Transference: Justin Andrews, Michael Graeve, Melinda Harper, Clayton Tremlett

Transference results from the touch of two surfaces that each leave their respective traces.

In this group exhibition, four Castlemaine-based artists, Justin Andrews, Michael Graeve, Melinda Harper and Clayton Tremlett, create new works that experiment with varying methodologies of transference. These artists record the process of transferring colour, shape, gesture and texture – allowing for improvisation, chance and complexities of surface and pattern.

While working across a variety of languages of abstraction, each artist values complexities that appear simple, navigating systematic processes that wield breaks in pattern, and controlled gestures that avoid predictability.

Transference is fundamental to printmaking, yet in this exhibition, print processes are often implied rather than obvious, expansive rather than restrictive. Here, Andrews, Graeve, Harper and Tremlett think of print(ing) in the broadest sense, not as a clean-cut perfectionist editioning mechanism, but as processes put into play to form unique states that consider visceral qualities, awkward processes, and the mysterious layering of process and repetition.

By experiencing the traces of an act of gesture, distanced by the process of transference, one can only ever reconstruct part of its history. Presented in the Art Deco Sinclair Gallery, this exhibition encourages open speculation about what interactions may have given rise to the things we now see – a joyful kind of visual uncertainty.

Exhibiting Artists

Justin Andrews
Justin Andrews lives and works in Castlemaine. He has developed a form of geometric abstraction that points towards the complexity of contemporary existence. He summons his compositions through the use of angular elements, dynamic colour and organic surfaces. He is best known for his acrylic paintings on canvas, stretched on frames and panels made entirely by his own hands. His visual and conceptual language references early 20th century avant-garde art movements such as Constructivism and Suprematism, but in doing so extends on their currency and ability to engage the viewer.

Michael Graeve
Michael Graeve was born in 1971, and lives and works in Castlemaine. He works across painting and sound disciplines through easel painting, site-specific installation, painting and sound installation, sound performance and composition. By engaging painting and sound art practices in dialogue, he seeks to extend frameworks for their creation, and reading into oscillations between conjunctive and disjunctive relations.

He has held over 27 solo exhibitions, and his work has been included in curated exhibitions surveying practices of sound art and non-objective and abstract painting in cities such as Dunedin, Wellington, Hong Kong, New York, Chicago, Bonn, Osnabrück, Munich, Berlin, Würzburg, Vienna, Kortrijk, Turin, Seoul, Sydney and Melbourne. Michael is committed to artist-run culture. He was on the board of Liquid Architecture Sound Inc (from 2007-2021, as vice president from 2007-2011 and 2017-2020, and as president and chair from 2011 to 2017). He was a board member and program manager at West Space Inc 2000-2004, and founding committee member of Grey Area Art Space Inc 1996-1999.

Melinda Harper
Melinda Harper was born in 1965, and lives and works in Castlemaine. She grew up in Canberra and went to Art school at Prahran Collage in 1982 to 1985. She studied under Robert Jacks, Lesley Dumbrell and Victor Majzner. Harper’s first exhibition was in 1987 at Pinacotheca in Melbourne. She was a leading member of the Store 5 artists group in Melbourne (1989-1993). While Melinda Harper is best known as a painter, her practice also includes prints, drawings, painted objects and embroideries. Melinda Harper had a survey exhibition, Colour Sensation, at Heide Museum of Modern Art in 2015. She has exhibited throughout Australia and overseas and her work is in many private and public collections.

Clayton Tremlett
Clayton Tremlett was born in 1964, and lives and works in Castlemaine. He studied Painting and Printmaking at Charles Sturt University between 1980 and 1984. He studied under Don Laycock and Simon Close. He is a printmaker/painter whose works draw explicitly from Australian History. His practice stems from sustained periods of research. He is renowned for his linocut portraiture; however, he also works with etching and serigraphy. His oeuvre includes wallpapers, artist’s books, collector cards and editioned prints. His work is included in the Australian National Gallery, Bendigo, Geelong, Castlemaine, Hamilton, Wangaratta and State Library of Victoria collections.

Public Programs
Free public programs, including an artists in conversation, will be presented in the gallery throughout this exhibition. All details will be shared on our website. Click here to subscribe to our mailing list to receive special updates and invitations.