IRREPRESSIBLE: Opening Event

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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.

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Directly below are a series of installation views.

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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. 

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*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. 

IRREPRESSIBLE

My hand-coloured linocut Everything’s coming up roses, 2025, will shortly make its debut in Irrepressible at Whitehorse Artspace. The exhibition was curated by Rona Green, who is pretty irrepressible herself. 

The work takes its title from the Stephen Sondheim/Jule Styne song Everything’s Coming Up Roses, originally penned for the Broadway musical Gypsy: A Musical Fable (1959) and performed by its charismatic central character, the thorny, but indefatigable Rose. Similarly, in my own work, her namesake flower is a signifier of eternal optimism, often in the face of seemingly impossible odds.

IRREPRESSIBLE

Opening 1pm – 3pm Saturday 21 March 2026

 

For Irrepressible, Rona Green brings together 53 artists from across Victoria, inviting them to express what currently captures their imagination – from the provocative to the evocative.

 

Featuring creators ranging from emerging talents to accomplished practitioners, the exhibition highlights relief printmaking and explores the possibilities of this technique within the intimate format of a 28 x 28 cm work of art. Each print encapsulates a concentrated glimpse into the artist’s vision, and together, the works reveal the remarkable potential and inventiveness of the medium.

 

Artists include: Vivienne Adeney, Patricia Agus, Emma “Ruby” Armstrong-Porter, Rosalind Atkins, Elizabeth Banfield, Areka Brown, Loris Button, Jazmina Cininas, Elizabeth Cole, Tonia Composto, Paul Compton, Mya Cook, Miranda Costa, Di Ellis, James Farrar, Philip Faulks, Eleanor Franks, Tyronne Gietzmann, Jackie Gorring, Kate Gorringe-Smith, Britt Gow, Jill Green, Rona Green, Richard Harding, Bill Hay, Kate Hudson, Anita Iacovella, Kyoko Imazu, Deborah Klein, Astrid Lempriere, Ellie Malin, Cassie May, Robert Mihajlovski, John McClumpha, Aaron McLoughlin, Karen Neal, Kat Parker, Jim Pavlidis, Fleur Rendell, Michael Reynolds, David Rosengrave, Lisa Sewards, Gwen Scott, Heather Shimmen, Sophia Szilagyi, Helen Timbury, Clayton Tremlett, Carolyn Vickers, Miguel "Andy" Villanueva, Peter Ward, Amanda Western, Jessi Wong and Lala Zarei.

Whitehorse Artspace

Box Hill Town Hall

1022 Whitehorse Road

Box Hill VIC 3128

IRREPRESSIBLE runs from 21 March - 16 May 2026.

 

Gallery hours

Tuesday – Friday 10am – 4pm

Saturday 12noon – 4pm

 

artspace@whitehorse.vic.gov.au

03 9262 6250

https://www.creativewhitehorse.vic.gov.au/venues/artspace.

Pictured top: Deborah Klein, Everything’s coming up roses, 2025, hand-coloured linocut. Edition size: 56. Printed by Dianne Longley at Agave Print Studio, Trentham, VIC. Photo credit: Cathy Ronalds.

Revisiting Phyllium giganteum homo insecta

Pictured above: my watercolour Phyllium giganteum homo insecta, 2018, 41.91 x 29.72 cm, currently hanging in the foyer of Maroondah Federation Estate Gallery. 

The work was originally shortlisted for the R & M McGivern Prize 2019; the theme that year was Anthropocene. Suspended between science and science fiction, Phyllium giganteum is part of the Order of Homo insecta, a highly evolved species wherein human and nature are intertwined. 

Phyllium giganteum homo insecta was subsequently acquired from Anthropocene for the permanent collection of Maroondah City Council Art Collection. 

Many thanks to Rona Green for the photo.

The ace of hearts is high

I’m not usually one for Valentine’s Day, but by sheer coincidence, this is the painting that’s currently on my table easel. Pictured top: The ace of hearts is high, acrylic on canvas (work in progress).

While I’m here, Happy Valentine’s Day to my two loves, Shane Jones and Alice B. Cat (pictured below) and to all of you Valentines out there. ♥️

The music and lyrics of popular songs (particularly, but by no means exclusively, from the Great American Songbook), occasionally inform my work. In this instance, the title of my painting is a line from Taking a chance on love (music: Vernon Duke lyrics: John La Touche and Ted Fetter). The song originated in the stage musical Cabin in the Sky (1940), where it was introduced by the incomparable Ethel Waters. Waters later performed the song in the MGM film of the musical (Dir. Vincente Minnelli, 1943). It has since become a standard and has been widely performed, but in my opinion, no one, but no one, sings it like Ethel Waters. To see her version of Taking a chance on love, click HERE. (Apologies for the YouTube ads that precede it).

The lyric is below:

TAKING A CHANCE ON LOVE

Here I go again

I hear those trumpets blow again

All aglow again

Taking a chance on love

Here I slide again

About to take that ride again

Starry-eyed again

Taking a chance on love

I thought that cards were a frame-up

I never would try

But now I'm taking the game up

And the ace of hearts is high

Things are mending now

I see a rainbow blending now

We'll have a happy ending now

Taking a chance on love

Here I come again

I'm gonna make things hum again

Acting dumb again

Taking a chance on love

Here I stand again

About to beat the band again

Feeling grand again

Taking a chance on love

I walk around with a horseshoe

In clover I lie

And, brother rabbit, of course you

Better kiss your foot goodbye

Things are mending now

I see a rainbow blending now

We'll have a happy ending now

Taking a chance, taking a chance

Taking a chance on love. 

♥️

Directly below are a series of earlier progress views of The ace of hearts is high: