After 37 years and five gallery spaces, MAY SPACE Online Gallery Director Brenda May has made the difficult decision to close the Gallery.
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Throughout that time, Brenda and the staff at each iteration of the Gallery (MAY SPACE Online, MAY SPACE, Brenda May Gallery, and Access Contemporary Art Gallery) have remained devoted to creating an inclusive environment for Australian artists and curators to present works that are challenging, compelling and immersive, and welcoming for our patrons.
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Thank you to everyone who ever visited the Gallery or came to an opening; to the clients, new and old, who have supported the Gallery; and especially to all the artists who have shown with us over the years.
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If you wish to remain in contact with Brenda, please email [email protected] or call 02 9318 1122.
NEW • Mylyn Nguyen
Last days, closing 28 February
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New work by Mylyn Nguyen is featured in New, our online group exhibition of recent and unseen works by MAY SPACE Online artists. Exhibition online until 28 February - see our website for more.
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Images: Mylyn Nguyen, 'The Flower Box' 2022, pencil, pastel, acrylic, gouache, ink, paper, plastic, battery powered LED lights, 6 x 9 x 19cm.
NEW • Helen Mueller
Last days, closing 28 February
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“Since coming to live in Tasmania in mid-2020, I am heeding the call to be in forests. I walk them near my home and I paddle along their shore lines, sometimes along rivers and into the wilderness that harbours rare and ancient trees. I am but a beginner student, pondering the secrets of such places. I am awed by their ancient majesty and deeply held history.
And I know of threats to these places, ones that grow from modern human habitation and a new culture unschooled in the nurture of such holy spaces. The forest has no voice that we have learned to hear and understand. It can be but still."
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Exhibition online until 28 February - see our website for more.
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Images: (1, 3) Helen Mueller, 'and the forest was still 3' (detail) 2021; (2, 4) Helen Mueller, 'and the forest was still 4' 2021.
NEW • Ruth Ju-Shih Li
Last days, closing 28 February
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New work by Ruth Li is featured in New, our online group exhibition of recent and unseen works by MAY SPACE Online artists. Exhibition online until 28 February - see our website for more.
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Images: Ruth Ju-Shih Li, 'Metallic Enoki Bubble' 2021
NEW • Janet Tavener
1 - 28 February 2022
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“In 2017, seaweed containing seeds and micro-organisms from the other side of the globe were found on an Antarctic beach. This brings into stark reality the fact that climate change has made the once impenetrable environment and unique flora and fauna of the polar icecaps vulnerable to invading species.
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If kelp with seeds and micro-organisms can reach the poles, so too can floating debris such as plastics and other waste.”
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Exhibition online until 28 February - see our website for more.
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Images: (1) Janet Tavener, Amphibious Assault (Africa) II, 2021, ChromaLuxe, edition of 6 in two sizes (2-3) Janet Tavener, Amphibious Assault - The Pangaea VIII, 2021, Hahnemühle German etching paper - unframed, edition of 6 in two sizes
NEW • Kevin McKay
1 - 28 February 2022
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"Australia’s oldest lighthouse represents an historical narrative, a symbol for virtuous qualities, and a metaphor for the illuminating quality of one’s art in dark times. Even so, it is reduced to a bluish shadow against the brilliance of the sun.”
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“This modest church was built in 1865 on a rock above a fishing village and is named after the patron saint of shipbuilders and fishermen. It stands as a landmark in space and time with a commanding view of the harbour. I enjoyed sitting where Roland Wakelin painted it almost 70 years ago. watching the fleeting changes in light and the repeating passage of the Mosman ferry that marks the passing of the day. There was a contemplative aspect in this flux and in seeing my act of painting as part of that history.”
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Exhibition online until 28 February - see our website for more.
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Images: (1) Kevin McKay, Lighthouse Shadow, 2021 (2) Kevin McKay, St Peter’s - Watsons Bay, 2021
NEW IN THE STOCKROOM • Sybil Curtis
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"Each flower of a morning glory vine only lasts one morning. They are found throughout the world and this one grows near Australian beaches where they clamber over the vegetation and structures. Georgia O"Keeffe has painted their flowers."
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See all of Sybil's available works on our website now.
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Image: Sybil Curtis, Morning Glory 2022, oil on linen - framed, 35 x 35cm
NEW • Peter Tilley
1 - 28 February 2022
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“The odyssey of the figure in the boat is a metaphor relating to life’s journey, a voyage through time. An enigmatic situation somewhat beyond the figure’s control which takes on symbolic values and multiple layers of meaning. Those meanings would be fragments from the individual’s existence. An individual event in time…The enigma of the sea or of the voyage… A paradox.”
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Exhibition online until 28 February - see our website for more.
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Images: Peter Tilley, Midway along the path of life 2021, patinated bronze, painted steel, painted Corten steel - unique.
NEW • Keiko Matsui
Last days, closing 28 February 2022
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"Throughout history and across philosophies, the red string has been worn for protection, faith, good luck, strength, and connection. ‘The Red Thread of Fate’, referred to as the Red Thread of Marriage and other variants, is an East Asian belief originating from Chinese mythology. These works can be displayed as ‘distancing’ or ‘non-distancing’, as the owner wishes. I like the idea of moving the objects depending on the situation or feelings, as we sometimes want to sit closer or with a distance, no matter how much we are in love with each other.”
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Exhibition online until 28 February - see our website for more.
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Images: (1) Keiko Matsui, Before & After Social Distancing: Cat Couple 1; (2-3) Keiko Matsui, Before and After Social Distancing; (4) Keiko Matsui, Before & After Social Distancing: Cat Couple 2; ceramics and cotton cord.
NEW • Rebecca Hastings
1 - 28 February 2022
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“THE WITHERING • In Memory of Bogongs
Once they would darken the sun.
A fluttering mass of pestilential proportions.
They were so ordinary, and honestly, quite irritating.
So we killed them off.
With pollution and pesticides, and thoughtlessness. Yes, mainly thoughtlessness.
Anyway, there’s nothing more to be done.
They have been given a number.
Filed away in the catalogue of collateral damage (it’s a thing now, so they say).
What’ll go next do you think?
Will we grow used to these commonplace losses?
Averting our eyes from the withering.
Small bodies ground into the dust.”
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Exhibition online until 28 February - see our website for more.
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Images: (1-4) Rebecca Hastings, 'The Withering I, II, III' 2021, oil on polycotton - triptych, 50 x 50cm each.
NEW • James Guppy
Last days, closing 28 February
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New work by James Guppy is featured in New, our online group exhibition of recent and unseen works by MAY SPACE Online artists. Exhibition online until 28 February - see our website for more.
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Images: James Guppy, Still Life in Landscape 2021, acrylic on canvas
NEW • Jan Downes
1 - 28 February 2022
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“Fireflies are nocturnal beetles that dance emitting sparkles of light that brighten the night. Similar to fireflies are people who have an inner glow that radiates towards others. It is wonderful to meet these people who brighten and enrich our lives.”
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Exhibition online until 28 February - see our website for more.
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Images: (1-2) Jan Downes, Fireflies, 2021, porcelain, glaze, circular perspex stand, series of 5.
