Renata Pari-Lewis, Get up and get dressed, 2023. Acrylic on canvas, 183 x 229cm. Courtesy: the artist and Nanda\Hobbs, Sydney.

Nanda\Hobbs presents an exhibition of work by Renata Pari-Lewis.

“Van Gogh was intoxicated by the “intense” landscapes and sunshine of Arles, in the south of France, when he took up residence in 1888. Renata Pari-Lewis, who arrived in the Provençal city in 2023, was excited to find a grand chateau lovingly restored to its former glory by a wealthy English financier. While Van Gogh was fleeing the gloom of the north, seeking the kind of clear, bright light he admired in Ukiyo-e prints, Pari-Lewis was far from her home in Sydney where one takes such light for granted.

From one exhibition to the next, Pari-Lewis has discovered that her preferred subject is a room in which every object, every detail tells a story about the occupant. The chateau that features in What I Have Held is the home of a collector who has filled it with paintings, tapestries, sculptures and antique furniture. It’s a personalised theatre assembled piece by piece, a time capsule of the ‘ancien régime’ with all mod cons. In Pari-Lewis’s paintings the building becomes a stage without actors in which the furniture and objects play the starring roles.” – John McDonald, Art Critic, May, 2024.

Opening Event: Thursday 13 June, 6 – 8pm.

Artist Talk: Thursday 20 June, from 6pm, including artist talk with Pari-Lewis in conversation with Christopher Allen, art critic and historian.

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