I went out looking for a new wall, longer story - I won’t go into that, and found a fixation instead. I’ve explored a lot of Melbourne’s streets and laneways over my years of photography so it’s always a surprise and delight when I come across something new. In this case something old, made new, by Hilton if I recall correctly.
City of Melbourne
Lanson Place Hotel
There’s a new hotel in Melbourne town, the Lanson Place Hotel and it’s been decked out from head to toe with art by the formidable team at Curatorial+Co, led by the most formidable and inspiring Sophie Vander. We spent a full and fun day together last month ahead of the hotel’s opening capturing the beautiful artworks, many of which are by my friend and amazing artist Kate Banazi - this whole project - a coming together of excellent people, doing fabulous creative things. Here are some highlights… too many to share them all.
Omnia Art Prize
Exciting news last week with 1 Treasury Place - 8:50am being shortlisted for the Omnia Art Prize.
The exhibition opens on 19th May and runs to the 22nd May only. Be sure to go along and take in work from leading contemporary artists around Australia. All the details below.
St Kilda Road Penthouse by Meredith Lee
How quickly the weeks slip by. Here we are on the last day of April and over a month has passed since I last shared new work with you. I’ve a few things I want to share and I’ll start with this St Kilda Road Penthouse by the team at Meredith Lee. I don’t think I’ll ever tire of soft, sheer, billowing curtains and the beautiful light they afford.
Side note: Please take a moment to appreciate the flames in the lounge fire. It was not a fire kind of day and that heater works! Very well.
1 Treasury Place
I spent a weekend in town last year, a belated celebration for my 40th birthday actually. Belated thanks to COVID, of course. It was the first weekend after the last big lockdown and the city was still beautifully sleepy and peaceful. I slipped out for a walk one morning and was drawn towards 1 Treasury Place, a favourite designed by Yuncken Freeman Architects in the 1960s.
Now as any photographer with a “serious” looking camera knows you can barely lift your camera around 1 Treasury Place without being asked to leave, but on this day they must have been feeling particularly generous. I think I was there for nearly 30 minutes before they told me to go away. I wasn’t finished but I was pretty pleased with the precious and rare time I had.
There’s an equally rare self portrait amongst these images to mark the occasion too!
An office with a view
I have a great stack of work sitting around that I could have been sharing with you but I’ve been enjoying a brief hiatus from socials, as I do from time to time. I’ll get back in the swing of things with these impressive offices by Hot Black and Amicus, belonging to local technology success story, Dubber. The city views alone are something to behold and the fully equiped interiors are impressive too.
Metropolis
As promised, I’m sharing another body of work from recent years (well, a selection of images from it). This one, Metropolis, followed on from "Ships in the Night" and was also made in 2018. It continues my ongoing exploration on the theme of isolation, a theme that has taken on a whole new meaning since I made this work. In any case, I’m not done with it!
This body of work was exhibited in 2018 at Yarra Sculpture Gallery as part of the Fresh 18 Group show. These and all of my fine art works are available in limited edition prints - get in touch via the Contact page if you’d like to know more.
Metropolis
I am drawn to cities and never tire of capturing their beauty, overt and hidden. There is a certainty in the symmetries, patterns, colours and forms that is familiar and comfortable.
The city holds great appeal for me yet I feel an imbalance.
As our cities grow and sprawl, so too does our sense of isolation and loneliness. The rural villages of connected communities have given way to vast metropolises of concrete and steel, overflowing with profoundly disconnected, lonely individuals. Disconnected from each other and from nature.
Collins Street Workplace by Hotblack and Plan Group
People are finally returning to the CBD for work and companies like Sportsbet are making it worth their while. Designed by Hot Black and built by Plan Group, their new Melbourne office is a vibrant and colourful place to spend time.
