Mikala Dwyer creates objects and installations that are both playful and provocative, re-imagining familiar materials and what they say to us about the world in which we live. Her highly engaging sculptures explore ideas about shelter, childhood play, modernist design and the relationship between people and objects.
Exhibition Dates: 26 August 2017 – 4 February 2018
Acrylic paint, canvas, IKEA bed, polyurethane, coins, stones, gems, marys
800 x 266.5 cm
acrylic on canvas, ceramic, copper rod
two parts, backdrop: 800 x 220cm, ceramic: 60 x 15 x 15cm
Uranium glass, glass, ceramic, blacklight, holy water, mercury sol (homeopathic), brimstone (sulfur), salt (pink lake)
125 x 170 x 90 cm
Wood, plastic, acrylic paint, ceramic, soapstone, porcelain, hooks
282 x 170 x 170 cm
Mikala Dwyer has been exhibiting internationally since 1982 and has developed a distinctive and highly engaging practice that explores ideas about shelter, childhood play, modernist design and the occult. Influenced by early 20th-century art movements, including dada, constructivism and arte povera, her work pushes at the traditional limits of performance, sculpture and installation. Integrating a range of quotidian materials, her works are experimental and experiential architectures that play with the permeable and changeable nature of objects and our relationship with them.
Exhibition view, Mikala Dwyer, Soft Relics, Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery (16 August — 6 September 2018)
Installation view, Mikala Dwyer, A Shape of Thought, Art Gallery of New South Wales (26 August 2017 — 4 February 2018)
Exhibition view, Mikala Dwyer, Square Cloud Compound, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia (21 December 2015 – 21 February 2016); Photo: Jessica Maurer
Exhibition view, Mikala Dwyer, The Letterbox Marys, Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery (26 November 2014 — 18 December 2015)
Exhibition view, Mikala Dwyer, The Hollows, 19th Biennale of Sydney, Cockatoo Island (21 March – 9 June 2014)
Mikala Dwyer Goldene Bend’er, 2013; Exhibition view, Dead Ringer, Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts (14 November – 27 December 2013); Photo: Alessandro Bianchetti
Group Show, Idol Worship
Lismore Regional Gallery, NSW, 2019
Group Show, Mondspiel
Buxton Contemporary, Melbourne, 2019
Group Show, Workshop
University of Queensland Art Museum, Brisbane, 2019
Mikala Dwyer Soft Relics
Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, 2018
Group Show, State of Play
Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, 2017
Mikala Dwyer A shape of thought
Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 2017-18
Group Show, Dämmerschlaf
Artspace, Sydney, 2016
Mikala Dwyer Square Cloud Compound
Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Sydney, 2015-16
Mikala Dwyer The Letterbox Marys
Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, 2015
Group Show, Dead Ringer
Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts, Perth, 2015
Mikala Dwyer Hall of Half-Life
GrazMuseum, Austria, 2015-16
Mikala Dwyer Magnetism
Hazelwood, Sligo, Ireland, 2015
Mikala Dwyer Redlands Konica Minolta Art Prize
National Art School Gallery, Sydney, 2015
Mikala Dwyer The Garden of Half-life
University of Sydney Art Gallery, Sydney, 2014-15
Mikala Dwyer The Hollows
19th Biennale of Sydney, 2014
Group Show, Goldene Bend'er
Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne, 2013
Group Show, Future Primitive
Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne, 2013-14
Mikala Dwyer Eggswing
Royal Hospital for Women Park, Sydney, 2012-13
Mikala Dwyer Divinations for the real things
Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, 2012
Group Show, Drawing Down the Moon
Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane, 2012
Group Show, Panto Collapsar
Project Arts Centre, Dublin, 2012
Mikala Dwyer Windwatcher
Central Park, Sydney, 2011
Mikala Dwyer Mary's Place Lamp
Surry Hills, Sydney, 2010-13
Group Show
Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, 2009-10
Mikala Dwyer Outfield
Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, 2009
Mikala Dwyer Moongarden, Aratoi
Wairarapa Museum of Art and History, New Zealand, 2008-09
Group Show, Lucky Town
Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, 2008-09
Mikala Dwyer Black Sun Blue Moon
Spielhaus Morrison Galerie, Berlin, 2007
Mikala Dwyer Swamp Sculpture
Omi Sculpture Park, New York, 2006
Group Show, IOU
Helen Lempriere National Sculpture Award, Melbourne, 2002
Mikala Dwyer
Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Sydney, 2000
Mikala Dwyer Primavera
Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Sydney, 1992
MIKALA DWYER
PROFESSIONAL BACKGROUND
Sydney College of Art - Lecturer
University of Western Sydney - Lecturer
Sydney College of Art - Lecturer
Canberra School of Art - Lecturer
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
Soft Relics, Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney
Mikala Dwyer: a shape of thought, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
In the head of humans, Hopkinson Mossman, Auckland
Square Cloud Compound, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney
Mikala Dwyer: MCA Collection curated by Natasha Bullock, Museum of Contemporary Art, Australia
The Letterbox Marys, Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney
The Garden of Half-Life, University of Sydney Art Gallery, Sydney
Hollowwork, Anna Schwartz Gallery, Melbourne.
Goldene Bend'er, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne
schwarz//weiss, Hamish Morrison Gallery, Berlin.
Divinations for the real things, Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney
Mikala Dwyer: Panto Collapsar, Project Arts Centre, Dublin
Mikala Dwyer: Drawing Down the Moon, Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane
The Silvering, Anna Schwartz Gallery, Melbourne.
Square Cloud Compound, Hamish Morrison Galerie, Berlin, Germany.
Outfield, Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney
Swamp Geometry, Anna Schwartz Gallery, Melbourne
Mono Clinic, Hamish McKay Gallery, Melbourne
Costumes and Empty Sculptures, IMA, Brisbane
Aratoi Museum, Masterton, New Zealand
The Addition and Subtractions and the Hanging Garden, Kunstraum, Potsdam.
Black Sun Blue Moon, Hamish Morrison Galerie, Berlin
The Shape of Thoughts Own Making, Peloton, Sydney
Only One and a Bit Days to Go, Darren Knight Gallery, Sydney
Superstitious Scaffolding, Hamish McKay Gallery, Wellington, New Zealand
Some more recent old work, Darren Knight Gallery, Sydney
Flowers, Flies and Someone Else, Anna Schwartz Gallery, Melbourne
Gap Filler Pet, Uplands Gallery, Melbourne
Art lifts, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
Sarah Cottier Gallery, Sydney
Mikala Dwyer: an Australian artist's project, City Gallery, Wellington, New Zealand
Hamish McKay Gallery, Wellington, New Zealand
Sarah Cottier Gallery, Sydney
Hamish McKay Gallery, Wellington, New Zealand
Mikala Dwyer, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney
Indefinitly Maybe, I Care Because You Do, The Loozer Planet, Sweetpotatosexpet Antenna, Hanging Eyes, I.O.U. (a tile), My Home is Your Home, Floating Old man, Selfshelf, ChapterArts Centre, Cardiff, Wales, U.K.
