Selected Projects and Group Exhibitions
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Abstraction TwentyEighteen
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A B S T R A C T I O N A M P L I F I E D ABSTRACTION TWENTYEIGHTEEN is an initiative showcasing Abstract / Non-Objective art: 1 exhibition; 125 artists; 5 venues. Each of the Melbourne exhibition spaces has selected work that demonstrates its particular curatorial practice and aesthetic, with artists from around Australia working in a variety of materials and formats. Such diversity reflects the range of contemporary interests in Abstract / Non-Objective art. Practitioners with decades of experience and recent graduates celebrating together its innovative vitality, its freshness and longevity. In 1968, the National Gallery of Victoria opened its new St Kilda Road home. A major architectural and cultural emblem to highlight the maturity and strength of the nation’s burgeoning artistic ambition. THE FIELD exhibition of contemporary Australian abstraction affirmed our aspirations for an international context. It was a significant choice for the opening of this new cultural institution. The built form of the NGV could be considered ‘modernist sombre’ while THE FIELD itself was ‘energetic excess’. Restraint meets exuberance. A magnificent balance. In 2018, the NGV celebrates 50 years in St Kilda Road with THE FIELD REVISITED. More than a restaging of the breakout exhibition; it is a retelling of a great moment in a long story. ABSTRACTION TWENTYEIGHTEEN is a complementarity to THE FIELD REVISITED, and its precursor. The works in our suite of exhibitions reflect on a deeper history than just post/modern moments and sensibilities. They reveal influences and derivations, progressions and grand re-examinations of artistic cul-de-sacs. All manner of aesthetic polemics and political postures are reified and re-contextualised to make and mark works that advancethe action beyond novelty of the new. Stephen Wickham langford120.com.au stephenmclaughlangallery.com.au fivewalls.com.au jahm.com.au deakin.edu.au/art-collection |
Stephen McLaughlan Gallery - April 25 – May 26, 2018
Installation image
Strata 1, 2, 3, 2017 acrylic and mixed media on panel 45 x 60 cm |
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Langford120, April 21 – May 20, 2018
Installation image
Bronze Construction 1, 2013, acrylic on panel, 40 x 40 cm Blue Construction, 2013, acrylic on panel, 40 x 40 cm Bronze Construction 2, 2013, acrylic on panel, 40 x 40 cm |
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THE VOID. VISIBLE.
ABSTRACTION & NON-OBJECTIVE ART Deakin University Art Gallery 1 November – 15 December 2017 [ EXHIBITION CATALOGUE PDF ] |
Wilma Tabacco Construction, 2014 4 x mixed media on wood panel, 30 x 30 cm |
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Coney Island: Counihan Gallery in Brunswick
30th September - 29th October
[ EXHIBITION LINK - CONEY ISLAND ]
30th September - 29th October
[ EXHIBITION LINK - CONEY ISLAND ]
Flights of fantasy 2008, Oil on linen, 152 x 137cm. Wilma Tabacco
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CONEY ISLAND - Catalogue Essay extract:
Wilma Tabacco’s capacity for flawless hard-edge painting has been honed in a practice that spans thirty years. In the studio, smaller studies for works consist of cardboard components, that are shuffled into different configurations. The painted line surfaces differently in her works: at times in fine vertical vibrations, at others in highly pronounced block form. Dan Rule observes how, “Tabacco’s painted surfaces aren’t nearly as flat as their first read. With proximity, their patina and the play of the brush become far more complex.”4 Both Sesame and Hatchepsut are loosely drawn from the aerial view of archaeological sites. The scale of the works prompts figurative allusions and the artist freely asserts that many of her works are based on observations harnessed from reality.
