Idle Hours
Llewellyn Skye
July 10, 2024
-
July 28, 2024
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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).

Llewellyn Skye

Llewellyn Skye's bold floral abstractions convey young love in a primal language of colour and gesture. What emerges is a paradox of profound opposites. Foolish, youthful passion is freeing but all-consuming. It furnishes hope yet brings despair. Such love is perfectly flawed in its overwhelming intensity but also beautiful and magical in its imperfections and surprises. Skye’s effervescent, expressive bouquets are rendered with confident brush strokes in vibrant colours against dark and muted backgrounds. The work, which marries abstraction and expressionism, mirrors the sweetness and inevitable pain of the ardor of young romance, which, like the springtime, blooms with vigour but soon betrays its fragility. Skye's work recognises that with change and loss comes a darkness. But it also affirms the need to struggle to live in the moments, however fleeting, of beauty and light.

​​"Florals represent abstract beauty and impermanence, all the qualities I enjoy in life and love." - Skye

Idle Hours
by
Llewellyn Skye
July 10, 2024
-
July 28, 2024
Month of Sundays
Llewellyn Skye
POA
$ 18,500.00 AUD
Llewellyn Skye, Month of Sundays, 2024, Acrylic and oil on canvas, 185cm x 200cm
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Killing time
Llewellyn Skye
POA
$ 10,000.00 AUD
Llewellyn Skye, Killing time, 2024, Acrylic and oil on canvas, 153cm x 122cm
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Idle hours
POA
$ 6,000.00 AUD
Llewellyn Skye, Idle hours, 2024, Acrylic, oil, and oil stick on canvas, 122cm x 91cm
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Changing of the Guard
Llewellyn Skye
POA
$ 6,000.00 AUD
Llewellyn Skye, Changing of the Guard, 2024, Acrylic and oil on canvas, 123cm x 102cm
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Forever and a day
Llewellyn Skye
POA
$ 5,500.00 AUD
Llewellyn Skye, Forever and a day, 2024, Acrylic and oil on canvas, 153cm x 61cm
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In the dark
Llewellyn Skye
POA
$ 5,500.00 AUD
Llewellyn Skye, In the dark, 2024, Acrylic and oil on canvas, 153cm x 61cm
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No mud, no lotus
Llewellyn Skye
POA
$ 5,500.00 AUD
Llewellyn Skye, No mud, no lotus, 2024, Acrylic and oil on canvas, 153cm x 61cm
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Tick Tick Boom
Llewellyn Skye
POA
$ 5,500.00 AUD
Llewellyn Skye, Tick Tick Boom, 2024, Acrylic and oil on canvas, 153cm x 61cm
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What to do, what to do
Llewellyn Skye
POA
$ 5,500.00 AUD
Llewellyn Skye, What to do, what to do, 2024, Acrylic, oil, and oil stick on canvas, 153cm x 61cm
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This is a flower painting II
Llewellyn Skye
POA
$ 4,000.00 AUD
Llewellyn Skye, This is a flower painting II, 2024, Acrylic and oil on linen, 87cm x 61cm
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Pretty little flower paintings II
Llewellyn Skye
POA
$ 2,000.00 AUD
Llewellyn Skye, Pretty little flower paintings II, 2024, Acrylic and oil on canvas, 44cm x 44cm
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Pretty little flower paintings III
Llewellyn Skye
POA
$ 2,000.00 AUD
Llewellyn Skye, Pretty little flower paintings III, 2024, Acrylic and oil on canvas, 44cm x 44cm
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Pretty little flower paintings IV
Llewellyn Skye
POA
$ 2,000.00 AUD
Llewellyn Skye, Pretty little flower paintings IV, 2024, Acrylic and oil on canvas, 44cm x 44cm
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