Welcome to lowercase focus, a bi-monthly program which seeks to highlight emerging artists and exhibitions all over the world.

 In my last lowercase article, I took a look at some exhibitions and artists who work within mediums of drawing and printmaking. This time around, I’ll take more of a diversified take, highlighting a range of artists working in different mediums, only connected by the fact that they live in my corner of the world: either Australia or New Zealand.

Helen Gory

Helen Gory is an artist of Jewish descent, currently living in Melbourne, Australia. She was the founder and director of Helen Gory Gallery for some two decades before recently making a switch to pursue art herself full-time. Her works are part historical survey, part surreal emotive displays, presented in a range of mediums including charcoal drawing, collage and painting. There is a removed sense of joy to her works which are fascinating: monikers of hope in a confused and daunting age.

Lauren McCartney

Lauren McCartney is a video artist whose work I was first introduced to when I saw Fail Harder Fail Better (https://vimeo.com/322515350) some years ago. She makes videos surrounding feminism and the female narrative, with a primary focus on the body. They are, however, extremely playful, performative and although at times challenging to watch, always insightful.

 Owen Connors

Owen Connors is an artist based in Auckland, New Zealand who has exhibited across artist run initiatives, commercial galleries and fairs throughout the country in recent years. His works are playful, abstract and bold, covering topics of queer abstraction, the body and cosmogony. Currently, he’s working in depth with pointillism, combining contemporary queer ideas to the age-old technique.

Minna Leunig

Another Melbourne-Based artist, Minna Leunig, is a nature-inspired practitioner who works in both the public realm and as a fine artist. Her ludic figures are always painted in similar style: limited pigment or colouration, wavy linework, and primal imagery inspired by the natural world. They imbue flora and fauna with a unique and playful characteristic which is refreshing and inspiring.

Kyle Hughes Odgers

From Perth, Western Australia, Kyle Highes Odgers is a painter, muralist, illustrator and installation artist. His practice juxtaposes a few tropes: abstraction, geometry, colour theory, landscape painting and narrative. Resultantly, he’s developed a highly stylized and exceptionally unique aesthetic which enables the telling of stories an a way that makes you feel happy and inspired.

Emerson Radisich is a curator, writer and educator currently based in Melbourne, Australia.