Interviews & Articles

Tranquil and luminous, the artworks of Ontario based artist Chris Austin ask his viewers to re-think their perceptions of often misunderstood animals. Playful orca whales frolic and majestic sharks cruise through a range of settings, sometimes natural, sometimes human made, but almost always foreign to these beasts that society has often villainized. 

Having set aside art in his youth to partake in the 9-5 grind, Austin found his way back to art making and has used his sculptures and gouache paintings to create an unfamiliar yet welcome narrative, casting the animals and landscapes he most admires in the leading roles.

About to share a new body of work for his exhibition ‘Wake From Your Sleep’ at Beinart Gallery, Chris Austin shared some background about how and why he’s trying to remove some of the perceived danger and mystery surrounding these creatures he most admires.

With their striking juxtapositions of time and place and questioning of humanity's influence on our ever changing planet, David Ambarzumjan’s masterfully created, vibrant paintings have garnered a huge amount of attention. Ambarzumjan’s unique nature paintings are becoming somewhat of a phenomenon. At a tender young age when many are yet to find direction, Ambarzumjan has already begun to make his mark on the art world, with a passion and vision admired by many.

The Munich based artist gave us some insight into what inspires him to create in the lead up to his solo show at Beinart Gallery, featuring the newest works in his Brushstrokes in Time series.

The typical reaction on first seeing one of Greg Olijnyk’s highly detailed, meticulously crafted sculptures is one of immediate intrigue. A feeling that quickly gives way to awe and disbelief on realizing that these mechanically precise, sci-fi influenced pieces are all made from an unlikely and humble material: cardboard.
Interested in building, construction and modelling since childhood, Melbourne based designer and sculptor Olijnyk turned his focus to creating intricate, mechanically mind-boggling cardboard sculptures in his spare time as a creative outlet.

Having only begun making and sharing these pieces with the world in the last few years it’s little wonder that he’s attracted attention with his mastery of such a little appreciated material.

About to show his work for the first time in his solo show at Beinart Gallery, Olijnyk shares how he came to develop his remarkable skill set and what goes into creating his sculptures.

It’s hard to resist being lured in by Robert Duxbury’s soft, timeless paintings. The works are drenched in vulnerability and emotionally potent. Duxbury uses his art as a sort of reflective biography, working through memories of bittersweet youth and externalising tender moments of fear and suffering from a place of kind and gentle contemplation.

Originally a street artist, Duxbury was drawn to traditional Chinese painting techniques while living in Shenzhen. After much self teaching and investigation, Duxbury used these techniques as the foundation on which to build an art practice which became both a form of therapy and catalyst for personal and creative growth.

Ahead of his debut solo gallery show ‘Misanthropic Paradise’ at Beinart Gallery, Duxbury shared some insight into his creative journey so far.

Mr Everybody’s paintings exist in a hushed moment, taking place somewhere between imagination and reality. There his subjects encounter the kind of exhilarating, surreal liberation that we cling to when wrenched from a beautiful dream just a moment too soon.

We as an audience can only look on as voyeurs, witnesses to these peaceful and still scenes, watching as his protagonist is lifted up and floats away to something or somewhere beyond our grasp.

Mr Everybody, otherwise known as Shane O'Donovan, grew into art on the streets of Cork, Ireland. A street artist since his teenage years, the birth of his son inspired him to commit to his budding studio art practice and just a few years down the track we find him about to open his solo show ‘A Nice Place To Sleep’ at Beinart Gallery.

One cannot help but smile at the paintings of Jon Ching. Saturated with colour and often imbued with tenderness, they convey sometimes improbable relationships between flora and fauna. At the core of Ching’s work, though, is a celebration of nature and a quiet, sometimes sly appeal for humans to appreciate the world around them.

Jon Ching’s debut Australian solo exhibition, Phase, will be displayed at the Beinart Gallery from August 8 to August 30. This show started as a contemplation of life on Earth after the impact of humans has ended, but the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic shifted the focus of this series to one more oriented toward transitions in our human life.

For those interested in dark art and horror, the art and creativity of Chet Zar has no doubt entered their minds. A multi-disciplined artist, Zar’s work spans decades and has stayed true to the original inspirations that prompted him to make art. After spending many years working in Hollywood as a special effects artist on such notable movies as Darkman, Hellboy, Planet of the Apes, and multiple Tool videos, Zar decided to take his skills in the direction of fine art, and since then established himself as a master in contemporary art and a growing movement of dark artists around the world. He has curated multiple group shows, and is the founder of the Dark Art Society and host of a long running podcast that focuses on a scene he as inspired in so many ways.

Making terrific work is one thing. Getting it out into the world where people can see, enjoy and possibly buy it is quite another. Regardless of personality or confidence level, many artists find this particular aspect of building a fine art career daunting, frustrating and downright mystifying.

After over 25 years in the arts, as a gallerist, consultant, author and educator, I can tell you sincerely and with confidence, my number one piece of advice is to KEEP AT IT! Make great work, make better work, make time to not just create your work but also work on your career. If you’re committed and proactive and keep on knocking, opportunity will eventually answer its door! It may not look exactly like what you expected. But I believe you will find your audience and your way. And while you’re keeping at it, I can offer you some tips that will hopefully help you navigate, and streamline, the process.

The sculptures of QimmyShimmy are playful juxtapositions of the ordinary with the extraordinary: the delightful (or at least neutral) with the provocative. From a “candy” dispenser that offers babies’ heads to a rice steamer holding human hearts, her work asks us to consider what we find appealing and how divorcing parts of our body from our body as a whole can impact how we see each other as fellow human beings.