Exhibitions FLG Annual Unsigned Artist Exhibition Exploration 23 20th June 2023 - 15th July 2023

FLG presents our highly anticipated annual showcase of emerging and unsigned artists. Exploration was created to provide a platform for emerging artists to successfully exhibit their art within a commercial gallery context. Now in its 23rd year, this curated exhibition showcases the practices of talented artists from diverse backgrounds working across various mediums.

Winner of the Exploration Art Award 2023 (a solo exhibition at FLG 2024) is BRIDGET HILLEBRAND.
Bridget impressed the judges with her meticulous technique, combined with a refined thoughtful presentation. The unique methodology combining the high fibre washi with sewing, tearing, layering and sculpting of these lightweight works to create forms with great presence.

This year's award was judged by Eddie Butler-Bowden, Program Manager of the City of Melbourne Art and Heritage Collection, and Lisa Warrener, Director of Global Arts Projects and FLG DIrector Claire Harris.

The Highly Commended Award has been awarded to BRADEN HOWARD for his imaginative characters and worlds and his consistently impressive output.

WINNER OF THE PEOPLE'S CHOICE: BRADEN HOWARD

BRADEN HOWARD

Originally hailing from Wagga Wagga, Braden Howard is an Australian artist now based in Melbourne. His art practice revolves around the notion of a forever evolving or expanding fictional universe, within which each of his artworks exists. Influenced by childhood memories and the ideas and aesthetics of science-fiction and fantasy, the artworks he creates often feature alien like beings, gods, magical artefacts, invented contraptions and strange lands.
Download Braden's CV and Bio

BRENT LUKEY

Inspired by the aesthetics of cinematography Brent Lukey’s creative practice explores the interactions that exist between people, objects, and the environments around them – the choices they make and the methods by which they identify and define themselves in relation to others. Within his cinematic imagery Lukey uses light & shadow, colour and abstraction to consider the affects of time and place on our sense of self and to define the pathways thus navigated.
Download Brent's CV and Bio

BRIDGET HILLEBRAND

Bridget Hillebrand's creative practice explores the deconstruction of the two-dimensional image plane and examines the materiality of physical and implied interruptions in constructed printed paper. She works mainly with large sheets of printed light weight washi papers and experiments with dimensional properties through the act of folding, tearing, layering and stitching. Her recent works reflect on the fragility and changing ecology of oceans and river systems.
Download Bridget's CV and Bio

LIZ PRIESTLEY

Liz Priestley completed studies at Julian Ashton Art School and has since exhibited in solo and group shows within Australia. Her work explores the immediate physical landscape as well as that of the internal landscape of memory and emotional connections to place and time. The resulting image is a vehicle by which the viewer may experience their own epiphany of personal, binding memories.
Download Liz's CV and Bio

LUCY RAY

Creating narratives set in bleak and desolate environments, populated by out-of-place figures and uncanny objects, Lucy Ray's highly detailed graphite drawings blend the real and imagined to capture a sense of being an outsider, of being alone but not alone and to bridge the divide between the ordinary and the uncanny. Depicting the natural world and small everyday things, recurring themes explore ideas of loneliness, nostalgia and notions of sonder and liminality.
Download Lucy's CV and Bio

LUKE NEIL

Luke Neil is a Naarm/Melbourne-based sculptural artist working in timber, metal, digital laser cutting and light. He explores the transformation and elevation of such materials, and intentionally allows them to be malleable and free from restriction. Honouring design elements such as balance, proportion and precision, his works combine an inquisitive nature with a passion for problem solving, leading to the intuitive discovery of new qualities and characteristics within his materials and techniques.
Download Luke's CV and Bio

NICHOLAS HOPWOOD

Nicholas Hopwood is a realist oil painter based in Tasmania’s Huon Valley, ( Tahun’e-linah ), specializing in figurative and still life works. His art reflects the complexity of the human condition, often portraying duality and conflicting emotional states, while also celebrating beauty in each subject. Hopwood’s paintings capture the essence of the subject with precision and sensitivity, inviting the viewer to explore the depth of their own emotions.
Download Nickolas' CV and Bio

PRITA TINA YEGANEH

Prita Tina Yeganeh is a multidisciplinary artist of Iranian ancestry. Her practice draws on her experience as a refugee alongside her journey to reconnect and heal severed relationships with her ancestral homelands. Prita uses Iranian artisan traditions to access cultural knowledge and explore traditional modes of language and storytelling within her Iranian-Australian contemporary experience.
Download Pritas' CV and Bio