iffytown, Hamish McKay Gallery, Wellington, New Zealand
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
Bauhaus Now!, Buxton Contemporary, Melbourne
Workshop, University of Queensland Art Museum, Queensland
Soft Core, Shepparton Art Museum, Victoria
Blessed Be: Mysticism, Spirituality, and the Occult in Contemporary Art, Museum of Contemporary Art Tuscon, Arizona
The shape of things to come, Buxton Contemporary, Melbourne
Sydney Contemporary, Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney
Unpainting, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Australia
Every Brilliant Eye: Australian Art of the 1990s, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Moving Histories // Future Projections, Toowoomba Regional Gallery, Queensland
Triple Point Of Matter,Foundation Fiminco,Paris
Occulture: The Dark Arts, City Gallery Wellington, New Zealand
Quicksilver, Anne & Gordon Samstag Museum of Art, University of South Australia, Adelaide
Wonder, curated by Carrie Kibbler, Hazelhurst Regional Gallery, Sydney
GRLZ, 55 Sydenham Rd, Sydney
Riddle of the Burial Grounds, curated by Tessa Giblan, Extra City Kunsthal, Antwerp, Belgium
Fabrik, Ian Potter Museum of Art, Melbourne
Today Tomorrow Yesterday, Museum of Contemporary, Australia
Erewhon, Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne
Dämmerschlaf, Artspace, Sydney
Soft Core, Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre, Sydney
Dead Ringer, Perth Centre for Contemporary Arts, Perth
Magnetism, Hazelwood House, Sligo, Ireland
Hall of Half Life, Graz Museum, Austria
Encounters, Art Basel Hong Kong, Hong Kong (curated by Alexie Glass-Kantor)
Redlands Konica Minolta Art Prize, National Art School, Sydney
19th Biennale of Sydney: You Imagine What You Desire (curated by Juliana Engberg), Cockatoo Island, Sydney
De Rerum Natura, Studio La Città, Verona, Italy
Primavera, (curated by Mikala Dwyer), Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney
Loaded, Enjoy Public Art Gallery, Te Aro, New Zealand
The End of the 20th Century. The Best is Yet to Come. A Dialogue with the Marx Collection, Hamburger Banhof, Berlin, Germany.
New 2013: Selected Recent Acquisitions, University of Queensland Art Museum, Brisbane
Future Primitive, Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne
Cronies, curated by Mikala Dwyer and Fleur Wiber, Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney
Less is More: Minimal and Post-Minimal Art in Australia, Heide Museum of Modern Art, Victoria
Plus ou moins sorcières 2/3: épreuves ritualisées, La Maison Populaire, Paris
In Abstraction, the Body, Anna Schwartz Gallery, Melbourne
Reunion, Hamish Mckay Gallery, New Zealand
Ten Years of Things, UQ Art Museum, Brisbane.
Forever Young: 30 Years of the Heide Collection, Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne
SUNDOWN, The Paper Mill Gallery, Sydney
Colour Bazaar, Heide Museum of Art, Melbourne
Networks and Cells, Monash Museum of Art, Melbourne
Alterbeast, Penrith Regional Museum, Sydney
YK3 Melbourne Biennale, Melbourne
Collection Show, AGNSW, Sydney
MONA, Hobart, Tasmania
Treffpunkt, Hamish Morrison Galerie, Berlin
17th Biennale of Sydney, The Beauty of Distance, songs of survival in a precarious age, curated by David Elliot, Sydney.
Adelaide Biennale, Before and After Science, curated by Charlotte Day and Sarah Tutton, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide
Alterbeast, Penrith Regional Museum, NSW
Alterbeast, Gertrude Contemporary, Melbourne. VIC
Cockatoo Residency Exhibition (with Justene Williams)
(to) give time to time, Experimental Art Foundation (with Sam Hughes and Natural Selection Theory) Adelaide, SA
Milk and the Town that was Mad, Laneways Project, Sydney.
Group Show, Roslyn Oxley Gallery, Sydney
Art Forum Berlin, Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Germany
Artspace, Sydney
Ich Wicht, Kunstraum, Potsdam, Germany
Zeigen. Audio Tour through Berlin, Karin Sander. Temporare Kunsthalle Berlin
Group Show, Roslyn Oxley gallery, Sydney
Group Show, Hamish McKay gallery NZ
Benjamin Buchanan, Carla Cescon, Mikala Dwyer and Barnard McIntyre, Hamish Mckay gallery New Zealand
Almanac: The Gift of Ann Lewis AO, MCA Sydney.
