Our winter exhibition program is anchored by an expansive exhibition of new paintings by Emily Cullinan and Vicki Yatjiki Cullinan – mother and daughter artists, both of whom work from Iwantja Arts in the rocky desert country of Indulkana Community on the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytatjara Lands. Emily Cullinan and Vicki Yatjiki Cullinan are among the leading voices in one of the most dynamic, innovative and celebrated movements in contemporary First Nations painting.

One of the most senior women in her community, Emily Cullinan has been an integral part of the Iwantja art scene for many years and recently experienced a major breakthrough in her practice. Her vibrant paintings are inspired by memories of travelling vast distances on foot across APY Lands with her family.

Nganampa Ngura (Our Country) will have added resonance by placing Emily Cullinan’s work in dialogue with that of her daughter, Hadley’s Art Prize and Ravenswood Art Prize winner Vicki Yatjiki Cullinan, whose sublime perspectives of Indulkana Country are conjured via sweeps of deep red crested by rhythmic striations of purple.

All paintings from Nganampa Ngura (Our Country) by Emily Cullinan and Vicki Yatjiki Cullinan and be explored and acquired below. To discuss works from the exhibition with a gallery representative, please email danielsoma@michaelreid.com.au

Ever since Regina Pilawuk Wilson’s golden yellow Syaw (fishnet) won the General Painting Award at the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards in 2003, her elegantly structured paintings have quietly but unequivocally fixed her name on the contemporary art map.

Regina Pilawuk Wilson is now Australia’s most senior contemporary female First Nations artist, and is one at the height of her creative powers. Wilson is the matriarch of her community and is a softly spoken, major force in the Australian art world today.

Michael Reid Sydney + Berlin is honoured to work with Regina Wilson and her Community, which has for two decades produced significant and bright creative outcomes.

Deme ngayi ngebenderridu tyabuty ngayi nimbi apirri nimbi demewurity yedi syaw, danifityatit dirrperderr e kuderri e Elifala kana Kagu dininganmadi waniwirrfimeleli Kagu wukume nyinda wadi leli. Ngenikeh ngayi mengindi yemewurity kana ngan caliku dide, deme tyabuty nayin nimbi deme wurity yedi apirri nimbi. Ngayi kana ngarimpek ngaganim tyabuty ngayi nimbi syaw demewurity yedi, nyinimbi deme nyinin ngarifityat pupunyi kana, deme ngayi ngarifityat syaw, pupunyi ngeremwurity ngaganim. Deme ngayi napa deti. Ngangi tyamen napa minde ngangi awa yeyi wirrim.

My grandfather, before European contact, used to make lots of fish traps to put in the rivers and billabongs to catch fish, turtle and prawns. My sister said for me to put the design onto the canvas so I can tell the story about what our grandfather used to do and the syaw and pupunyi, now the story is owned by me through painting and weaving. To share the story to the western world, wakai.

-Regina Pilawuk Wilson, 2024

For assistance with an acquisition please contact tobymeagher@michaelreid.com.au

Michael Reid Sydney is thrilled to present Skull Kicks by Marc Etherington – a capsule collection of 12 blazing new wall sculptures that play to the passions of art lovers and sneakerheads alike.

Dropping Friday, 26 April, Skull Kicks immortalises a collector’s dream wardrobe of classic, cult and covetable sneakers, each one perfectly in step with Etherington’s painterly signatures and fashioned by hand in three-dimensional relief.

The acclaimed artist and six-time Archibald finalist is known for his idiosyncratic style, which sees subcultural touchstones, childhood memories and scenes of everyday domestic life play out with dark wit and a touch of absurdity. Nods to Jurassic Park, Freddy Krueger, boomboxes and old-school video game aesthetics tap into the experience of coming of age in the 1980s and 90s.

His latest crate dive through fan culture, pop-esoterica and obscure objects of desire reflects an affinity for merch, memorabilia and physical media – the material whirl that was wallpaper for a generation on the cusp of the internet and which now fires the nostalgia of obsessive collectors and online custodians of a pre-digital pop sphere.

Where once they were commercially produced, these objects are now recreated by hand, with Etherington individually forming each shoe’s distinctive silhouette with hand-cut and -painted board. The artist’s method matches the reverence with which sneakerheads might eye and covet these artefacts of the not-so-distant past while paying tribute to an array of vibrant designs and the subcultural scenes they signify.

Etherinton’s sneaker canon includes classics such as the Nike Air Force Ones and Converse All-Stars, as well as some exceptionally rare examples from sneakerhead lore: the “Freddy Krueger” Nike Dunk Lows, the cult Assassins (featured in season two of The Simpsons) and the Nike MAG, which debuted in 1989’s Back to the Future II and was instantly one of the most coveted – but unavailable – shoes in history.

All works from the series will be available to explore and acquire from Michael Reid Sydney in an online exclusive launching Friday, 26 April. And if your ultimate sneaker isn’t already enshrined in Etherington’s pantheon, hit the button below and let us know what your custom Skull Kicks design would be.

For more, please email dean@michaelreid.com.au

The first solo exhibition from Troy Emery since joining our stable of represented artists, Figurations transforms our upstairs exhibition space with a cast of wild and magnificent creatures dazzlingly sculpted with a couturier’s precision and imaginative flourish.

Fringed and fabulous in languorous repose, Emery’s impossible fauna reflects an enduring fascination with nature. Drawing on art history, science, decorative crafts and camp sensibilities, the artist explores complex entanglements of human and non-human worlds.

Figurations follows the recent announcement of Emery’s major commission, Guardian Lion, which will see him produce a spectacular, kaleidoscopic, illuminated sculptural landmark soaring high above Melbourne’s Southbank and serving as a bold visual gateway to the city.

For preview and acquisition enquiries, please contact dean@michaelreid.com.au