SAMUEL MASSEY

Samuel Massey is a representational painter working on Wadawurrung Country (Geelong). He is interested in the idea that the search for meaning may be the key to fulfilment, regardless of the existence of any greater meaning in life. His practice has typically depicted figures reflecting upon the absurdity of life or sincerely engaged in an activity that has no apparent meaning. This lens can be applied to the contemporary practice of painting itself which enables the freedom to embrace the act of painting as inherently meaningful regardless of subject or technique.
Download Samuel's CV and Bio

VYVIAN WILSON

Vyvian Wilson's work celebrates the beauty and fragility of the Australian landscape in a changing, perilous climate. Seduced by light – the way it plays on vegetation, land and water, the foundation of Wilson's works are the recollections of her emotional responses to her subjects. Working with suggestions of these visceral memories, ultimately her abstractions attempt to return a sense of strangeness to the familiar.
Download Vyvian's CV and Bio

EXPLORATION 23 PROFILE
DOWNLOAD BIO / CV (PDF)

Exploration 23
Braden Howard, Fight For The Core 2023
acrylic, gouache, ink, metal leaf, glitter, pen and collage on paper, framed
75cm x 75cm framed size 83 x 83cm

Exploration 23
Braden Howard, Divine Collection 2023
acrylic, gouache, ink, metal leaf, glitter, pen and collage on paper, framed
96cm x 107cm

Exploration 23
Braden Howard, Consuming Her Shadow 2023
acrylic, ink, pen, metal leaf on paper, unframed
19cm x 14cm

Exploration 23
Braden Howard, Crafting A Firesight Beacon 2023
acrylic, ink, pen, metal leaf on paper, unframed
19cm x 14cm

Exploration 23
Braden Howard, Gate To The Gods 2023
acrylic, ink, pen, metal leaf on paper, unframed
19cm x 14cm

Exploration 23
Braden Howard, Fractal Paladin 2023
acrylic, ink, pen, metal leaf on paper, unframed
19cm x 14cm

Exploration 23
Braden Howard, Maagedd 2023
acrylic, ink, pen, metal leaf on paper, unframed
19cm x 14cm

Exploration 23
Braden Howard, Tear Of Uutu Nara 2023
acrylic, ink, pen, metal leaf on paper, unframed
19cm x 14cm

Exploration 23
Braden Howard, On The Case! 2023
acrylic, ink, pen, metal leaf on paper, unframed
19cm x 14cm

Exploration 23
Braden Howard, Shirsoi 2023
pen and pencil on paper, unframed
19cm x 14cm

Exploration 23
Braden Howard, Static Realm 2023
pen on paper, unframed
19cm x 14cm

Exploration 23
Braden Howard, Smaller works collection 2022
acrylic, gouache, ink, metal leaf, glitter, pen and collage on paper
8cm x 11cm each individual artwork

Exploration 23
Brent Lukey, I agree, but it's more complex than that 2023
pigment ink cotton rag photograph
31cm x 45cm , framed, ed 1 of 5 and 2 AP (unframed $720)

Exploration 23
Brent Lukey, Prudentia and Justitia 2019
pigment ink cotton rag photograph
31cm x 45cm , framed, ed 1 of 5 and 2 AP (unframed $720)

Exploration 23
Brent Lukey, The Soloist 2019
pigment ink cotton rag photograph
31cm x 45cm , framed, ed 1 of 5 and 2 AP (unframed $720)

Exploration 23
Brent Lukey, The Yellow Dress 2021
pigment ink cotton rag photograph
31cm x 45cm , framed, ed 1 of 5 and 2 AP (unframed $720)

Exploration 23
Brent Lukey, Waiting for Orpheus 2018
pigment ink cotton rag photograph
31cm x 45cm , framed, ed 1 of 5 and 2 AP (unframed $720)

Exploration 23
Brent Lukey, We could be, but we are not 2021
pigment ink cotton rag photograph
31cm x 45cm , framed, ed 1 of 5 and 2 AP (unframed $720)

Exploration 23
Brent Lukey, Double Red Happiness 2019
pigment ink cotton rag photograph
45cm x 31cm , framed, ed 1 of 5 and 2 AP (unframed $720)

Exploration 23
Bridget Hillebrand, Water Divide 2023
linocut on washi paper
200cm x 53cm x 23cm

Exploration 23
Bridget Hillebrand, Vigil 2023
linocut and thread on washi paper
218cm x 62cm x 39cm

Exploration 23
Bridget Hillebrand, The Fall 2023
linocut on washi paper
218cm x 62cm x 36cm

Exploration 23
Liz Priestley, Calling Forth 2023
encaustic on birch panel
95cm x 95cm

