CONTEMPORARY ART STOCKROOM Amberrose Hulme

Upcoming Exhibitions

Working in pastel on paper, Melbourne artist Amber-rose Hulme creates evocative, photo-realistic representations of the urban and industrial everyday. Interested in the idea of graffiti as a form of visual conversation between the many individuals who contribute to these constantly evolving murals, Hulme uses light, texture and the inevitable nature of decay to draw out ideas of social circumstance and the experience of a personal or cultural identity. Laneways, back alleys and abandoned industrial sites, each emptied of human presence, serve as backdrops to a contemplative awareness of the transience of human endeavour, and the beauty of the graffiti that enlivens the spaces we inhabit.

For the artist Amber-rose Hulme, graffiti is not merely a few words or pictures sprayed hastily on a Melbourne inner-city wall, but both conversation and metaphor. When viewed holistically, each anarchic missive adds to a messy, unplanned chorus of discordant ‘voices,’ in which the original meaning is lost, and a new way of communicating has begun. Here Hulme sees interplay and history as each new addition partially erases or augments those that came before it. Exposure to the elements also have an effect. Heat causes paint to crack, flake and peel while rain erodes. In addition, pollution and the build-up of inner-city grime play a role, accruing their own chemical influence. The layers of paint either build up or disappear, and in some places expose the brick wall beneath. The result is temporal as well as ephemeral; paradoxically random and uniform; and, for Hulme, far greater than the sum of its parts.
Excerpt from catalogue essay by Kate McAuley 2023

Words once spoken are lost to the air. Graffiti, though less temporal, is similarly fleeting. At its creation the crisp, sweeping lines shout loudly over each other, yet as time passes the character of the buildings themselves add their voices to the crowd. As new voices are added the dialogue grows and earlier voices are silenced. With these works I seek to capture a single moment of the conversation between both the landscape and the words of many. The highly saturated areas of the image are intended to accentuate the increased volume of chatter created by the layers of graffiti on a previously quiet scene.
Artists Statement, Amber-rose Hulme

ARTIST PROFILE:
Hulme has been a finalist in numerous awards including the Hazelhurst Art on Paper Award (2023, 2021, 2019), the Muswellbrook Art Prize (2019, 2018, 2015), Bendigo Art Gallery’s biennial Paul Guest Prize (2018), the Rick Amor Art Prize (2016), the Stanthorpe Art Prize (2016), the Hutchins Art Prize (2015) and the Sunshine Coast Art Prize (2015). Hulme first exhibited with FLG during our annual emerging artist exhibition, Exploration 15, and was subsequently signed on to the gallery stable in 2016. Her artwork Tranquil Neglect was acquired by the Art Gallery of Ballarat for their permanent collection in 2016. In 2023 her work was acquired by the City of Whitehorse Collection.

VIEW LIMITED EDITION PRINTS

DOWNLOAD BIO / CV (PDF)

JOIN PREVIEW LIST

Media Highlights

Daze 2023
pastel on paper, unframed
38cm x 114cm In Artist's Studio
$2,700 AUD

Unwritten 2024
pastel on paper, framed
101cm x 66cm
$4,500 AUD

Solace 2022
pastel on paper
66cm x 102cm (framed size 84 x 122cm)
$4,400 AUD

Solitary 2023
Acrylic and pencil on wood panel
60cm x 60cm On exhibition at Burrinja 2025
Reserved

Scrunch 2023
pastel, acrylic and pencil on wood panel
20cm x 20cm
$500 AUD

Didn't Hear You 2023
pastel, acrylic and pencil on wood panel
30cm x 30cm
$900 AUD

Crinkle 2023
pastel, acrylic and pencil on wood panel
20cm x 20cm
$500 AUD

Tear 2023
pastel, acrylic and pencil on wood panel
20cm x 20cm
$500 AUD

Apathy 2023
acrylic and pencil on canvas paper, framed
86cm x 61cm On exhibition at Burrinja 2025
Reserved

Resilience 2023
acrylic and pencil on wood panel, unframed
70cm x 65cm On exhibition at Burrinja 2025
Reserved

Self Portrait 2 2023
acrylic and pencil on paper, unframed
76cm x 56cm
$2,000 AUD

Self Portrait 3 2023
acrylic and pencil on paper, unframed
47cm x 56cm
$1,500 AUD

Hetha 2022
pencil & acrylic on paper, unframed
76cm x 56cm
$950 AUD

Jet 2022
pencil & acrylic on paper, unframed
76cm x 56cm
$950 AUD

Luna 2022
pencil & acrylic on paper, unframed
76cm x 56cm
$950 AUD

Resonance 2020
pastel on paper
76cm x 56cm
(framed size 94 x 74cm) in artist's studio
$2,200 AUD

Out of Context 2018
pastel on paper,
152cm x 102cm (framed size 172 x 122cm) In Artist's Studio
$7,000 AUD

Visible History 2022
pastel on paper,
114cm x 114cm framed size 134 x 134cm
in artist's studio
$6,900 AUD

Wrote Poetry 2022
pastel on paper, framed 134 x 134cm
114cm x 114cm In artist's studio
$6,900 AUD

Decommissioned Calm 2017
pastel on paper
150cm x 100cm framed 170 x 120cm, in artist's studio
$8,500 AUD