Town Hall Gallery

“All art is an illusion.” – Charles Nodrum Explore Charles Nodrum’s remarkable private collection and the stories behind the exhibition ‘Aspects of Abstraction: Charles Nodrum Collection’. On display at Town Hall Gallery until 18 January 2025. Free entry - don’t miss it!

Hear exhibiting artist Casey Jeffery discuss her creative practice and the themes behind the current major exhibition 'Pattern Recognition' at Town Hall Gallery. Watch the full video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Df5_TidImI0 'Pattern Recognition' is showing until Saturday 26 October. Free entry.

Discover the story behind our current major exhibition ‘The Long Way: Kevin Chin’ including why particular artworks were chosen and the themes behind Kevin Chin’s practice. ‘The Long Way: Kevin Chin’ is showing until Sunday 28 July. Free entry. For more information, visit: https://www.boroondara.vic.gov.au/events/long-way-kevin-chin

Callum Preston I DISH I Major Exhibition

Callum Preston’s monolithic structure ‘Sign of the times’ speaks to our increased inability to instil personal values through decisions, as small businesses are forced to compete with modern supermarket chains and fast-food giants offering affordability, variety, and convenience. View Preston’s work in the current major exhibition, ‘DISH’, on display at Town Hall Gallery until Saturday 27 April. Free entry. For more information, visit www.boroondara.vic.gov.au/events/dish

Celebrating 10 Years of Community Exhibitions

We’re celebrating 10 Years of Community Exhibitions at Town Hall Gallery! See what local Boroondara creatives have to share in the current group exhibition, ‘Boroondara Summer Salon’ with featured works ranging from paintings to sculptures, and photography to Ikebana flower arrangements. Check out the ‘Boroondara Summer Salon’ before it closes on 20 January. Free entry. For more information, visit: https://www.boroondara.vic.gov.au/events/boroondara-summer-salon

Light Sensitive I Exhibition Video

Experience the medium of light in its many incarnations, including photography, installation, and projection, in our current major exhibition, ‘Light Sensitive’. Featuring work by Leslie Eastman, Kinly Grey, Taree Mackenzie, Jazz Money, Sanja Pahoki and Meagan Streader, ‘Light Sensitive’ is showing at Town Hall Gallery until Saturday 15 July. Free Entry. Find out more here: https://www.boroondara.vic.gov.au/events/light-sensitive Video courtesy of City of Boroondara.

'Romancing the Streetscape' I Major Exhibition

What’s intriguing and mysterious about Boroondara’s streetscapes? Hear from artists Mark Chu and Dani McKenzie as they explain the inspiration behind their paintings in the major exhibition ‘Romancing the Streetscape’. ‘Romancing the Streetscape’ is showing at Town Hall Gallery until Saturday 15 April. Find out more here: https://www.boroondara.vic.gov.au/boroondara-arts/whats/online-exhibitions/romancing-streetscape

'Through Our Eyes' by QArt Gallery | Town Hall Gallery Community Exhibition

We’re thrilled to share this video exploring ‘Through Our Eyes’ by QArt Gallery, our last community exhibition for 2022. See the exhibition at Town Hall Gallery until this Saturday 17 December, or view the exhibition online here: boroondara.vic.gov.au/boroondara-arts/whats/online-exhibitions/community-exhibition-through-our-eyes-qart-studio

'Wild City' by Kathy Holowko | Hawthorn Arts Centre

Discover Wild City, a special community artwork developed by artist Kathy Holowko and the children of Boroondara. Through interactive workshops, Kathy helped children envision a city where all humans, plants, and animals live together, inspiring solutions for us to coexist. As part of Wild City, viewers are encouraged to become a field naturalist through a fun and engaging activity, exploring the life and ecosystems created. ‘Wild City’ is made possible through the Boroondara Arts Initiative program, which emerges and supports artists to deliver creative co-design with the Boroondara community. ‘Wild City’ is showing at Hawthorn Arts Centre until Saturday 3 December.

'Above the Canopy' | Major Exhibition

Drawing on the colours, shapes, patterns, and genetic features of natural forms, Michael McHugh has created his own botanical language. Collecting photographs and drawings during research trips to museums, libraries and gardens around the world, the artist imagines new species that resemble organic botanical shapes and plant forms from the sea, swaying in an ocean current or floating across a night sky. For ‘Above the Canopy’, McHugh was commissioned by Town Hall Gallery to create a large-scale painting celebrating endangered or extinct plant forms. ‘Swimming in the Clouds’ (2022) wonders what new hybrid organic forms will evolve from climate change, when plant species are washed away, and land is engulfed by saltwater intrusion that includes complex sea life microcosms. Across six metres of canvas, layers of lush acrylic paint, riotous colour and obsessive mark marking renders whirling vines and textured, macro, and micro details of abstract natural forms. This joyful, kaleidoscopic encounter honours the haven of nature, which calms our nerves and heightens our senses. ‘Above the Canopy’ is showing at Town Hall Gallery until Saturday 24 September. View the exhibition online and find out more here: bit.ly/AbovetheCanopyOnlineExhibition

'Expanded Canvas' | David Harley

David Harley challenges the notion of the flat 2D plane by diving into the space beyond the painting’s surface. Using digital processes to create what he terms ‘free-form’ abstract painting, Harley’s practice imbues the synthetic and mechanical nature of the digital with the personal and the idiosyncratic nature of creativity. His tools include working with virtual reality (VR), computer-aided design (CAD) programs, wall spray painting, large format printing, motion graphics and animations. He seeks to explore the possible space behind the surface illusion of the ‘canvas’; the confines of various software or platforms become the material he works with. The ‘moving paintings’ in this exhibition are created with the aid of a VR headset which allows the artist to be situated in the midst of the work while creating it. In this instance, the final work is intentionally not exhibited in a headset but instead returned to the flat surface of the ‘canvas’, so that the work is experienced not as a video with a linear narrative, but similar to how a painting may be experienced – as something the viewer can choose to come back to on their own volition. ‘Expanded Canvas’ closes this Saturday 2 July. View the online exhibition and find out more here: bit.ly/ExpandedCanvasTownHallGallery Video: David Harley, excerpt from ‘Return to Green’, 2021, ‘moving painting’ animation, video courtesy of the artist and Charles Nodrum Gallery.

'Expanded Canvas' | Town Hall Gallery

The confinement of the canvas is abandoned altogether in ‘Prove to Me’, a new work by Bundit Puangthong. Here, Bundit paints the work directly onto the gallery wall, continuing the artist’s tradition of creating large-scale murals inspired by the Ramakien, the traditional Thai epic considered an integral part of the Thai literary canon. This latest chapter tells the story of the monkey god Hanuman who receives an order from the deity Phra Ram to help rescue the kidnapped princess Nang Sida, who was abducted by king of the demons Thotsakan. The gallery wall itself becomes canvas, story book, and celebration of the artist’s culture all in one. Bundit’s artistic practice mixes his training in traditional Thai art with a western-based arts practice. He uses a range of techniques, from detailed brushwork and stencilling – a key technique used in traditional Thai temple arts – to contemporary practices like graffiti, abstract expressionism and pop art. See ‘Prove to Me’ in ‘Expanded Canvas’, showing at Town Hall Gallery until Saturday 2 July. Learn more: bit.ly/ExpandedCanvasTownHallGallery