Liz Priestley
Liz Priestley, Inbound 2023
encaustic on birch panel
95cm x 95cm

Exploration 23
Liz Priestley, Lost Horizon 2023
encaustic on birch panel
60cm x 60cm

Liz Priestley
Liz Priestley, Misted Dawn 2023
encaustic on birch panel
60cm x 60cm

Exploration 23
Liz Priestley, Returning 2023
encaustic on birch panel
80cm x 80cm

Exploration 23
Lucy Ray, A ball court, crocodiles, billboard and bench 2023
graphite, cold wax mounted to panel
61cm x 91cm

Exploration 23
Lucy Ray, Palm trees, steers, sheets and a sign 2023
graphite, cold wax mounted to panel
61cm x 51cm

Lucy Ray
A sign, fence and horses 2023
graphite, cold wax mounted to panel
61cm x 51cm

Lucy Ray
A forest clearing, dog and bathtub 2023
graphite, cold wax mounted to panel
36cm x 28cm Fishers Ghost Art Prize 2023 finalist

Exploration 23
Lucy Ray, A glade, monkeys, a rowboat 2023
graphite, cold wax mounted to panel
36cm x 28cm

Exploration 23
Lucy Ray, A clearing, dog and building 2023
graphite, cold wax mounted to panel
18cm x 13cm

Exploration 23
Lucy Ray, A diner, crow and candle 2023
graphite, cold wax mounted to panel
18cm x 13cm

Exploration 23
Lucy Ray, Trees, a vest and birds 2023
graphite, cold wax mounted to panel
18cm x 13cm

Lucy Ray
Two cats, a booth and TVs 2023
graphite, cold wax mounted to panel
18cm x 13cm

Exploration 23
Luke Neil, Between the lines 2023
timber, acrylic and lighting
56cm x 66cm x 87cm

Exploration 23
Luke Neil, Breaking away 2023
timber, acrylic and lighting
60cm x 86cm x 114cm

Exploration 23
Luke Neil, Looking beyond 2023
timber, acrylic and lighting
50cm x 90cm x 120cm

Exploration 23
Nicholas Hopwood, Hera 1 2023
oil on board
50cm x 50cm

Exploration 23
Nicholas Hopwood, Hera 2 2023
oil on board
50cm x 50cm

Exploration 23
Nicholas Hopwood, Hera 3 2023
oil on board
50cm x 50cm

Exploration 23
Nicholas Hopwood, Hydra 2023
oil on board
40cm x 40cm

Exploration 23
Nicholas Hopwood, Carcinus 1 2023
oil on canvas
47cm x 67cm

Exploration 23
Nicholas Hopwood, Carcinus 2 2023
oil on canvas
47cm x 67cm

Exploration 23
Nicholas Hopwood, Untitled with Noface 2020
oil on linen
101cm x 101cm

Exploration 23
Prita Tina Yeganeh, Landscapes From The Homelands (Untitled 1) 2023
abri on silk
47cm x 107cm
framed size 67 x 127cm

Exploration 23
Prita Tina Yeganeh, Landscapes From The Homelands (Untitled 2) 2023
abri on silk
40cm x 52cm
framed size 60 x 72cm

Exploration 23
Prita Tina Yeganeh, Landscapes From The Homelands (Untitled 3) 2023
abri on silk
79cm x 47cm
framed size 90 x 67cm

Exploration 23
Prita Tina Yeganeh, Landscapes From The Homelands (Untitled 4) 2023
abri on silk
79cm x 47cm
framed size 90 x 67cm

Exploration 23
Samuel Massey, The Abiogenist 2023
oil on aluminium, framed
135cm x 135cm

Exploration 23
Samuel Massey, I see a darkness 2023
oil on aluminium, framed
70cm x 60cm

Exploration 23
Samuel Massey, Les 2023
oil on aluminium, framed
50cm x 50cm

Exploration 23
Vyvian Wilson, Daybreak (looking up) 2023
oil on linen, framed
92cm x 92cm

Exploration 23
Vyvian Wilson, Bush Tracks 2023
oil on linen, framed
95cm x 95cm

Exploration 23
Vyvian Wilson, Fire and Smoke 2023
oil on linen, framed
95cm x 95cm

Exploration 23
Vyvian Wilson, Dive 2023
oil on linen, framed
95cm x 95cm

Exploration 23
Vyvian Wilson, Desert Whirlwind 2023
oil on linen, framed
95cm x 95cm

Exploration 23
Vyvian Wilson, Susurrations at the watery edge (Dove Lake) 2023
oil on linen, framed
95cm x 95cm