EASTER GREETINGS FROM MELBOURNE 🪺

Pictured top: Eupholos linnei Weevil Woman, 2015, watercolour on Khadi paper, 41.91 x 29.72 cm. From the Homo-insecta series, originally exhibited at Counihan Gallery in 2016 as part of the exhibition, MODERN MYTH.

Eupholos linnei is a flightless beetle from Pachyrhynchus, a genus of weevils in the Curculionidae family. They are popularly known as Easter Egg Weevils because their glorious colours, typically comprising metallic or iridescent patches of blue, green, yellow, or orange, resemble brightly decorated Easter eggs - not dissimilar, in fact, to the eggs adorning our Easter tree.

Pictured above: Our little Easter tree, the decoration of which was closely supervised by Alice B. Cat. 

Below: The Easter Bunny, spotted on Easter Eve at Yarra River Maritime Park in Docklands, a short stroll from our apartment. 

Happy Easter, everyone. 🪺

IRREPRESSIBLE: Opening Event

1

Featured here are selected highlights from yesterday afternoon’s opening of IRREPRESSIBLE at Whitehorse Artspace. That’s me directly above, alongside my hand-coloured linocut, Everything’s Coming Up Roses.* 

Among those also pictured, in no particular order, are IRREPRESSIBLE artist/curator Rona Green (images 2,3, 9 and 10) and the ever-irrepressible Press Gang, including lead singer and lyricist extraordinaire Jazmina Cininas, (images 5, 6 and 7) with Jim Pavlidis on guitar (images 5, 6 and 8).

Also pictured is Cr Kirsten Langford, Mayor, Whitehorse City Council, who launched the exhibition (image 2, right hand side).

No mere blog post can possibly do justice to an exhibition of this scope, and this one doesn’t even come close. It was great to see so many of the artists there, along with their works, including Clayton Tremlett (image 20) and Kate Gorringe-Smith (image 22; Kate’s work is in the upper left hand corner). Others (several of them old friends) can be spotted in the crowd scenes. 

A highlight, among so many, was seeing Richard Harding’s final work, superbly brought to realisation by Deborah Williams, in the flesh. (Image 21).

Over the years I’ve been fortunate to have been included in numerous Rona Green exhibitions/print exchanges. Invariably, however, it takes awhile to sink in that aside from contributing to the exhibition, I will be also be the proud possessor of a complete set of prints - which now includes all of those in this stunning exhibition. 

Aside from the IRREPRESSIBLE folios distributed to the 53 participating artists, Folio #56/56 will enter the permanent collection of City of Whitehorse.

IRREPRESSIBLE demonstrates the extraordinary range and sophistication of the relief print like no other exhibition I’ve seen. Thank you for having us, Whitehorse Artspace, and also for the impeccable hang. Last, but not least, enormous thanks to Rona Green for coordinating this massive project, and for inviting me to be part of it. 

IRREPRESSIBLE runs to 16 May, 2026.

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

Directly below are a series of installation views.

25

26

27

28

29

30

31

32

33

34

In addition, my two-colour linocut, Anon, 1998 (images 35 and 36 below) has been included in MIRROR IMAGE: PRINTS FROM WHITEHORSE ART COLLECTION, currently on view in the adjoining All Nations Foyer and running to 2 May. 

35

36

*As previously noted, my IRREPRESSIBLE linocut takes its title from the song standard, Everything’s Coming Up Roses. Its lyric is by the late, great Stephen Sondheim. (Regular visitors to this blog will already be aware that I’m a Sondheim tragic). Coincidentally, today is the ninety-sixth anniversary of the great man’s birth.

IRREPRESSIBLE and the history of Rona Green-helmed print exchanges

The current issue of IMPRINT, quarterly journal of the Print Council of Australia (Autumn 2026, Vol. 61, No. 1), includes an informative, richly illustrated five-page article on Irrepressible, the latest exhibition and print exchange curated by Rona Green opening on Saturday, March 21, at Whitehorse Artspace. 

The article, a Q&A between Marguerite Brown, Curator of Whitehorse Artspace, and Irrepressible Artist/Curator Rona Green, also discusses in considerable detail Rona’s singularly long and distinguished history of facilitating folio exchanges and printmaking exhibitions, both in Australia and overseas. 

Rona Green’s contribution to contemporary print culture in Australia is immeasurable. I’m extremely privileged to have been included in several of her exchange folios and other projects, including Irrepressible.

The article is reproduced here. Click on individual images for an enlarged view. 

 Irrepressible will be launched on Saturday 21 March, 1-3 pm, at Whitehorse Artspace. For further information, go HERE.

MIRROR IMAGE: Prints from Whitehorse Art Collection

 In the lead-up to the opening of the relief printmaking exhibition, Irrepressible at Whitehorse Artspace, Mirror Image: Prints from Whitehorse Art Collection, is currently on view at Box Hill Town Hall in the All Nations Foyer, adjacent to Whitehorse Artspace. It will be exhibited in tandem with Irrepressible for the majority of its run. 

My two-colour linocut Anon, 1998, pictured here, is one of the featured works in Mirror Image. Anon was originally commissioned as a Member Print by the Print Council of Australia. Prints from the edition were subsequently acquired by several Australian public galleries. Across the years, Anon has been curated into a number of exhibitions, but this will be the first I’ve had the opportunity to visit. I look forward to reconnecting with the linocut, a key work from the Knots and Braids series, after so many years. 

Mirror Image opened on 7 March and runs to 2 May, 2026. 

Irrepressible opens on 21 March and runs to 16 May, 2026.

A Bonus Post for INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY

 

Yesterday I delivered my painting, Lady Justice ll, 2024, to Art & Collectors Gallery for A Seat at the Table 2026, a forthcoming group exhibition focusing on the work of women artists. 

Subsequently I discovered that the theme for this year’s International Women’s Day, which, as previously noted, falls today, is Balance the Scales. 

Lady Justice ll, 2024, Acrylic on canvas panel, 30.5 x 30.5 cm (pictured top) will be taking a seat at the table at Art & Collectors Gallery from 24 April - 16 May. 

Further information about the exhibition will be posted nearer the time.

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY 2026

On International Women’s Day 2026, here’s to the notorious Femmes Fatales of Film Noir, who never did care for the rules and weren’t afraid to break them. 

Pictured: Deborah Klein, Lady of the Camellias, 2026, acrylic on linen, from the Flowers of the Femmes Fatales series.