Search Victorian Collections

Daniel Boyd’s practice often investigates complex or contrasting forces, such as the primitive and the modern, this world and the next, and traditional techniques fused with contemporary methods. He completed a Bachelor of Arts at the Australian National University School of Art and in 2012 he was artist-in-residence at the Natural History Museum in London. There he reflected on the Museums collection’s historic images concerning the First Fleet’s arrival in Australia and their tendency to obscure the original identity of any indigenous subjects. It was during this residency he researched and made the Up In Smoke Tour series of work that concerns this omission and the lives of Indigenous Australians following the bleak realities of colonialism. Using archival resin glue and watercolour on photocopied images to recast and reimagine dot-paintings, Boyd masks attempts to identify the image or narrative of his works. He reinterprets Aboriginal and Australian-European history through recasting artworks and icons and altering the familiar interpretation of materials, here using Museum specimen boxes that previously contained the bones of Aboriginal people.

stonnington contemporary art collection, first peoples, first nations, indigenous, aboriginal torres strait islander, cultural identity, daniel boyd, painting, assemblage

Marco Fusinato’s ongoing series titled Mass Black Implosions is suite of drawings that represent the physical materiality of sound. He transforms avant-garde musical compositions from such figures as John Cage, Cornelius Cardew and here, Australian experimental musician Anthony Pateras, into new graphical interpretations resembling collapsing galaxies. The systematic connection of individual notes to central points within the notation reconfigures the temporal and sequential reading of scores. Instead, Fusinato proposes a kind of sonic implosion in which all notes are played simultaneously. Marco Fusinato is a multidisciplinary artist and musician. His work questions and re-configures accepted cultural forms and concepts, laying bare their construction and exploring how those worlds are made.

stonnington contemporary art collection, music, sound, materiality, marco fusinato

For more than a quarter of a century, Tony Clark has been working on one of Australian art's most enduring, significant yet elusive projects, Myriorama. Yet he refuses to discuss it in resolved or unambiguous terms. ''I've never known where this was going to lead,'' he says almost guiltily of the theoretically endless project, sections of which are now part of nearly every large public collection in Australia. The series is modular and interchangeable - the point at which the horizon concludes on both sides of each panel is consistent, making every panel interchangeable. It concerns same rambling, meandering, romantic landscape, ostensibly Australian, chiefly painted on compact canvas boards, and, since 2002, rendered in a restricted palette of black, light pink, light blue and raw sienna. Self-imposed constraints and tenets are not only Myriorama's defining cues but its great strength.

stonnington contemporary art collection, landscape, painting, tony clark

Scotty So is a multi-disciplinary artist who works across a range of media including photography, painting, sculpture, site-responsive installation, videos and drag performance. Driven by the thrill of camp, he explores the often-contradictory relationship between humour and sincerity, creating a scene of para-fiction through the manipulation of found objects and existing imageries in the living experience. Born and raised in Hong Kong, So’s work has been shown in Australia, China, Hong Kong, and Europe. His work has been acquired for many collections, including the National Gallery of Australia

stonnington contemporary art collection, scotty so, photography, haute couture, fashion, commodification, para-fiction, drag, performance

Scotty So is a multi-disciplinary artist who works across a range of media including photography, painting, sculpture, site-responsive installation, videos and drag performance. Driven by the thrill of camp, he explores the often-contradictory relationship between humour and sincerity, creating a scene of para-fiction through the manipulation of found objects and existing imageries in the living experience. Born and raised in Hong Kong, So’s work has been shown in Australia, China, Hong Kong, and Europe. His work has been acquired for many collections, including the National Gallery of Australia.

stonnington contemporary art collection, scotty so, photography, haute couture, fashion, commodification, para-fiction, drag, performance

Polixeni Papapetrou was born into a Greek immigrant family in Melbourne and her art practice explored the relationship between history, contemporary cultures, identity and being. Of Delphi, Papapetrou wrote ‘The girl in the image is Natasha. She is a violinist at the Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM) and highly regarded. She is the eldest of a family of eight and the first three born children are all violinists at ANAM. She comes from a well-known musical family. People ask me if it is her real hair, and it is. The girls in that family never cut their hair.’

stonnington contemporary art collection, polixeni papapetrou, greek, migrant, photography, adolescence

Michael Cook's Fake series is a visual essay in speculative history. Cook flips the conventional colonial narratives in his images that are tremendously playful at first glance but, on reflection, are deep interrogations of Australia's colonial history and its ongoing impacts on its First Peoples. Michael Cook is a Brisbane-based photomedia artist of Bidjara heritage. Cook’s photographs re-stage colonial-focused histories and re-imagine the contemporary reality of indigenous populations. Touching on the discriminatory nature of society, his images muddle racial and social roles, painting a picture of a societal structure reversed.

stonnington contemporary art collection, first peoples, first nations, indigenous, aboriginal torres strait islander, photography, cultural identity, michael cook, post colonialism

Melbourne-based artist and psychoanalyst Elizabeth Newman studied at the Victorian College of the Arts in the 1980s. She also practiced as a Lacanian psychoanalyst, and wrote and lectured about art, politics and psychoanalysis on occasion. Since 1985, her work has been exhibited throughout Australia and overseas. 'A Catastrophe' and 'Hard to get to', 2015 were shown in Newman’s first solo exhibition at the new Brunswick location of Neon Parc gallery in 2016; the exhibition was titled 'The effect that is propagated is not from the communication of speech but from the displacement of discourse'. The paintings continued Newman’s renowned practice of reflexive or self-questioning painting, which explores – with characteristic hesitation and doubt – the possibility of abstraction after postmodern deconstruction, and after institutional critique. In Newman’s paintings, 'A catastrophe' and 'Hard to get to' inclusive, there is often an interplay between abstraction and representation that is indicative of this ambivalent or unsure relation to contemporary painting.

stonnington contemporary art collection, elizabeth newman, painting, abstract

Melbourne-based artist and psychoanalyst Elizabeth Newman studied at the Victorian College of the Arts in the 1980s. She also practiced as a Lacanian psychoanalyst, and wrote and lectured about art, politics and psychoanalysis on occasion. Since 1985, her work has been exhibited throughout Australia and overseas. 'A Catastrophe' and 'Hard to get to', 2015 were shown in Newman’s first solo exhibition at the new Brunswick location of Neon Parc gallery in 2016; the exhibition was titled 'The effect that is propagated is not from the communication of speech but from the displacement of discourse'. The paintings continued Newman’s renowned practice of reflexive or self-questioning painting, which explores – with characteristic hesitation and doubt – the possibility of abstraction after postmodern deconstruction, and after institutional critique. In Newman’s paintings, 'A catastrophe' and 'Hard to get to' inclusive, there is often an interplay between abstraction and representation that is indicative of this ambivalent or unsure relation to contemporary painting.

stonnington contemporary art collection, painting, elizabeth newman, abstract

Chris Bond's creative practice involves the invention and embodiment of fictional artists, writers, organisations, personas and scenarios through which he creates facsimiles of imagined books, magazines, exhibition catalogues and correspondence. Realized as painted objects these uncanny, highly sophisticated works are often presented as installations to suggest concepts of identity, knowledge and perception. Bond’s works, 'Korcht irven rohns' and 'En cor rah ya sicht', both 2016, are constructed from oil on canvas, calico and board. Rendered by the artist’s hand to appear as facsimile books, they are exquisite in their sense of quality and attention to detail. Presented playfully jutting from the wall; these works seem to be entering our environment from another dimension, confounding our expectations by challenging what we consider to be “real”.

stonnington contemporary art collection, sculpture, book, facsimile, fictional, chris bond

Chris Bond's creative practice involves the invention and embodiment of fictional artists, writers, organisations, personas and scenarios through which he creates facsimiles of imagined books, magazines, exhibition catalogues and correspondence. Realized as painted objects these uncanny, highly sophisticated works are often presented as installations to suggest concepts of identity, knowledge and perception. Bond’s works, 'Korcht irven rohns' and 'En cor rah ya sicht', both 2016, are constructed from oil on canvas, calico and board. Rendered by the artist’s hand to appear as facsimile books, they are exquisite in their sense of quality and attention to detail. Presented playfully jutting from the wall; these works seem to be entering our environment from another dimension, confounding our expectations by challenging what we consider to be “real”.

stonnington contemporary art collection, sculpture, book, facsimile, chris bond, fictional

Jason Sims is an Australian artist whose practice embodies a fresh perspective on light-based, multi-media artworks. Sims graduated with a Bachelor of Visual Arts (Honours) from the University of South Australia in 2006 and has since exhibited across Australia as well as in Hong Kong, the UK and the USA. Jason Sims primarily makes freestanding sculptures, wall-based works and large-scale installations. Interested in art’s capacity to challenge and extend viewers’ perception, he uses mirror, reflective glass and coloured lights to create three-dimensional works with kaleidoscopic interiors that appear to extend into infinity. He has said of his practice that he is ‘interested in creating work that serves as a vehicle to re-imagine the space encountered – to deconstruct perceived physical limitations – and facilitate a kind of meditative response allowing viewers to interpret the illusion of space created as reality.’

