of resources between people is unremarkable and treated as a given. If I need something it is mine, whoever has it will freely give it without the need for a thank you. After a while in this society the sense of rudeness dissolves and it becomes relaxing to exchange things without the power relationship in the transaction needing to be acknowledged.

But what then is the meaning of a gift in such a place? How can there be a gift if goods being exchanged is as of right? In the sacred and ceremonial realm there is a different dynamic. The ritual exchange of sacred objects, knowledge or ceremonies is a foundational element of Yolŋu social cohesion. And in the context of this exhibition that is what is being witnessed. Each of these artists are the recipients of a sacred gift of knowledge and identity which they have shared here.

To discuss works of art in this exhibition please email tobymeagher@michaelreid.com.au

Gaypalani Wanambi‘s father Mr. W. Wanambi made sure that she was a major part of his highly successful career from when she was young. He tutored her in her law and encouraged her to paint in her own right as well as assisting him in his work. After his death out of respect for him she eschewed the themes of spirit fish in the waters of Trial Bay and instead describes the journeys of the ancestral honey hunter and the bees hiding in hollows in the stringybark.

Muluymuluy Wirrpanda was a loyal and constant sister to Ms. M. Wirrpanda. They painted together side by side at the art centre. As the elder sister explored an innovative string of genres Muluymuluy was a companion artist riffing on the topics of native Australian vegetables, fruit and shellfish. Never copying but always harmonising. This has continued after the loss of her sister as she honours the gift of that time they had together.

Following the loss of her mother Djurrayun Murrinyina stopped painting the lillies of Garrimala which had made Ms. M. Gumana famous. This convention is part of the disciplines of spiritual hygiene which are so crucial to Yolŋu mortuary customs. Anything which impedes the progress of the departing spirit is forbidden. Nothing can be done which would endanger the eventual return of that soul back to the family of the living. But the gift of intricate colour mixing and fine cross hatching which Djurrayun received from her mother is very much in play.

For those of us who believe in such things; we owe the departed donors a sincere thank you for passing on their inspiration to a new generation of talented Yolŋu artists.

There is a potent sense of mystery surrounding the work of Petrina Hicks. Polished, tense and cool to the touch; with each photograph we are invited to comprehend a profound sense of curiosity as we gaze into images that are equal parts bemusing and beautiful. There is a discerning barrier between the viewer and the subjects of a Petrina Hicks photograph, a foundational device that threads the artist’s powerful oeuvre. This barrier is well controlled, quite intentional and has directed a roster of global exhibitions that have attracted critical praise for their visual ingenuity and un-compromised pursuit of technical excellence. Petrina Hicks is a perfectionist, and every part of her scrupulous sensitivity is present in her work.

Biophilia is Petrina Hicks’ newest exhibition which debuts at Michael Reid Sydney in June, 2023. The exhibition is a marvelous display of technical superiority and is the culmination of rigid research and twelve-months in the studio. Biophilia takes its narrative inspiration from the indistinct space between human and animal states, presenting the viewer with expertly choreographed and meticulously directed images.

Throughout her career, Petrina Hicks has dependably extracted from mythology, fables, and historical art imagery to re-frame the contemporary female experience. Her use of animals in her photographs are visually compelling and behave as symbolic gestures that allude to the human psyche. In Biophilia, Hicks melds these sensibilities, navigating art, science, history, and existential philosophy. Through Biophilia, Petrina Hicks creates a hypnotic space of oscillating directions, where identities dissolve and few rules apply.

The mechanics of Petrina Hicks’ studio processes are as intriguing as the works themselves. To this day, Hicks prefers analogue methods, dismissing a dependency on digital post-production. By way of preserving the traditional film discipline Hicks assembles her subjects manually, delivering a potent dose of authenticity to her magic-realism aesthetic.

In her precisely articulated Biophilia world, Petrina Hicks creates untethered spaces of illusion, suspending the burdens of any linear narrative. In Sleepwalker I, a young girl’s gaze is obstructed by her windswept hair, representing consciousness that surpasses self-identity. In Grace, a model takes a classical sculpture stance, whose defiant posture is betrayed by the softness of her bare skin. Petrina Hicks’ work lives outside of comprehensible time, supplying an entrancing state of engagement that is rarely encountered in still photographic art. Hicks’ command of symbolism, motif and metaphor connect wonderfully with her incomparable vision, offering alternative modes of learning about the nature of the human condition.

To discuss an acquisition enquiry, or to learn more about works exhibiting in Biophilia, please email danielsoma@michaelreid.com.au

Biophilia at Michael Reid Sydney is supported by the NSW Government through Create NSW.

To speak with a representative about works of art showing in Deep Space, please email danielsoma@michaelreid.com.au 

For artist Carly Le Cerf, who is based in Western Australia’s Mount Barker, on Wagyl Kaip and Southern Noongar lands, conveying the vast beauty of Australia’s rugged interior landscapes is a dance between what she remembers and letting her medium speak. Working with encaustic wax and oil painting techniques to illustrate the places she visits, Carly’s texture-rich works derive from an immersive journey.

