CHRIS CARMODY now showing new paintings in LIGHT RESONANCE at Monsalvant Barn Gallery, Eltham Vic until 29.3.26
with Natalie Mather, Fu-On Chung, Emma Beer, Spencer Harrison.
Civic Art Bureau is presenting Chris Carmody's solo show in June 2026.
all works 2026
1. "PR6035.O86L6", 107.0 x 71.0 cm, Acrylic on linen
2. “side-bend 152”, 51.0 x 40.5 cm, Acrylic on canvas
3. “side-bend 025”, 51.0 x 40.5 cm, Acrylic on canvas
4. “side-bend 572”, 51.0 x 40.5 cm, Acrylic on canvas
5. “side-bend 707”, 51.0 x 40.5 cm, Acrylic on canvas
6. “side-bend DSZ1087”, 51.0 x 40.5 cm, Acrylic on canvas
7. “side-bend U/301”, 51.0 x 40.5 cm, Acrylic on canvas
8. “NoD 302 Alo:1”, 51.0 x 40.5 cm, Acrylic on canvas
Exhibition poster by Spencer Harrison
@general_interest@nataliemath.er@fu_chung@_emma_beer_@spenceroni@montsalvatartscentre
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side-bend 282
51.0 x 40.5 cm
acrylic on canvas
A set of paintings that explore layered colour, where each canvas is initially treated with sprayed silhouettes of an enlarged bookend form.
I brush and wipe layers of paint on this set of silhouettes whilst working on the larger cover paintings. I try to reconstruct the colours of particular faded books… but these silhouettes have a freedom to shift between referent and object whilst remaining relatively abstract. Sometimes I make use of excess paint or experiment with different quantities of pigment and unexpected things happen.
I’m calling them side-bends, which I thought was a term for the side of the road, but I think I made that up at some point.
Noticed these two talking
297.88 SMI // PR6035.O86L6
Both headed to Melbourne for Light Resonance
Opens 6 March @montsalvatartscentre
//with//
Emma Beer. @_emma_beer_
Spencer Harrison. @spenceroni
Fu-On Chung. @fu_chung
Natalie Mather. @nataliemath.er
yours truly
both works
107 x 71 cm
acrylic on linen, 2026
Light Resonance
Paintings by Christopher Carmody, Emma Beer, Spencer Harrison, Fu-On Chung, Natalie Mather. Proudly supported by Nillumbik Shire Council. WHEN | 4 Mar – 29 Mar 2026
WHERE | Barn Gallery, Montsalvat
OPENING | Friday 6 Mar
6pm – 8pm
Free Entry; RSVP required (link in bio) with an opening night performance by Happy Axe. 📸 Emma Beer, truth is so rare that it is delightful to tell it, 2024.
2 Cover paintings in a stunning show of the ANU collection curated by @oscarcapezio@drillhallgallery
BLAST / BLESS, 2017
247 GYS (let the possums in), 2014
When you find a book that has faded, you know 2 things, how this book has faded, and how another copy might fade. Seeking. Scraping the analogue.
I really love the stripe work you can see here, it’s ‘Jazzy One’ 2009 by Elizabeth Newman.
Thank you to everyone who came last Saturday to see Fluorescent Array @civic_art_bureau
Especially want to thank everyone who acquired a work, it means a lot
It’s something else to have my paintings in proximity to some of my heroes like the ultra-violet musings of @clarethackway or the boundlessness of @ruthwaller6060 and just round the corner from @alexanderboynes
Show continues IN THE WINDOW through June, with ‘The edge cannot hold’ opening upstairs on 14 June by @alexanderboynes curated by @benjaminshingles
Open today 1 June from 2pm, see Chris Carmody's Fluorescent array and Clare Thackway's silk paintings - sublime, moving and considered works by remarkable expatriate Canberran artists.
Our opening reception yesterday afternoon was very special. Chris was present, Clare sent her kind regards from Paris.
Last chance to see these works together in the gallery before the Flourescent array is installed in the Bureau window and we make way for Alexander Boynes solo presentation "The edge cannot hold", curated by Ben Shingles.
@general_interest@clarethackway@benjaminshingles@alexanderboynes
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I was looking for arrows when I found this cover and I might have even missed the title for the fade. But it haunts me now as an evil portent.
‘Aid In Place Of Migration?’, 1994
It was the end of history back then, this is now.
What comes of staying put?
JV6115.A33 1994
Acrylic on board
61.0 x 40.5 cm
2024
In the window @civic_art_bureau through June
Chris Carmody: Fluorescent Array
Opening reception 3pm Saturday 31 May 2025, with Clare Thackway's silk paintings.
Showing in the Civic Art Bureau window gallery in June is Chris Carmody’s Fluorescent Array, eight paintings on board from his ongoing preoccupation with the “inconclusive meaning” of the fading in sunlight and wear of found materials.
“These paintings are based on faded books I’ve documented in different libraries over the years. Seen together they speak of some strange resonance between what is intended and what is incidental. My eye flicks across these faded forms searching for something.”
Chris Carmody completed an Honours in painting at the Australian National University in 2009 and now lives and works in Brisbane.
The titles of the works refer to the call numbers of the books that the paintings are based on. There are exceptions, like "Taken off record", which is also a library code but has other associations.
The titles maintain connection with the books and library systems, and allows the source material to be found. Carmody’s intention is that the works and titles “playfully disrupt our systems for labelling things.“
Each work made in 2024, acrylic on board, 61.0 x 40.5 cm.
1. "Taken off record"
2. "731.456 DAB"
3. "Ref 820/9"
4. "241 ESS c.2"
5. "025.3473 W589a"
6. "JV6115.A33 1994"
7. "QP 360.N495 1986"
8. "PQ1674.A5S35"
@general_interest@clarethackway
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#canberra