stonnington contemporary art collection, space, infinity, perception, illusion, sculpture, jason sims

stonnington contemporary art collection, painting, angela cavalieri

stonnington contemporary art collection, stephen haley

stonnington contemporary art collection, kylie banyard

stonnington contemporary art collection, stephen haley

stonnington contemporary art collection, mixed media, trent crawford

stonnington contemporary art collection, first peoples, first nations, indigenous, aboriginal torres strait islander, photography, amrita hepi

stonnington contemporary art collection, melinda harper

Having refined his technique of painting on the reverse side of glass, David Jolly has achieved critical acclaim as an articulate drawer and painter. His work ruminates on the role of the artist as witness and reporter. He pairs rich colour and extraordinary detail with the glossy seductiveness of the glass surface. It presents a compelling encounter between the luminous dimensionality of glass and the textureless, mirror-like surfaces of screen culture. The series Artist’s Proof #1 illustrates before and after scenes of the Formula 1 Grand Prix at Albert Park Lake. Characteristic of Jolly, the works focus not on the spectacle of the race but the casual imagery of its inconsequential incidents, scenes and moments. Props III and Lakehouse exemplify of this approach. While able to be read as singularly abstract compositions, Meatball and Surface are in fact transcriptions of motor racing flags that signal hazards or the need for an immediate pit-stop.

Against a big clouded blue sky and a backdrop of trees and a field (perhaps a sports field), the foreground shows stacks of tyres, metal poles, tall metal barricades, square storage bins and pipes. Titled, signed and dated by the artist: top left, back, in blue ink.

stonnington contemporary art collection, painting, david jolly, albert park lake, formula 1, grand prix, motor racing

Having refined his technique of painting on the reverse side of glass, David Jolly has achieved critical acclaim as an articulate drawer and painter. His work ruminates on the role of the artist as witness and reporter. He pairs rich colour and extraordinary detail with the glossy seductiveness of the glass surface. It presents a compelling encounter between the luminous dimensionality of glass and the textureless, mirror-like surfaces of screen culture. The series Artist’s Proof #1 illustrates before and after scenes of the Formula 1 Grand Prix at Albert Park Lake. Characteristic of Jolly, the works focus not on the spectacle of the race but the casual imagery of its inconsequential incidents, scenes and moments. Props III and Lakehouse exemplify of this approach. While able to be read as singularly abstract compositions, Meatball and Surface are in fact transcriptions of motor racing flags that signal hazards or the need for an immediate pit-stop.

stonnington contemporary art collection, painting, david jolly, albert park lake, formula 1, grand prix, motor racing

Having refined his technique of painting on the reverse side of glass, David Jolly has achieved critical acclaim as an articulate drawer and painter. His work ruminates on the role of the artist as witness and reporter. He pairs rich colour and extraordinary detail with the glossy seductiveness of the glass surface. It presents a compelling encounter between the luminous dimensionality of glass and the textureless, mirror-like surfaces of screen culture. The series Artist’s Proof #1 illustrates before and after scenes of the Formula 1 Grand Prix at Albert Park Lake. Characteristic of Jolly, the works focus not on the spectacle of the race but the casual imagery of its inconsequential incidents, scenes and moments. Props III and Lakehouse exemplify of this approach. While able to be read as singularly abstract compositions, Meatball and Surface are in fact transcriptions of motor racing flags that signal hazards or the need for an immediate pit-stop.

stonnington contemporary art collection, painting, david jolly, albert park lake, formula 1, grand prix, motor racing

Having refined his technique of painting on the reverse side of glass, David Jolly has achieved critical acclaim as an articulate drawer and painter. His work ruminates on the role of the artist as witness and reporter. He pairs rich colour and extraordinary detail with the glossy seductiveness of the glass surface. It presents a compelling encounter between the luminous dimensionality of glass and the textureless, mirror-like surfaces of screen culture. The series Artist’s Proof #1 illustrates before and after scenes of the Formula 1 Grand Prix at Albert Park Lake. Characteristic of Jolly, the works focus not on the spectacle of the race but the casual imagery of its inconsequential incidents, scenes and moments. Props III and Lakehouse exemplify of this approach. While able to be read as singularly abstract compositions, Meatball and Surface are in fact transcriptions of motor racing flags that signal hazards or the need for an immediate pit-stop.

stonnington contemporary art collection, painting, david jolly, albert park lake, formula 1, grand prix, motor racing

Maree Clarke is a multi-disciplinary artist from Mildura in northwest Victoria, living and working in Melbourne. Her continuing desire to affirm and reconnect with her cultural heritage makes her a pivotal figure in the reclamation of southeast Australian Aboriginal art practices, reviving elements of Aboriginal culture that were lost over the period of colonisation. The 'Men and Women in Mourning' series explores the traditional ceremonies of grief and mourning practices from Calrke's Country. It originates from her fascination with Kopi, a gypsum cap worn to express an individual’s mourning of a loved one or significant member of the clan. A Kopi can weigh up to 7kg and the length of time they are worn depends on the person’s closeness to the deceased. When the mourning period was over the Kopi would be placed on the person’s grave.

