Del Kathryn Barton’s first solo show in three years is an oeuvre of epic proportions. Significant and symbolic, these works represent distinct periods of creative intensity that have produced countless works. Featuring never-before-seen artworks from 2009 – 2022, these modern artefacts parallel the artists acclaimed forays in film, sculpture, fine art and written word; an overflow of creative contemplation and expression.

As the organ of sight, the window to the soul, and an apparatus for immersion and appraisal, the eye of the beheld and the beholder merge in the artist’s inimitable gaze. With titles like listening eyes - singing eyes, brutally soft, eye fucking love youand dream the living, we see intimate confessions of love, bold expressions of desire, cool regard, and deep beauty as the artist delves the dichotomies of life.

Kinetic lines bristle and buckle on the surface. Vivid technicolour and chiaroscuro monochromes flesh out their form. Pulsating or composed, sparse or charged with detail, the curation is immense and immersive. Included in the collection are three solid timber sculptural shells, and a limited edition of Skupa gallery benches, all meticulously inlaid with Barton’s signature eye in Mother of Pearl, Cambian Ash and Rock Maple.

This is one of Australia’s leading artists in her full creative and feminine power.

— Naomi Tosic, 2022

• Credits

"And so, we are bound to share this last offering from her in the generous spirit with which it was made. In some ways the end of her journey as an artist. But her infinite eternal spiritual journey through the waters and the stars continues."
– Will Stubbs, 2022

What we feel about love, ageing, beauty, longing, fear, death and so on teaches us individually and collectively about our place in the world... Indeed, for me art is the highest form of education because it is profoundly empathetic and at its best it always recommends the truth and as Plato said, ‘beauty is the splendor of truth’
— Bill Henson

The more I learn of the beauty and intricacy of this system the more I am overwhelmed both by how amazing it is and by how little we are doing to protect it. However, when I hear about people getting together to stand up for a gum tree in Bulleen, I think that maybe there is room for hope.
— Patricia Piccinini

I disagree with the idea that artworks exist only insofar as they are available for human viewing. Artworks tend to be more interested in pointing out how they exist, act, and “live” beyond the realms of human perception, a paradox of sorts given the contrived nature of artworks.
— Dale Frank

It is what bubbles to the surface that really strikes a chord: struggles for more awareness of environmental destruction, human rights, sovereignty and the health of the planet and each other. These are not new issues, but the speed of their fruition is driving us all to new anxieties.

— Brook Andrew, 2020

• Credits

These colours move in time with the endlessly looping soundtracks. In one a machine keeps trying to shut down over and over again. In another, Siri, the voice of the future, describes things without one. In the final one, the Doomsday clock keeps looping back to its never-ending beginning.

— Callum Morton

• Credits

These colours move in time with the endlessly looping soundtracks. In one a machine keeps trying to shut down over and over again. In another, Siri, the voice of the future, describes things without one. In the final one, the Doomsday clock keeps looping back to its never-ending beginning.

— Callum Morton

• Credits