Mirror Mirror, then and now, Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane; University Art Gallery, Verge Gallery and Verge Gallery and Tin Sheds Gallery, Sydney; Samstag Museum of Art, Adelaide.
TarraWarra Biennale 2008: Lost and Found, An Archaeology of the Present, TarraWarra Museum of Art, Victoria
The Ecologies Project, Monash University Museum of Art, Melbourne, curated by Geraldine Barlow and Dr Kyla McFarlane
CERAMICA, Institute of Contemporary Art, Sydney
Lost and Found: An Archeology of the Present, TarraWarra Biennial, curated by Charlotte Day, Healesville, Victoria
Common Space, Private Space. Curator Rebecca Coates, Margaret Lawrence Gallery, VCA, Melbourne
Come-In: Interior Design as a Contemporary Art Medium in Germany, RMIT Gallery, Melbourne
Bal Tashchit: Thou Shalt Not Destroy, Jewish Museum, Melbourne
Axis Bold as Love, Video Salon. Curated by Evergreen Terrace and A Constructed World, CAPC Bordeaux.
The Poster Market International, curator Noah Brehmer. New York.
To Make a Work Of Timeless Art, Prima Vera Collection, MCA Sydney.
Ceramica, I.C.A.N gallery, Sydney
P25 Echelon, Chippendale, NSW
Mystic Truths, Auckland Art Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand
Den Haag Sculptuur 2007 De Overkant / Down Under, The Netherlands
Love Chief, curator Natasha Conland, Auckland Art Gallery New Zealand
High Tide, Zacheta National Gallery, Warsaw
High Tide, CAC Vilnius, Lithuania.
Nada Art Fair, Miami
Von Riots Zu Angels, NYRT, Berlin
An end of year exhibition, new work by Sam Basu Shane Cotton Mikala Dwyer Gavin Hipkins, Hamish McKay Gallery, Sydney, Wellington, New Zealand
The Wallflower, Canberra Contemporary Art Space, Canberra, curator: Eve Sullivan
National Sculpture Prize and Exhibition 2005, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
Unscripted: Language in Contemporary Art, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, curator: Wayne Tunnicliffe
Salvage, Clubs Projects Inc., Melbourne
Unpacked II, Bendigo Art Gallery, toured by Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney
Three-way Abstraction: Works from the Monash University Collection, Monash University Museum of Art, Melbourne
Face Up: Contemporary Art from Australia, Nationalgalerie im Hamburger Bahnhoff, Berlin, Germany, curator: Dr. Britta Schmitz
Unpacked II, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney
This was the Future… Australian Sculpture of the 1950s, 60s, 70s + Today, Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne
Still Life, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
Afterlife, Sarah Cottier Gallery, Sydney
Armoury Show 2003, Sarah Cottier Gallery, New York
Michael Lett Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand
4mal, Prettydog Gallery, Sydney
The Shangri-La Collective, Artspace, Sydney
Fieldwork: Australian Art 1968-2002, The Ian Potter Centre, NGV Australia, Melbourne
Helen Lempriere National Sculpture Award, Werribee Park, Melbourne
Objections, Sarah Cottier Gallery, Artspace, Sydney, curators: Tim Silver and Russell Storer
Artful Park, Centennial Park, Sydney
Good Work: The Jim Barr and Mary Barr Collection, Dunedin Public Art Gallery; City Gallery, Wellington, New Zealand
Unnecessary Invention, Artspace, Sydney, curator: Brian Thompson
Objection, The Physics Room, Christchurch, New Zealand, curators: Tim Silver and Russell Storer
Monochromes, University Art Museum, University of Queensland, Brisbane
