{"title":"Adam Elliot - Melancholy and Marmalade","description":"\u003cp\u003eAcademy Award® winning filmmaker and artist, Adam Elliot, is back with his long awaited second show at Beinart Gallery in his beloved hometown of Melbourne. This time he presents a recent collection of his personal and eccentric drawings. Titled, Melancholy and Marmalade, he once again delivers a gorgeous mini smorgasbord of detailed graphite and ink drawings that will allure, amuse, and sometimes gently shock.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOpening reception: Jul 25th, 5 - 8pm. This is a free event. As Beinart Gallery is a licensed venue, any minors attending the opening reception will need to be accompanied by a responsible adult.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis exhibition will run from Jul 26th - Aug 16th 2026, and will coincide with John Kenn Mortensen's Ligfærd, Jessica Ng's I am Home and Jale Soysal's Soft Mutations.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFrom a naked florist to a series of unfortunate fish titled \u003cem\u003eThe Fish John West Rejects\u003c\/em\u003e, Adam's random drawings are full of humour and pathos. Just like his acclaimed stop motion films, his small and highly coveted works provide a spark of joy and empathy in a world that seems to be growing more despondent and gloomy. \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAdam has always been a minimalist and obsessive purist, and still draws exclusively in black, white and grey. Unlike his complex and time consuming films that need hundreds of people and millions of dollars to make, he keeps his drawing practice simple and pared back. He still uses his cherished wooden Japanese ink nib dip pen and only draws on Arches French watercolour paper, with Winsor and Newton black waterproof ink. He renders with a Progresso graphite pencil from the Czech Republic and only uses tools and implements that have a narrative attached to them; bits and pieces he has collected from his travels with his films.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWorking in a deeply intuitive way, he never knows what his fingers and brain are going to produce. A kind of unconscious messing, his people, birds, fish, and occasional insects are extensions of his psyche; they are precious to him and he draws them with sincerity. They are beings you feel empathy for; souls that resonate and feel familiar. He has always expressed that he only wants kind people to buy his works. People who will cherish and protect the delicate and fragile souls behind the glass.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAdam has drawn since a child and he calls it his yoga. It takes him to a happy place and is a nourishing process he says he can't live without. Like so many artists who draw, Adam finds the ancient art form both cathartic and fulfilling. He often says he feels sadness letting his personal works leave home. Before framing, he houses them in an antique Japanese wooden box where the scent of the camphor infuses into each work. \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSome of the works have what he calls 'histories'; faint pencil lines rubbed out that didn't feel right. He likes these ghostly marks to remain and be visible to a keen eye; reminders there were many trials and tribulations along the way. As with imperfections in his clay animated characters, these are embraced.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eElliot chooses and tailors the framing for each work himself and each piece has both his personal signature and an embossed watermark into the watercolour paper. Each drawing is an original and this collection is a rare release of works that are highly sought after by collectors around the world.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAdam Elliot is an Oscar ® winning and two-time Oscar nominated animation auteur. Based in Melbourne Australia, his films have a cult following and are what he calls, Clayographies, clay animated biographies based on the bittersweet lives of his family and friends. He has created seven films so far;\u003cem\u003e Memoir of a Snail\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eMary and Max\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eHarvie Krumpet, Ernie Biscuit, Brother, Cousin and Uncle\u003c\/em\u003e. They have been voiced by some of the world’s leading actors, including Philip Seymour Hoffman, Sarah Snook, Geoffrey Rush, Jacki Weaver, Barry Humphries, Eric Bana, Toni Collette, Kodi Smit-McPhee and Nick Cave. Viewed by millions of people around the world his works have participated in over a thousand film festivals and won over 130 awards, including an Academy Award for Harvie Krumpet, and an Academy Award nomination and Golden Globe nomination for Memoir of a Snail. They have won eight AFI AACTA Awards from twenty nominations. His first feature film, \u003cem\u003eMary and Max\u003c\/em\u003e, had its world premiere on the Opening Night of Robert Redford’s Sundance Film Festival, and in 2010 it was included in IMDB’s Top 250 Films of all time. The film has been developed into a musical and several stage productions. His second feature, \u003cem\u003eMemoir of a Snail,\u003c\/em\u003e was released in 2024 and has become a global sensation and his most successful film. To date it has won over 30 awards from 70 nominations. Adam has had multiple retrospectives of his films and exhibitions of his artwork in Paris, New York, Japan, Canada, Mexico, Spain and Singapore. In 1999 he was the Young Achiever of the Year for Victoria and is a voting member for the Academy Awards.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1136\/8870\/collections\/Adam_Elliot_-_Self_Portrait_68_Beinart_Website.jpg?v=1780451179","url":"https:\/\/beinart.org\/collections\/adam-elliot-melancholy-and-marmalade.oembed","provider":"Beinart Gallery","version":"1.0","type":"link"}