‘WOLLEMI TO WILPENA’ Installation viewJane Guthleben
‘WOLLEMI TO WILPENA’ Installation view2022
WOLLEMI TO WILPENA
As state borders reopened after their viral hiatus, artist Jane Guthleben found herself visiting two starkly different landscapes half a continent apart in a short period of time. One arid, the other lush, each salved the jaded eye after months of covid isolation and government travel restrictions. What followed is the series WOLLEMI TO WILPENA, 33 paintings that serve as a visual diary transcribing both places, a record of two diverse landscapes perceived through observation of flora and fauna and conceptualised in imaginary compositions and impossible arrangements.
The first excursion was a (covid postponed) month-long residency in Sydney’s Blue Mountains at BigCi in Bilpin, where much time was spent walking through the rainforests, hanging swamps, heaths and sclerophyll bush in Wollemi National Park.
Immediately afterwards came a long-awaited road trip from Sydney via Broken Hill to Ikara-Flinders Ranges in South Australia for a hike in the arid Wilpena Pound and surrounds. In these two regions recognized by indigenous names the historical presence of First Nations peoples was keenly felt, as we learned about art, foods and stories about Country.
Guthleben made small studies of birds and flora she experienced, using them to compose larger formal still life arrangements and gargantuan bouquets bursting with species. The largest piece is a 4 metre immersive floralscape, that is neither a landscape – though it is in format – or a still life but rather a chronological collage of flora diarising her encounters in the landscape. The large floralscapes have no focal point or horizon and direct the eye to this twig or that bloom, just as you would when passing through space.
Guthleben is obsessed with how Australia would have looked at the moment of contact with Europeans, recorded first around the early 1600s when Dutch Still Life flower painting was highly prized and prominent in Europe, particularly tulip painting. Using this genre as her starting point, she reinterprets the Australian landscape in formal floral arrangements, willing the indigenous blooms to communicate their language to the European eye. If a rose means love or a lily means the Virgin Mary’s purity in Western floriography, what does a banksia say, or a wattle sprig, an epacris or a xanthorrhoea?
In recent series, when making work about a place, Guthleben has tried to reimagine it by turning to written historical accounts of flora or paintings by botanists, convicts or other artists to collate lists of what was there and how it appeared to the colonisers. In WOLLEMI TO WILPENA she presents her own accounts of flora and fauna as she experienced them first hand. She would like to acknowledge elders past and present in and the incredible environments that she has travelled through and where she lives in Cammeraygal/Sydney in creating this body of work.
July 2022
Through still life paintings of indigenous flowers, birds, and insects, Guthleben uses the traditions of vanitas and its messages of the transience of life to present a painted vernacular that spans humour, kitsch, and historical and environmental themes. She reinterprets the delicate floral masterpieces of Dutch Golden Age painting by amping up the colour and light in response to the Australian environment and emphasising the texture and diversity of indigenous flora in brushy impasto.
Guthleben’s practice also explores the ways botanical collections and natural history records shape our understanding of Australia’s flora and fauna. Through vibrant, imaginative arrangements of native species and birds, she reinterprets archival references into playful contemporary compositions. Her paintings balance beauty and whimsy with subtle reflections on habitat, history, and the changing relationship between nature and human culture.
Jane Guthleben studied a Bachelor or Fine Arts with honours at the University of New South Wales in 2015. Guthleben has been a finalist in the Calleen Art Award (2025), the Portia Geach Memorial Portrait Prize (2025, 2024, 2023, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018), the Archibald Prize (2020), Mosman Art Prize (2019, 2012), the Eutick Memorial Still Life Award (2018), Ravenswood Women's Art Prize (2019, 2017) and the Fisher's Ghost Art Prize (2015) among others. In 2024, she completed an Artist in Residence at Tanks Art Centre in Cairns, presenting Latitude 16.9013° south alongside Joanne Sisson and Carole Wilson, an exhibition exploring botanical specimens from across Australia.
