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Romancing the Streetscape – online exhibition

‘Romancing the Streetscape’ is a group exhibition celebrating the streetscapes and buildings of the great city of Melbourne.

With a mastery of paint, the featured artists slip between direct observation and imagination, revealing their unique perspectives of urban existence and our shared experiences of place within this community. Highly realistic and evocative images of inner-city scenes reflect the romanticism often associated with traditional landscape painting.

The resulting portrait of Melbourne is both endearing and surprising, encouraging audiences to appreciate the metropolis around us and the overlooked in the everyday.

Featuring: Rick Amor, William Breen, Andrew Browne, Mark Chu, Robert Clinch, Cathy Drummond and Dani McKenzie.

Image credit: William Breen, ‘Wet Paint’, 2020, gouache on paper, 47 x 70cm, image courtesy of the artist and Flinders Lane Gallery.

Download the catalogue

  Romancing the streetscape exhibition catalogue 3.98 MB [PDF] 24 January 2023
A painting of the rooftop of a modern industrial building that is in disrepair with a person standing on the roof in the distance, nearby there is a small fire and metal and wood pieces strewn around crumbling concrete walls
Rick Amor, ‘Where the boulevards end II’, 2015, oil on canvas, 97 x 130cm, image courtesy of the artist and Niagara Galleries.
A person in black facing into a concrete doorway in an alcove on a modern street
Rick Amor, ‘The doorway’, 2021, oil on canvas, 117 x 92cm, image courtesy of the artist and Niagara Galleries.
A painting of a cornershop on a quiet but modern street, with bikes parked outside and a blue intricate mural of a spaceship on the wall beside in
William Breen, ‘Wet Paint’, 2020, gouache on paper, 47 x 70cm, image courtesy of the artist and Flinders Lane Gallery.
A street mural painted on the brick wall outside a tattoo shop, featuring the face of a monkey next to various images including mushrooms, graffitti style text, a person's face yelling, a blob with the ghana flag colours and the words 'chapter 1' inside, an astronaut in space and more
William Breen, ‘Made with Love’, 2012, oil on linen, 107 x 214cm, image courtesy of the artist and Flinders Lane Gallery.
A painting of the point where concrete floor meets a concrete wall, with a large blue square of paint on the ground and a small weed growing out of the place where the wall and floor meet
Andrew Browne, ‘A weed is a plant in the wrong place’, 2021, oil and alkyd on linen, 92 x 64cm, image courtesy of the artist. Private Collection.
A painting in a abstract brushstroke style that shows an intersection with cars at the lights, and a Mcdonalds with lots of signs on the corner
Mark Chu, ‘McDonalds Hawthorn’, 2022, acrylic on canvas, 61 x 76cm, image courtesy of the artist.
An artwork of a narrow street with a sunset backdrop, tall brick warehouse walls on either side, looking up at a tall tower of a multi-story brick building that has an observation platform on top and a person standing on this playing a trumpet
Robert Clinch, 'Fanfare for the Common Man', 2003, egg tempera on panel, 107 x 105cm, image courtesy of the artist and Lauraine Diggins Fine Art. Private Collection.
A painting of a $2 shop with repeat signage above of 'SUPER $2 SHOP' and 'HOT POTATOES', and the entrance to the store is covered by the piles of brightly coloured items stacked on the street for sale
Cathy Drummond, 'Hot Potatoes', 2017, 122 x 138cm, oil on linen, image courtesy of the artist.
A painting of a cornerstore at night that has cafe style chairs and tables along the footpath, and people sitting at restaurant tables inside
Dani McKenzie, 'That Little Italian Place on the Corner', 2022, oil and acrylic on linen, 107 x 152cm, image courtesy of the artist and MARS Gallery. Private Collection.

Exhibition photography

Photos below of installation views of this exhibition are by Christian Capurro.

Text on a wall of an art exhibition
paintings on the wall of an art exhibition
paintings on the wall of an art exhibition
paintings on the wall of an art exhibition
Painting of an industrial building on the wall of an art gallery
View of paintings of buildings hanging on walls in an art gallery
Brightly painted artworks on a gallery wall
paintings of streets bisected by overhead tram lines
readiing space with couches, coffee table and rack of books
'Romancing the Streetscape' - Major Exhibition video transcript

‘Romancing the Streetscape’ I Spy activity

Curious kids aged 5 to 12 and their families are invited to enjoy an I Spy activity as part of the Town Hall Gallery exhibition ‘Romancing the Streetscape’. Come explore the exhibition with this self-guided activity, and try to spot all the different shapes, colours, and images within the artworks.

You can download the I Spy activity worksheet below.

Download the activity worksheet

  I Spy activity - Romancing the streetscape exhibition 205.46 KB [PDF] 13 January 2023

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