fortyfivedownstairs gallery

‘PRIMARY INSTINCTS’ is an annual thematic group exhibition presented by the Polish Art Foundation. In a world increasingly mediated by technology, systems, and rational frameworks, the exhibition invites artists to interpret the idea of ‘Primary Instincts’ and consider what remains immediate, embodied, and unfiltered.
Established nearly five decades ago, the Polish Art Foundation supports artists of Polish heritage in Australia while fostering artistic exchange and dialogue across Polish, Australian, and multicultural communities.

Kate’s practice has long been focused on the symmetry and beauty of natural forms. In distilling plants and landscapes to their essence, she finds order in a disordered world. The works in 'Cosmic Forms' are meditations on order within disorder, examining our connection with all living things - from plants, to animals, to each other.

'sex death country' brings together new paintings and sculptures by Ian Bracegirdle and Ponch Hawkes.

Ian Bracegirdle is a multidisciplinary artist whose work engages with natural and geopolitical landscapes. In this exhibition, these themes evolve into the personal and singular in the form of large-scale portraits looking at friendship, masculinity and invisibility, alongside sculptural works addressing diaspora, dispossession and conflict.

Celebrated photographer Ponch Hawkes makes her first foray into painting with a new body of work centred on the symbolic figure of the bear. Inspired by the animal’s capacity for hibernation and its remarkable ability to maintain bone density and muscle mass while dormant, Hawkes explores the bear as a figure that moves between waking and dreaming worlds.

'Twin' is a collaborative exhibition by twin sisters Anne Dash and Emma Dash. Working across painting, embroidery and sequinned textile, the project approaches twinhood not as duplication but as relation - shaped through closeness and exchange.

Barbara Rozenes' exhibition reflects a lifelong journey of caring, advocacy and devotion to family, culminating in a rediscovery of self through art. Through expressive portraits, still lifes and works in oil and watercolour, she celebrates the freedom, joy and renewal she has found in painting, capturing the stories, beauty and humanity that continue to inspire her.

Victoria McCaffrey's exhibition explores mark making as a form of storytelling, where every line, gesture, and trace carries emotion, memory, and intention, inviting viewers to bring their own interpretations and narratives to each work. The artist presents marks as enduring records of presence, meaning, and shared experience across time.

This exhibition celebrates the long-standing friendship between artists Sal Cooper and Trudy Clutterbok, showcasing the ongoing dialogue in their respective studio practices. Both artists explore the intimate landscapes of history, love, memory, and experience.

In 'Now: Embodied Expressions', eight women artists offer works shaped by years of life, practice and attention. Their art holds the textures of experience while remaining vividly present. Each work invites us into a moment where seeing and making meet.

fortyfivedownstairs is proud to present the eleventh Emerging Artist Award, a prestigious award and exhibition showcasing exciting talent from emerging artists.

In celebration of NAIDOC week, curators E Salmon and Tre Turner have asked a selection of queer Blakfulla artists based around Narrm to showcase their work. This exhibition is a coming together, celebrating eachother, the gifts they share, the gifts they receive from their ancestors, Elders and mob, and the gifts they are yet to give.

“Windless Night” by Kate Butler centres on a collection of ceramic sculptures inspired by the stillness, light, and movement of the night sky, as well as archetypal landmarks that help individuals orient themselves in space. Represented on a smaller scale, these motifs reflect the personal process of grounding and finding one’s orientation.

Led by Charlotte Ivey (abstract artist) and Lana Daubermann (landscape artist), these workshops are designed to inspire painters from beginners to those with more experience. This series of six fortnightly workshops can be booked individually, or as a complete set. All materials are supplied, so all you need to do is turn up (in clothing you don't mind getting paint on!), and be ready to explore.

This group exhibition showcases the work of 17 artists who are currently part of the Melbourne Studio School. Their pieces encompass a wide range of themes, from figuration to abstraction. The exhibition highlights various skills learnt through their training, including manual dexterity in mark-making, an understanding of compositional language, and an exploration of colour theory.

'Unicellular' originated from a research residency spanning Victoria and South Australia's western Wimmera and Limestone Coast, during which Kate Hunter gathered field recordings from subaquatic sites. The exhibition positions microscopic, non-human, single-cell organisms as active participants in an expanded attentional field. Drawing on the artist's theatre-making, performance, sound-design and painting practices, 'Unicellular' intersects personal stories with sounds and images that reflect the barely-visible and the easily overlooked.

An emerging contemporary artist, Anthea Vayonitis works with dance and meditation practices to create gesturally embodied immersive paintings. “In the silence between our heart beats” is an activation of works that includes the same titled 1.7 x 15m painting that was channelled whilst on a residency in July-August of 2025 in the Blue Mountains.

For Chelle Destefano, 'Aural Transferences' is an ongoing process of exploring the memory of sound from childhood as a native Deaf-from-birth person. Destefano has been using her artistic process to meditate on those memories and to transform them into colour, line and movement.

In this series of photographs taken in Japan, James Bryans choses to bypass the chaos inherent in big cities, instead observing and experiencing the beauty of fleeting things and the changes of light and atmosphere.

