EXHIBITIONS

OFF THE KERB GALLERY

OPENING NIGHT: Friday 24 November 6-9pm
EXHIBITION DATES: 16 - 30 November 2023

Off the Kerb Gallery, located in the heart of Collingwood fosters and exhibits emerging to mid-career Australian visual artists, street artists, designers and performance artists. Our mission is to see local artists make a realistic living from their art practice affecting an upward movement in Melbourne’s art scene. We have showcased first-time artists who have now achieved full-time, steady careers in creative practice. For Walking the Wood 2023 festival Off the Kerb will launch a brand new exhibition by our renowned street artist working in miniature figurines in Melbourne laneways and beyond, Tinky.

LARK by Tinky

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Lark is an assemblage of 30 miniature installations and sculptural works by Melbourne artist, Tinky.  Drenched in dark humour, the series blends vintage objects with tiny characters, each faced with a world of mismatched proportions and unexpected scenarios. The work embraces the absurdity of life in miniature, with miniscule characters in various states of calamity or misfortune. The collection invites viewers to look at the everyday world through a comedic lens, where chaos is fun, and buffoonery is the norm.

PATIENCE by Manda Lane

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Also showcased as part of Walking the Wood is Melbourne’s most progressive paste up artist, Manda Lane. She creates immersive installations of intricate hand-cut botanicals made from paper, cascading and growing throughout the gallery space. Using chairs as vessels for pause and introspection, the artwork aims to create a contemplative narrative for the unhurried, graceful progression of nature and time. Inspired by overgrown corners of Fitzroy and Collingwood, this installation also celebrates nature's quiet and patient ability to reclaim space for itself over time.

BRAVE TIGER IS BACK by Cat Parker

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Melbourne Illustrator, Cat Parker will be exhibiting their new works as part of the festival.
It’s a dog-eat-dog world - or a frog-eat-snake one - but brave tiger is ready to take it all on. Drawing inspiration from naïve and outsider art, modern cartoons and animation, as well as a recent trip to South Korea, this exhibition takes a playful journey through exaggerated conflicts and clashes, using bright and vivid colour to soften negative emotions into something whimsical. A reminder that even amongst the struggle of life, we still need to take a moment to find joy.

LABOUR OF LOVE by Ryan Pola

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Featuring as part of Walking the Wood, Ryan Pola dives into an exploration of drawn mythologies, histories, and experiences. His artworks are intricately detailed assemblages of finely cut paper layering. This new method allows for the artist to play with depths and explore focus within the artwork that has not before been seen in his work before. The paper becomes a playing field where a push and pull of poetic resonances echo from the works. Viewers are drawn into tracing their eyes through the depth of field, finding intentions and ideas hidden amongst the layering.

BACKWOODS GALLERY

OPENING NIGHT: Friday 24 November 6-9pm
EXHIBITION DATES: 24 Nov - 17 Dec 2023

Since inception in 2010 in the back streets of Collingwood, Backwoods Gallery has played an integral role in the development and promotion of the once fledgling Australian street and graphic art scene; produced hundreds of exhibitions, countless public arts projects, murals and several publications while remaining fiercely independent and self funded; nurtured maverick artists into MONA celebrated and NGA collected artists to form a world-class family of talented, high profile artists and gained a global community of like-minded followers. During Walking the Wood 2023 Festival, Backwoods Gallery will be showcasing their 13th anniversary group show of their stable of artists.

TAJ ALEXANDER / KRIS ANDREW SMALL / MORGAN BLUE / SALLY BOURKE / ROBERT BOWERS / TOM CIVIL / DAVE COURT / NONI CRAGG
DAVID CRAGG / JASMINE CRISP / DESO (BROKEN FINGAZ) / JAMES DODD / MICHAEL FIKARIS / FILTHYRATBAG/ KYLE HUGHES-ODGERS
MATTHEW FORTROSE / HELEN GORY / MELISSA GRISANCICH / LUCAS GROGAN / ELLIE HANNON / ILEIGH HELLIER / GEORGIA HILL
YUSK IMAI / JUN INOUE / KNOCK / HARI KOUTLAKIS / KATE KURUCZ / KENNETH LAMBERT / LEILI /AIKO ROBINSON / ROA
FINTAN MAGEE / CARLA MCRAE / BILLIE MORRIS / HEATH NOCK / SHOHEI OTOMO / PHIBS / MIC PORTER / JAMES REKA / RESIO
ELLIOTT ROUTLEDGE / BEN SOEDRADJIT / STABS / AL STARK / JACQUI STOCKDALE / SHOHEI TAKASAKI / HIROYASU TSURI
TANT (BROKEN FINGAZ) / BEN THOMAS / MASATOMO TOI / USUGROW / UNGA (BROKEN FINGAZ) / DEBORAH WALKER