Wilma Tabacco’s capacity for flawless hard-edge painting has been honed in a practice that spans thirty years. In the studio, smaller studies for works consist of cardboard components, that are shuffled into different configurations. The painted line surfaces differently in her works: at times in fine vertical vibrations, at others in highly pronounced block form. Dan Rule observes how, “Tabacco’s painted surfaces aren’t nearly as flat as their first read. With proximity, their patina and the play of the brush become far more complex.”4 Both Sesame and Hatchepsut are loosely drawn from the aerial view of archaeological sites. The scale of the works prompts figurative allusions and the artist freely asserts that many of her works are based on observations harnessed from reality.
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Four Drawings
Barberis, Bradbeer, Southall and Tabacco Langford120, Melbourne 11 February - 12 March 2017 [ EXHIBITION LINK ] 
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NEO-0-10 #2, 2016
Stephen McLaughlan Gallery, Melbourne
[ EXHIBITION LINK ]
Michelle Benoit, Louise Blyton, Tracey Couttes, Kendell Heyes
Christopher Heathcote, Frédéric Hirschi, Christine Loew
Wilma Tabacco, Rene van den Bos, Stephen Wickham
Stephen McLaughlan Gallery, Melbourne
[ EXHIBITION LINK ]
Michelle Benoit, Louise Blyton, Tracey Couttes, Kendell Heyes
Christopher Heathcote, Frédéric Hirschi, Christine Loew
Wilma Tabacco, Rene van den Bos, Stephen Wickham
Site A, 2016, pigment, acrylic on paper, 49 x 35 cm
Site D, 2016, pigment, acrylic on paper, 49 x 35 cm
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Dark: More than Black, 2014
Stephen McLaughlan Gallery, Melbourne
[ EXHIBITION LINK ]
Magda Cebokli, Andrew Christofides, Tracey Coutts, Ross Harrison, Christopher Heathcote, Kendal Heyes, PJ Hickman, Emma Langridge, Lis McDonald, Julia Ritson, Wilma Tabacco, Stephen Wickham
Stephen McLaughlan Gallery, Melbourne
[ EXHIBITION LINK ]
Magda Cebokli, Andrew Christofides, Tracey Coutts, Ross Harrison, Christopher Heathcote, Kendal Heyes, PJ Hickman, Emma Langridge, Lis McDonald, Julia Ritson, Wilma Tabacco, Stephen Wickham
Construction #4, 2014, mixed media on wood panel, 30 x 30 cm
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Construction #2, 2014, mixed media on wood panel, 30 x 30 cm
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Squaring Up, 2013
Langford120, Melbourne
Langford120, Melbourne
In these new works I have used the cyrillic alphabet letters that 'spell' Malevich as the basis for compositions intended as referents to his paintings. This year marks the 100th anniversary of his prototype drawing for the iconic painting Black Square and this exhibition commemorate his visionary ideas.
[View selection from Squaring Up Exhibition]
[View selection from Squaring Up Exhibition]
Partial exhibition view, Langford120 2013
M plus 1 – 4, 2013
acrylic on wood panel, 40 x 40cm each |
M minus 1 – 4, 2013
acrylic on wood panel, 40 x 40cm each |
Transcentric, 2008
Lethaby Gallery, Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, London
Lethaby Gallery, Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, London
Postscript, 2008 top left and right: studio installation bottom left and right: partial installation view, Lethaby Gallery metallic ribboning and cloth tape |
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Return Nature 2: Pastoral, 2003
Nanjing Shenghua Arts Centre, Nanjing, China, 2003
Nanjing Shenghua Arts Centre, Nanjing, China, 2003
Light and Air, partial installation view, Nanjing, 2003
metallic ribboning |
Light and Air, detail, 2003
metallic ribboning |
Painted Spaces, 2000 -2001,
Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne
New Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand
Talbot Rice Gallery, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
Cuator: David Thomas
Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne
New Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand
Talbot Rice Gallery, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
Cuator: David Thomas
Partial installation view, Painted Spaces
CCA, Melbourne, 2000 wall paintings |
Partial installation view, Painted Spaces, Talbot Rice Gallery
Edinburgh, UK, 2001 wall paintings |