In 'Silence in Shadow,' Brian Reberger showcases oil paintings and photography enhanced with gold or silver leaf to capture the essence of Caravaggio’s chiaroscuro. His work explores the tension between light and shadow, inviting viewers to experience the moments of revelation and mystery that arise from this contrast.

'Gathered' celebrates more than a decade of friendship and creative exchange between Fiona O’Byrne and Lana Daubermann. While O'Byrne’s work remains a meditation on domestic realism, Daubermann’s landscapes explore colour and atmosphere. Together, 'Gathered' is a harmony of two artistic distinct paths that continue to run side-by-side.

'Sea like a mirror' comprises a series of works on paper by Laura Williams which focus on moments of stillness within the natural environment. Each work is inspired by a memory of a specific place and being absorbed in the natural surroundings.

'Punchlines' brings together 38 of Australia’s funniest artists to explore the role of humour in contemporary art. Timed to coincide with the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, the exhibition highlights a wide range of mediums, styles, and subject matter, united by a shared impulse to find the joke, however silly, subtle or subversive.

'Summer's Rhythm' by Adele Auchterlonie captures the essence of the Australian summer as an experience that is lived and felt, rather than just observed. The collection draws inspiration from the familiar rituals that define the season. Through the use of light, texture, and mood, these artworks invite you to reconnect with the subtle richness of an Australian summer and the sense of comfort and belonging it offers.

In his latest exhibition, 'Monumental', Mark Bo Chu observes familiar and unfamiliar scenes across Melbourne. Through his gritty and vibrant style, he highlights the magnificence and monumentality that occur at all scales across a city.

'Liminal Fields' by Ria Green presents a series of painted works exploring the resonance and affect of the environment on the spiritual, emotional and physical self.

'Whispers Woven in Water, Wings & Wildflowers' is an immersive art installation by Australian visual storyteller Pam Davison, presented in collaboration with couture designer Linda Britten. Combining fine art photography, couture garments, sound, and spatial design, the exhibition explores memory as something lived, embodied, and continually shaping the present.

In her exhibition ‘Independently Combining’, Celia Bridle explores themes of delicacy, intimacy, mobility, and flow through a collection of 24 drawings. The artworks feature curving and sweeping lines that reference the shapes of letters or abstract forms, mingling and weaving with overlapping flourishes. Each drawing is created gradually, building layer upon layer, to form a construction that is both mobile and intensely detailed.

Cameron Grant's photography series 'Australian Theatres Unveiled' celebrates the architecture and heritage of Australia’s major theatre venues. The collection spans front-facing facades through to dressing rooms and backstage wings, featuring theatres from around the country. Each work honours the character of these venues, and the emotional history they hold for performers, patrons, and the community.

In ‘Memories; Vivid, False and Lost,’ Alison Russell maps a landscape of memory, examining the fragile, shifting and often contradictory nature of past recollections. Through a process of automatic drawing, she renders vivid or emotionally charged memories with dense colour, intensity, and strong shapes. In contrast, fragmented forms signify blurred, conflicted or lost memories, highlighting their elusive quality.

In her second solo exhibition, ‘Going Where You Take Me’, Micca explores her inner world as a young Australian-Asian woman. Through intricately detailed oil paintings, she creates surreal and mystical landscapes that address themes of identity, emotion, morality, faith, relationships, and social belonging. Her work often combines whimsy with introspection, using symbolism and dreamlike imagery to convey profound emotions and meanings.

fortyfivedownstairs is proud to present SMALL!, our fifth annual community-sourced exhibition of small works. Established artists, emerging talents, and child artists will be showcased side by side, highlighting a diverse array of styles and media. All artworks are 20 x 20 cm or smaller, priced at $150 and displayed anonymously.

In his third exhibition at fortyfivedownstairs, Richard Besley will showcase his classic large, abstract layered paintings, which evoke a world of light, movement, and space. However, after 30 years of working exclusively in abstraction, Besley will also be branching out into landscape painting, depicting scenes from his everyday life.

Carolyn Roberts' latest body of work is a close, personal observation of life in two very different gardens, situated on opposite sides of the world- in Melbourne and rural Normandy. Working mainly in watercolour and mixed-media on paper, Roberts constructs a visual narrative that examines humanity's connection to nature and our sense of place within it.

Ella Whateley's latest exhibition explores various forms of prayer through the language of abstraction, examining this spiritual practice within Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Shintoism, and Christianity. Her artworks reflect the unique contexts and environments from which these practices originate, drawing inspiration from her experiences in Indonesia, Taiwan, China, Japan, Nepal, Britain, and Australia.

Dena Ashbolt's exhibition, 'Time Between', seeks to capture the nuances of human experience and the shifts in our perception of reality. Her signature cinematic drawing technique serves as a core methodology, while also encompassing a broad artistic output, including drawing, painting, photo-media explorations, and spatial collaborative projects.

Robert Lee Davis' 'Community Art Card Project' returns to fortyfivedownstairs for the third consecutive year, offering visitors the chance to engage in collaborative art-making by using large playing cards as their canvas to create an installation in the gallery.