“Every year, I go off on location for a solid two weeks and then return to my home studio to create a body of work with everything I’ve gathered from my time away. I investigate that area in every way possible – I meditate on site, record the sound, take videos and photos, write and paint.”

Yellow Centre is Carly Le Cerf’s first major solo exhibition at Michael Reid Sydney, and follows a series of successful exhibitions at Michael Reid Murrurundi. Comprised of fifteen new major works, Yellow Centre is the culmination of a two-week self directed residency to the MacDonnell Ranges in the Northern Territory. On this occasion, Le Cerf was accompanied by a group of her peers, collecting crucial material that would inform major works  back in her Mount Barker studio.

In the studio, Le Cerf sometimes refers to her on-site notes and other times relies on pictures built up in her mind. The artist prefers letting the practice flow rather than trying to control it. “While I come back with plenty of information, the work itself is very process-driven,” she says. “There’s a lot of alchemy involved with encaustics. It’s organic, just like nature is… it does its own thing.”

The chunky nature of encaustics, a blend of beeswax and dammar resin, proves ideal for Le Cerf’s rugged terrains. The artist attributes her love of these landscapes to her parents, with whom she moved to Perth from the UK, when she was five. The family would spend time camping and exploring in nature. “They were fed the Leyland Brothers growing up, and that’s what Australia was all about to us!” she says.

Since 2008, Carly Le Cerf’s work has been exhibited in Western Australia, New South Wales and Victoria, as well as in Berlin. Her multi-layered observations of Australian typography have commanded significant collecting attention as well as critical praise. In 2020 she achieved the professional milestone of selling an entire exhibition to a single patron.

When asked about her personal relationship to the landscapes that she paints, Le Cerf remarks: “I think I look at the landscape differently to someone who was born here, in the sense that I don’t have a feeling of ownership.”

Yellow Centre will exhibit at Michael Reid Sydney from April 13 – May 13, 2023.

Portions of this text originally appeared in Country Style magazine’s March 2023 issue. Words contributed by Samantha Engmond and Country Style Magazine.

Lions have been an enduring icon since the dawn of artistic expression. Throughout recorded history, the formidable beast has been a prevailing symbol; equipping artists, scholars, writers and religious institutions with the means to extract profoundly existential expressions of humanity.

In Jordan Richardson’s Sydney exhibition The Lion’s Den, the artist borrows from this history to deliver a collection of new paintings that are deeply personal and broadly empathetic; metaphorically grasping the birth of the artist’s first son. Each painting exemplifies the technical mastery that has seen Jordan Richardson recognised as one of Australia’s most talented young painters.

Throughout his career, Jordan Richardson has pursued the contemporary emulation of 18th century European painting. His works are a pastiche of Baroque and Romantic influence, present-day narrative and good humour. For Richardson, the act of painting itself also drives his work, as does the contemporary subversion of famous paintings in history.

Much like his 2022 Archibald finalist painting Venus (in which Diego Velázquez’s 17th century painting The Rokeby Venus is reinterpreted as the nude writer and commentator, Benjamin Law), The Lion’s Den borrows directly from historical art examples. Notes of Delacroix’s mid 19th century series The Lion Hunt inspire the collection, while Goya’s influence is especially evident in the gruesome, yet tenderly painted pictures of male torsos.

The Lion’s Den is an exhibition that is endearing, vulnerable and violent all at once, demonstrating Jordan Richardson’s special talent for distilling volumes of art, history and personal account into small parcels of delightful visual poetry.

To stare into the surface of a Betty Chimney painting, is to witness an adoration of country, direct from the artist’s heart. Delicately choreographed and altogether mesmeric, every moment captured in a Betty Chimney painting is an autobiographical ode to a life rescued by country.

Born in Port Augusta SA in 1957, Chimney spent her childhood years in Coober Pedy before moving to Indulkana.

The desert country of Indulkana Community is located the Aṉangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands in the remote north-west of South Australia; an area of the continent now globally famed for its artistic output.

I was lucky because Alec Baker’s father came and picked up my mother and me. So we moved to Indulkana, when I was about 8 years old. Alec Baker is about 10 years older than me, so he was off working mostly. But my mother and I loved living in Indulkana. We lived in a big wiltja by the Indulkana creek.

Alec Baker (who is also presenting an exhibition of paintings at Michael Reid Sydney) would go on to have a profound influence on Betty Chimney. Today, the two artists co-direct the community’s now prolific First Nations owned and governed art centre and are considered key contributors to the global advocacy of contemporary First Nations painting.

Ngayuku Ngura (My Country) is Betty Chimney’s largest assemblage of new paintings since her 2020 exhibition of the same name. The exhibition showcases seven new works of art, and one collaborative painting made in tandem with her daughter, Raylene Walatinna. Nganampa Ngura (Our Country), 2022 is a generational blend of visual language and noticeably diverges from the larger collection. Through their subtle, but effective use of blue, Chimney and Walatina orchestrate an electrifying blend of heart, mind, family and country that makes this, and every Betty Chimney painting so special.

Ngayuku Ngura (My Country) will show at Michael Reid Sydney until February 25th 2023.