Julz Beresford – A Rhythm of Peaks and Flows

Michael Reid Sydney is delighted to present A Rhythm of Peaks and Flows – the latest solo exhibition from celebrated Dyarubbin/Hawkesbury-based contemporary painter Julz Beresford. A finalist in this year’s Hadley’s Art Prize and one of the most in-demand painters in our flagship Eora/Sydney gallery’s stable, Beresford returns to one of her most enduring subjects with this new series, capturing the epic peaks and winding waterways of the Snowy–Monaro region.

For Beresford, immersion in the landscape is an embodied act. “Being there gives you a sense of openness – your senses are alive, so you feel things rather than just look,” says the artist, who beautifully distils rugged alpine topography and shifting light with dramatic and expressive painterly sweeps of thick impasto paint and soft gradations of green. “These sensations are what I hold onto back in the studio. My gouache sketches remind me of how it felt. I have no fixed intention in the landscape; it’s about the feeling of being there.”

Back in her studio, Beresford translates those memories into moody canvases where sculptural brushwork and fluid gesture echo the rhythm of water and the pulse of the land. “You journey through a place just like you journey through a painting,” she says. “It’s a transfer of pure happiness – being lost in the moment, absorbed in nature.” A Rhythm of Peaks and Flows marks a new summit for Beserford as she pushes her practice towards ever-more heroic, expansive and immersive terrain. Now online and on view at Michael Reid Sydney, the exhibition continues until 29 November.

Julz Beresford joined the Michael Reid Sydney + Berlin stable of represented artists in 2024 after a successful exhibition career over many years at our Northern Beaches gallery.

To discuss works from A Rhythm of Peaks and Flows by Julz Beresford or sign up for first access to the artist’s forthcoming projects, please contact dean@michaelreid.com.au