09/10/2026
Dreams and Memories: John Opie
Visit us to discover a captivating exhibition inspired by childhood memories, nostalgia, storytelling and the passage of time.
Find us at:
📍81 Denmark St, Kew VIC
🖼️ Online Catalogue now available. Link in bio.
This exhibition was born from memories, specifically those between the ages of five and thirteen. The memories revolve around the family home, parents, the neighbourhood, childhood heroes, stories read & heard, movies watched and dreams. Dreams combine with memories in some sections of the exhibition and memory combines with the timeline between the years 1978 & 1986.
Many of the materials used in the exhibition are natural or traditional. The exhibition consists of oil and acrylic paintings, construction pieces using reclaimed wood, found objects, leather, wire, shellac and resin. Art-making techniques include pyrography, wood carving, clay sculpting and textile construction. A stop-motion video production combines some of the themes explored in the physical artworks.
The styles of art used as inspiration are varied. They include romanticism, symbolist paintings by Gustav Klimt, Expressionist, Ben Quilty’s and Howard Arkley’s depictions of suburbia, the surreal paintings of Ian Francis and Rene Magritte and the figurative work of Francis Bacon & David Hockney.
Traditional folk and naive art and craft is a consistent theme throughout. German woodcuts and cuckoo clocks, Japanese woodcuts and prints, Celtic art, 19th century depictions of fairytale landscapes and the use of natural materials in the construction artwork.
Other themes that are not specific to Visual Art include nature, the passage of time, wonder, faith, loss and nostalgia.