stonnington contemporary art collection, first peoples, first nations, indigenous, aboriginal torres strait islander, mourning ceremony, maree clarke, cultural heritage

Maree Clarke is a multi-disciplinary artist from Mildura in northwest Victoria, living and working in Melbourne. Her continuing desire to affirm and reconnect with her cultural heritage makes her a pivotal figure in the reclamation of southeast Australian Aboriginal art practices, reviving elements of Aboriginal culture that were lost over the period of colonisation. The 'Men and Women in Mourning' series explores the traditional ceremonies of grief and mourning practices from Calrke's Country. It originates from her fascination with Kopi, a gypsum cap worn to express an individual’s mourning of a loved one or significant member of the clan. A Kopi can weigh up to 7kg and the length of time they are worn depends on the person’s closeness to the deceased. When the mourning period was over the Kopi would be placed on the person’s grave.

stonnington contemporary art collection, first peoples, first nations, indigenous, aboriginal torres strait islander, mourning ceremony, maree clarke, cultural heritage

Maree Clarke is a multi-disciplinary artist from Mildura in northwest Victoria, living and working in Melbourne. Her continuing desire to affirm and reconnect with her cultural heritage makes her a pivotal figure in the reclamation of southeast Australian Aboriginal art practices, reviving elements of Aboriginal culture that were lost over the period of colonisation. The 'Men and Women in Mourning' series explores the traditional ceremonies of grief and mourning practices from Calrke's Country. It originates from her fascination with Kopi, a gypsum cap worn to express an individual’s mourning of a loved one or significant member of the clan. A Kopi can weigh up to 7kg and the length of time they are worn depends on the person’s closeness to the deceased. When the mourning period was over the Kopi would be placed on the person’s grave.

stonnington contemporary art collection, first peoples, first nations, indigenous, aboriginal torres strait islander, mourning ceremony, maree clarke, cultural heritage

Maree Clarke is a multi-disciplinary artist from Mildura in northwest Victoria, living and working in Melbourne. Her continuing desire to affirm and reconnect with her cultural heritage makes her a pivotal figure in the reclamation of southeast Australian Aboriginal art practices, reviving elements of Aboriginal culture that were lost over the period of colonisation. The 'Men and Women in Mourning' series explores the traditional ceremonies of grief and mourning practices from Calrke's Country. It originates from her fascination with Kopi, a gypsum cap worn to express an individual’s mourning of a loved one or significant member of the clan. A Kopi can weigh up to 7kg and the length of time they are worn depends on the person’s closeness to the deceased. When the mourning period was over the Kopi would be placed on the person’s grave.

stonnington contemporary art collection, first peoples, first nations, indigenous, aboriginal torres strait islander, mourning ceremony, maree clarke, cultural heritage

Rob McHaffie is known for his skilful depictions of fleeting moments from everyday life, which often evoke humour, pathos and camaraderie. His drawings and paintings involve ‘collaging’ of images and ideas, juxtaposing high and low culture, and emotions. Casual Guy came from an exhibition of a body of bright, bold and quirky portraits titled 'I can still remember how to speak'. The works are light-hearted with tropical colours, transporting the viewer to an idyllic, utopian place. Influences from his travels in Malaysia and Thailand are clear in these works. McHaffie’s paintings carry a personal and diaristic element, recording the world around him. Trust, love and spirituality are key recurring themes in his works. In 2025, McHaffie was commissioned by the National Portrait Gallery to paint a portrait of gardening guru Costa Georgiadis titled 'Costa (it's not ours, it's us).

stonnington contemporary art collection, painting, rob mchaffie

Christian Thompson’s work reflects on issues of identity, cultural hybridity, kinship, memory and history. In 2010 he became the Inaugural Charlie Perkins Scholar and the first Aboriginal Australian artist to be admitted to Oxford University where he completed a Doctorate of Philosophy (Fine Art) at Trinity College. Thompson uses humour and playful subterfuge to subvert and critique throughout his multidisciplinary practice including sculpture, photography, video, performance and sound. These arresting and carefully orchestrated images are of the artist dressed in stylised clothing and handmade headdresses of Australian flora. While resonating with poetic and timeless beauty, the series Australian Graffiti contrasts Australia’s fascination with native flora with ideologies that correlate Aboriginal people with flora and fauna, not humanity.

stonnington contemporary art collection, first peoples, first nations, indigenous, aboriginal torres strait islander, cultural identity, photography, memory, history, kinship, christian thompson