Sarah Cottier Gallery, ARCO Art Fair, Madrid, Spain
Sarah Cottier Gallery, Art 31, `00, Basel, Switzerland
plastika, Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, New Zealand
Bonheurs des Antipodes, Musee de Picardie, Amiens, France, curator: Matthieu Pinette
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Today, Tomorrow, Yesterday, MCA: Collection Handbook, pp. 120-123, 2016
Rachel Fuller, Sydney Summer Report, Ocula, 12 Jan 2016
Emma O'Neil, Mikala Dwyer: MCA Collection, Art Asia Pacific, May/June 2016, p.118
Rachel Fuller, 'Sydney Summer Report', Ocula, 12 Jan 2016
Nicholas Forrest, 'Mikala Dwyer and Coen Young Win 2015 Redlands Art Prize,' Blouin ArtInfo, March 25 2015
Alexandra Brown, 'Mikala Dwyer and Coen Young named 2015 Redlands Konika Minolta Art Prize winners', Vogue Living, March 25 2015
Luke Parker, 'Mikala Dwyer The Garden of Half Life', Muse Magazine, Issue 09, Nov 2014
Joel Meares, 'Redlands Konica Minolta Art Prize 2015 taken out by Mikala Dwyer and Coen Young', Sydney Morning Herald, March 25, 2015
Carrie Miller, “Curator's Radar; Mikala Dwyer”, Art Collector, Issue 67, Jan - March 2014, pp 118-121
Nicholas Forrest, Interview; Mikala Dwyer on Primavera 2014 at MCA, Sydney, Blouin Art Info, Nov 10 2014
Sally Butler, ”Mikala Dwyer's Occult Constructivism”, Eyeline 77, 2013, pp.46-51
Isabel Dunstan, “Mikala Dwyer: Goldene Bend'er”, Time Out Melbourne, 22 April 2013
Van Badham, 'Who's afraid of the art boogie monster', The Guardian.co.uk, Thursday 13 June, http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jun/13/chris-berg-art-theatre-australia
Mikala Dwyer, as told to Anthony Byrt, 500 words, Artforum, http://artforum.com/words/id=30502
Rebecca O'Dwyer, This Must be the Place: Mikala Dwyer's ` Panto Collapsar', http://rebeccaodwyer.wordpress.com/2012/02/15/this-must-be-the-place-mikala-dwyers-panto-collapsar/
Dreamers: Mikala Dwyer, Map Magazine, March 1, 2012, http://www.streeteditors.com/2012/03/01/mikala-dwyer-2/
Linda Michael, 'The Little Temples of Love for the Dead Things', MCA Collection Volume One, (Sydney MCA, 2012) pp238-246
Anthony Byrt, Frontier Spirits: Myth, Ghosts and Borders in the Work of Mikala Dwyer, Frieze, Issue 139 May 2011, pp.104-107
Geraldine Barlow, Networks, Cells and Silos (catalogue), MUMA, Melbourne
Sue Cramer, Colour Bazaar: 9 Contemporary Works (catalogue), Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne
'The Beauty of Distance, Songs of Survival in a precarious age', 17th Sydney Biennale exhibition catalogue
Susan Best, 'Old and New Romantics-The 17th Biennale of Sydney: The Beauty of Distance: Songs of Survival in a Precarious Age', Eyeline, 72, 2010, pp 64-79
Alamanac, The gift of Ann Lewis OA Collection MCA
'Mikala Dwyer', To make a work of timeless art-MCA Primavera Acquisitions, 08-09
Before and After Science, Adelaide Biennale Catalogue
Current, Contemporary Art from Australia and New Zealand, Art and Australia (eds.), Sydney, p108
Charlotte Day, Lost and Found: An Archeology of the Present, exh.cat., TarraWarra Museum of Art Anne Loxley, `Mikala Dwyer: coalescence and dissolution', Art World 3, June-July
Bal Tashchit: Thou Shalt Not Destroy, exh.cat., Jewish Museum, Melbourne
Sculpture Today, Judith Collins. Phaidon
Mystic Truths, exh.cat., Auckland Art Gallery, NZ
High Tide, exh.cat., Zacheta National Gallery, Warsaw
Victoria Barker, Black Sun Blue Moon, exh.cat., Spielhaus Morrison Galerie, Berlin
