irene hanenbergh

Exhibiting internationally since the late 1980s, Irene Hanenbergh has amassed a large body of work which the artist describes as ‘liminal portals’ into other worlds, and ‘windows of longing’, suggesting psychological and physical spaces that lie just beyond our grasp. Her evocative oil paintings are personal and contemporary renderings of the sublime in which scenes of primordial forests, lakes, mountains and oceans morph in and out of formation, infused with influences of the baroque, romanticism, and marginal fantasy genres. Exploring the slippage between contemporary and historic landscape painting, key styles and traditions including folk art, mystic and visionary practices, (faux) political histories and cults have been erased, repainted and spiritually charged, creating fantastical and otherworldly shifts as brushstrokes collide with impossible foliage, dark shadows and the spectre of history. Her works do not rely on narrative structures for the formation of content; rather they seduce or just invite the viewer to become immersed in another world, another time, another sensation.

Selected solo exhibitions include Libertine, Celestine, Neon Parc, Melbourne, 2016; House of Dandelion & Lohr (outperformance), Hugo Michell Gallery, Adelaide 2015; Argyle Dreaming (1863), Blackart projects, Chalkhorse, Sydney 2015; Dada-Roman (4711), Caves Gallery, Melbourne 2015; Recent selected group exhibitions include Painting. More Painting, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne 2016; Lurid Beauty, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne 2015; Spring 1883, Melbourne, 2014 and 2016, Spring 1883, Sydney, 2015 and 2016. Her work is held in public and private collections in the Asia-Pacific, Europe and the USA including the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV), Melbourne; University of Queensland Museum, Brisbane; Museum of Old and New Art, Tasmania; Artbank Australia; ABSOLUT European Collection, Sweden; Centre for Contemporary Art, Netherlands; Collection ASKT, Greece; and Rabobank, Netherlands. Australian Art Collector has twice named Hanenbergh one of Australia’s ‘50 Most Collectable Artists’. Hanenbergh is represented by Neon Parc and is also part of the collaborative artist duo Zilverster (with Sharon Goodwin) represented by Sarah Scout Presents, Melbourne.

Irene Hanenbergh is represented by Neon Parc www.neonparc.com.au

Zilverster is represented by Sarah Scout Presents www.sarahscoutpresents.com