Michael Reid Murrurundi is pleased to announce that highly acclaimed contemporary artist, Gaypalani Wanambi will contribute to our inaugural collaborative exhibition with R. M.Williams, Land and People.

Raised in a distinguished artistic lineage led by her father, the renowned Mr Wanambi, Gaypalani Wanambi carries forward a legacy of cultural innovation. Before his death, Mr Wanambi extended his artistic practice into digital media and engravings on salvaged metal ­– part of the Found movement, which embraced industrial materials as artistic medium, especially among artists in Northeast Arnhem Land.

Under her father’s mentorship, Wanambi developed a visual language deeply rooted in Yolnu philosophy. Her intricate engravings on repurposed road signs and scrap metal serve as a tribute to the ancestral songlines of her Marrakulu clan ancestral being, Wuyal.

Working from the Buku-Larrnggay Mulka Art Centre in Yirrkala, Northeast Arnhem Land, Wanambi is now the leading female practitioner within the Found movement, which sees roadside material gleaned on Country repurposed as shimmering, intricately detailed works of art.

Recently named as a finalist in the 2023 Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards (NATSIAA) – Australia’s most prestigious and enduring Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art prize – Wanambi’s participation in Land and People feels vital, serving as an arresting homage to rural and Country identity.

Artworks by Gaypalani Wanambi are available to preview at our Sydney Gallery and appointments may be scheduled by request. For more information, please email danielsoma@michaelreid.com.au

Michael Reid Murrurundi is pleased to introduce Jill Daniels, whose dynamic and high-energy rodeo-themed paintings illuminate a striking fusion between First Nations cultural practice and contemporary life in rural communities. Her optically charged compositions pulsate with a rural optimism, serving as an ode to life in Country, where contemporary rural traditions like rodeo intersect with First Nations cultural narratives.

Her vibrant feature in the upcoming RM Williams exhibition exemplifies her spirited visual language – unapologetically bright and compositionally abundant – evoking the heat and the dynamism of remote community life.

Based in Ngukurr, a remote community on the banks of the Roper River in southern Arnhem Land, Daniels has been refining her practice since 2003. A sister to acclaimed artist Amy Johnson, she continues to shape a distinctive visual language that speaks to the vitality and complexity of her rural environment.

As well as experimenting with linocuts and screen prints, Jill enjoys painting with acrylic paints. Her subjects are predominately landscapes and rural themes, and her ability to bring out the vibrant colours of the relevant habitat has captured the imagination of fabric manufacturers, as her paintings translate well to fabric, leading to several partnerships in this area.

Paintings by Jill Daniels are available to preview at our Sydney Gallery and appointments may be scheduled by request. For more information, please email danielsoma@michaelreid.com.au

Michael Reid Murrurundi is pleased to introduce the work of Anita West, who makes her Murrurundi debut when presenting at our inaugural collaborative exhibition with RM Williams.

Anita West in a Meanjin/Brisbane-based visual artist whose enchanting, enveloping scenes of tangled forests convey the romance of the untamed Australian bush, it’s serendipitous patterns and the allure of this continents diverse landscapes.

“I want my paintings to be soulful and contemplative. I want to take you on an evocative journey through the Australian bush, to experience the unparalleled beauty of nature”, says West, whose early career saw her experimenting with a variety of different styles. From naïve art to abstraction to miniature art, her well-rounded artistic trajectory final culminated in a focus on hyper-stylised Australian bush and beach depictions.

“I am interested in the idea of romantic notions attached to the Australian bush and I am attempting to explore these elements using boundaries between abstraction and realism, emotion, and perception through my engagement with this beautiful land”, explains the artist.

Predominantly location based, her practice is concerned with the recording and interpretation of natural habitat that has been preserved or protected in line with conservation objectives. Her vibrant floral compositions are animated with bold pinks and radiant purples, imbuing her paintings with an ethereal and dreamlike quality. The result is a body of work that feels at once rooted in place and touched by imagination – offering viewers an experience that is as reflective as it is transportive.

Paintings by Anita West are available to preview at our Sydney Gallery and appointments may be scheduled by request. For more information, please email danielsoma@michaelreid.com.au

Michael Reid Murrurundi is thrilled to announce our inaugural exhibition in collaboration with RM Williams. Speaking to an ongoing legacy of life on the land, images and objects on loan from the archive of the iconic Australian marque will form the scenographic backdrop to a specially curated presentation of new work by five leading female artists whose practice similarly – albeit in dazzlingly contemporary ways – reflects on intrinsic connections between people and the Australian landscape.

Navigating rural and First Nations interpretations of the show’s titular theme, Land and People assembles artists who explore how enduring connections to Country and immersive forays within the natural environment shape memory, identity and visual culture. Please register below for early previews.

We are delighted to announce the imminent return to Michael Reid Murrurundi of celebrated contemporary painter Jane Reynolds with her latest series of dynamic and dazzlingly constructed still-life paintings.

Now available to preview in person at Michael Reid Murrurundi, the artist’s new suite of paintings builds on the stylistic flourishes of her Small Works series from last year, and brilliantly displays her distinctive pairing of compositional playfulness and painterly precision.

This new collection reveals a fresh evolution of the artist’s palette, as blush tones introduce a graceful counterpoint to her more characteristic autumnal hues. Building bold tableaux from intersecting geometries and clustered vessels spliced with organic elements, her works transcend straight realism to conjure an illusory, dreamlike space where clean lines and graphic, Memphis-like details are offset by elegantly rendered drapery and voluptuous fruit.

Reynolds’s deft hand with colour and controlled light sees her paintings move seamlessly from the quiet elegance of domestic scenes towards flights of imaginative fancy. Graphic, angular and organic elements all coalesce beautifully in compositions awash with blush, saffron, grape and peachy tones. Please contact us below for previews and priority access to the artist’s new paintings.

For assistance with an acquisition, please email colinesoria@michaelrei.com.au

Murrurundi favourite Brooke Dalton returns to the gallery in with a new series of paintings that transport us to a world of interiors lined wall-to-wall with beautiful clothbound tomes. Shelves of Memories celebrates the warm nostalgia and emotional pull of spaces that teem with colourful books, painted ceramics, fresh-cut flowers and collected curios amassed in a spirit of eclecticism and whimsy.

Brought to life with a loose and energetic painting style that perfectly matches the sense of exuberance, more-is-more abundance and bohemian insouciance of the libraries Dalton depicts, paintings from this exhibition are now on view at the gallery.

For assistance with acquisitions please contact colinesoria@michaelreid.com.au