Andrew Paul Wood, Littered Under Mercury. White Fungus Magazine
Gabriela Switek, 'And who so happy?' Broadsheet, June - August, pp 90-93
Eve Sullivan, The Wallflower, exh.cat., Canberra Contemporary Art Space, Canberra
Susan Ronhnie, 'Mikala Dwyer in conversation with Susan Rothnie', Eyeline, No.55, pp.30-33
Steven Tonkin, 'Art Lifts!', Artonview, National Gallery of Australia, Issue No.39, Spring
Ashley Crawford, 'Unique view of a fly on the wall', The Age, 17 June
Megan Backhouse, 'Around the galleries', The Age, 19 June
Britta Schmitz, (ed.), Face Up: Contemporary Art from Australia, Nationalgalerie im Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin, Germany
Alex Gawronski, 'Dividing Lines', Broadsheet, March, April + May
Alexie Glass, 'Artful Park', Monument, 46, February / March
Lenny Ann Low, 'Deep space 10 to 13', Sydney Morning Herald ,1-2 June, Metropolitan
Jason Smith & Charles Green, Fieldwork: Australian Art 1968-2002, The Ian Potter Centre, NGV Australia, Melbourne
Anne Loxley, 'A stroll in the park to exercise mind and body', The Sydney Morning Herald, 5 December
William McAloon, 'From playful invention to shonk horror', Sunday Star Times, 9 Semptember
Justin Paton, Good Work: The Jim Barr and Mary Barr Collection, Dunedin Public Art Gallery
Hannah Scott, 'Plastika', Publicartion by the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, Summer
Sebastian Smee, 'Pipe Dreams', Sydney Morning Herald, 12 January
Edward Colless, Mikala Dwyer, catalogue essay, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney
Limited edition artist page, inversions, mawa: mentoring artists for women's art, Winnipeg, Fall
Artist's page (collaboration with Simone Parsons), LOG, Illustrated, # 10
Stephan Caddick, 'Mikala Dwyer', AN Magazine, March
Sylvie Couderc, 'Recent contemporary art in Australia: from the interpretation of origins to the bias of the diverse', Bonheurs des Antipodes, Musee de Picardie, Amiens, France
Benjamin Genocchio, 'Alchemy with a Mischievous Touch', Sydney Morning Herald, 29 December
Linda Michael, 'The Little Temples of Love for the Dead Things', Mikala Dwyer, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney
Robert Nelson, 'Show and tell...', The Age, 9 April
PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Monash University Museum of Art, Melbourne
Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne
Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
Auckland City Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand
Museum of Contemporary of Art, Sydney
Waikato Museum, Hamilton, New Zealand
Monash University Gallery, Melbourne
Museum of Old and New Art, Tasmania
Artbank, Australia
Waikato Museum, Hamilton, New Zealand
Michael Buxton Collection
COMMISSIONS
Earth Craft, Govett-Brewster Art Gallery/Len Lye Centre, New Zealand
Egg Swing, Royal Hospital for Women Park, Paddington (Commissioned by Woollahra Council)
Windwatcher, Central Park, Sydney.
Mary's Place Lamp, Surry Hill, Sydney
SELECTED GRANTS, SCHOLARSHIPS AND PRIZES
NAVA Visual Arts Fellowship 2016
Deaking Small Sculpture Award (Winner)
Fellowship Australia Council grant
Samstag scholarship. UDK Berlin (Class of Stan Douglas, LotharBaumgarten and David Lamelas)
National Sculpture Prize Exhibition
Woollahra Sculpture Prize
Helen Lempriere Sculpture Prize (commended)
Australia Council Grant
Australia Council Grant
Contempora 5 Exhibition
