Idle Hours: Llewellyn Skye

Lennox St. Gallery is pleased to present Idle Hours, an exhibition of recent paintings by Llewellyn Skye.

The exhibition continues Skye’s exploration of floral motifs through the prism of the artist’s abstract expressionist vision. The exhibition also illustrates the artist’s research into floral and still life paintings by female artists from the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries, first premiered in the earlier So Baroque exhibition, and expressed in this body of work through the beauty, exuberance, and textural richness of her canvasses.

While continuing her investigation into female still life painters and researching critical responses to their work, Skye came across a statement recommending flower painting as a genteel pastime to women ‘with their many idle hours to fill.’ As a full-time professional artist and mother, who has no concept of ‘idle hours’, Skye rebels against this statement in the current body of work with the title of the exhibition as well as titles of individual artworks within it.

Figures, which were an important part of Skye’s earlier oeuvre, are re-emerging in the current work. While not being portraits of the artist per se, they are representative of her: “They look the viewer straight in the eye, confronting the conversations surrounding being a female artist, choosing to paint a subject that is so heavily weighted with adornment, femininity and beauty, with bravery, strength, and rebellion.”

The passage of time and the cycle of nature are further emergent themes within the artist’s of work: “Flowers go through awkward growth stages and suddenly bloom—totally occupying their space in full glory. But then, they start decaying, breaking away from what holds them. They fall to the ground or fly away in the wind. The notions of impermanence and the fleeting nature of beauty are evident in these works. As well as the conversations surrounding the views attached to being a female artist choosing to paint flowers, as a mother with young children, my exploration into the life cycle of flowers becomes a metaphor for life and existence.”

Llewellyn Skye has been exhibiting regularly since the early 2000s in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, and on the Gold Coast, and was given a solo presentation at the 2023 Sydney Contemporary by Wagner Galleries. She was a finalist in numerous art prizes, including the John Olsen Drawing Prize in 2006 and King’s Art Prize in 2024. She was awarded the prestigious Artegiro Residency in Italy in 2011 and the UAR Residency in Brooklyn, New York, in 2024. Her works have been acquired by corporate and private collections across Australia and abroad, and her site-specific commissions grace the township of Sunshine (NSW) and Gold Coast (QLD).