LON Gallery Gets Fired Up with Stephen Benwell

Melbourne’s LON Gallery has expanded their stable once more with acclaimed artist Stephen Benwell. The multi-disciplinary artist is most celebrated for his work in ceramics, having exhibited in the medium since 1975.

With an ever-evolving style, Benwell has consistently combined a contemporary aesthetic with craft traditions. His pieces blend Art-Historical influences with an experimental approach to his medium, embracing colour and the plasticity of clay.

The artist has been the subject of many solo exhibitions, most notably a major retrospective at the Heide Museum of Modern art in Victoria. He was also included in the inaugural Melbourne Now exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria. Benwell received the Sidney Myer Fund Australian Ceramic Award four times, won the Inaugural Deakin University Small Sculpture Award, and received prizes from the Friends of Shepparton Art Gallery, the Bathurst Art Purchase Award, the Gold Coast City Art Gallery Award and the St Kilda Art Acquisition Award.

Works by Benwell are held in a number of public collections, including the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, the National Gallery of Australia, The National Gallery of Victoria, The Art Gallery of South Australia, The Art Gallery of Western Australia and QAGOMA.

“It is a privilege to be working with Stephen, who I consider to be one of the country’s most important contemporary artists”, says Director of LON Gallery Adam Stone. “The new wave of contemporary ceramicists are heavily indebted to the legacy of Benwell’s work and it is exciting to be working with an artist with such a vast and impressive oeuvre who is still at the top of his game.”

LON Gallery will be presenting a solo exhibition of Benwell’s work in 2025.