Jane Guthleben
EDUCATION
2015
Bachelor of Fine Art (Hons), University of New South Wales
Short courses at National Art School, Willoughby Workshop Art Centre
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2025
(Upcoming), Edwina Corlette, Brisbane
2024
'SEA FLOWERS', Edwina Corlette, Brisbane
'All My Flowers', M. Contemporary, Sydney
2023
'Evergreen', Edwina Corlette, Brisbane
'SCRUB', M. Contemporary, Sydney
2022
'Wollemi To Wilpena', Edwina Corlette, Brisbane
'BIRD IN HAND', M. Contemporary, Sydney
2021
'Florilegium', Edwina Corlette, Brisbane
'An Evening at Mt Wilson' M. Contemporary, Sydney
2020
'Bush Chorus', M. Contemporary, Sydney
'Grandiflora', Edwina Corlette, Brisbane
2019
'Ornament', M. Contemporary, Sydney
'Posy', Edwina Corlette, Brisbane
2018
'Floralia', M. Contemporary, Sydney
2017
'Flora Domestica', M. Contemporary, Sydney
'Remote', Incinerator Art Space, Sydney, (with Peta Dzubiel)
2016
'Object & Image', Incinerator Art Space, Sydney (with Peter Finlay)
2011
'Home', Charles Hewitt Gallery Sydney
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2025
ROOM FULL OF LEAVES, M. Contemporary, Sydney
2023
Sydney Contemporary, M. Contemporary, Carriageworks
On the Edge: Species at Risk, Royal Botanic Garden, Sydney
XV, Gallery Smith, Melbourne
2022
Sydney Contemporary, M. Contemporary, Carriageworks
2021
Sydney Contemporary, M. Contemporary, online
2020
Retracing, Art Space on the Concourse, Sydney
Frontlines: Takayana to Adani, Hobart
2019
Sydney Contemporary, M. Contemporary, Carriageworks
'Heroine', M. Contemporary, Sydney
'The New Gallery Show', Edwina Corlette, Brisbane
2018
Sydney Contemporary Art Fair, M. Contemporary, Sydney
'The Platform 10', Edwina Corlette, Brisbane
St Kevin's Art Show, Melbourne
'At the End of the World', M. Contemporary, Sydney
2017
'Multitasking', 107 Projects, Redfern, Sydney
'Three Painters Sharing a Studio', Ewart Gallery, Sydney
2016
Ravenswood Art Show, Sydney
Balmain Art Show, Sydney
'Object & Image', Incinerator Art Space, Sydney
'Interior Motives', 107 Projects, Sydney
'Young Artists Initiative', M. Contemporary, Sydney
'Internal Affairs', Art Month, Janet Clayton Gallery, Sydney
2015
'Holiday', 107 Projects, Sydney
University of New South Wales Honours Annual, University of New South Wales Galleries, Sydney
2014
UNSW Graduate Exhibition, University of New South Wales, Sydney
'Expanded Painting', Kudos Gallery, Sydney
2013
2nd Year Painting, Kudos Gallery, Sydney
'1200KWest', COFAspace, Sydney
'Small is Beautiful', Charles Hewitt Sydney
Lindfield Art Show, Sydney
2012
Victor Harbour Art Show, Victor Harbour, South Australia
'Views and Visions', Charles Hewitt Gallery, Sydney
2011
Balmain Art Show, Sydney
'Think Big', Charles Hewitt Gallery, Sydney
2010
'About Flowers', Charles Hewitt Gallery, Sydney
'Something Personal 2', Charles Hewitt Gallery, Sydney
AWARDS AND RESIDENCIES
2025
Finalist, Calleen Art Award, Cowra Regional Gallery, New South Wales
Finalist, Portia Geach Memorial Award, S.H. Ervin Gallery, Sydney
Finalist, Kings School Art Prize, Sydney
2024
Finalist, Portia Geach Memorial Award, S.H. Ervin Gallery, Sydney
Residency, Tanks Art Centre, Cairns
2023
Finalist, Archibald Prize Salon des Refuses, Sydney
Finalist, Portia Geach Memorial Award, S.H. Ervin Gallery, Sydney
Residency, Squatters Residency, Portland, New South Wales
2022
Semi-Finalist, Doug Moran Portrait Prize, Moran Arts Foundation, New South Wales
Residency, BigCi Residency, Bilpin, New South Wales
2021
Finalist, Archibald Prize Salon des Refuses, Sydney
Finalist, Portia Geach Memorial Portrait Prize, S.H. Ervin Gallery, Sydney
2020
Finalist, Archibald Prize, Art Gallery of New South Wales
Finalist, Portia Geach Memorial Portrait Prize, S.H. Ervin Gallery, Sydney
Finalist, Waverley Art Prize, Sydney
Finalist, 2020 Chateau d’Orquevaux Residency Prize, France
Residency, The Old School Residency, Mt Wilson
2019
Highly Commended, NG Art Creative Residency Art Prize, France
Finalist, Archibald Prize Salon des Refuses, Sydney
Finalist, Portia Geach Memorial Portrait Prize, S.H. Ervin Gallery, Sydney
Finalist, Mosman Art Prize, Mosman Art Gallery, New South Wales
Finalist, Ravenswood Australian Women's Art Prize, Sydney
Finalist, Korea-Australia Arts Foundation Art Prize, Sydney
Semi-Finalist, Doug Moran Portrait Prize, Sydney
2018
Finalist, Portia Geach Memorial Portrait Prize, S.H. Ervin Gallery, New South Wales
Finalist, Eutick Memorial Still Life Award, Project Contemporary Art Space, New South Wales
Finalist, Little Things Art Prize, Saint Cloche Gallery, Sydney
Residency, UNSW Greenhouse Residency, Flowers Gap, New South Wales
2017
Finalist, Ravenswood Australian Women's Art Prize, Sydney
2016
Finalist, Young Artist Initiative Contemporary Art Award, M. Contemporary, Sydney
2015
Recipient, UNSW Greenhouse Residency
Recipient, UNSW Academic Award
Winner, UNSW Painting Prize, Artscene Derivan Award
Finalist, Fishers Ghost Art Prize
Finalist, UNSW Jenny Birt Award
2014
Highly Commended, UNSW Jenny Birt Award, New South Wales
2013
Recipient, UNSW Fowlers Gap Scholarship, New South Wales
2012
Finalist, Mosman Art Prize, Mosman Art Gallery, New South Wales
2011
Finalist, National Trust NSW Harper's Mansion Art Prize, New South Wales
Congratulations to Jane Guthleben who is a finalists in the 2024 Portia Geach Memorial Award with her self portrait 'The Female Artist'.
This painting is part of an ongoing series of portraits of women that I call ornament-portraits; small in size and designed to be the opposite of monuments, which have historically been mostly of men. I stand the subject on a little plinth so that she appears rather like an ornament on a shelf. I usually choose women I admire in the Arts, Politics or the Media. This series is not to diminish the achievements of these women, but rather to draw attention to the fact that women’s appearance continues to be a subject of discussion – that women continue to be “ornamental” - despite their work and stature.
Inspired by Wendy Sharpe’s Self Portrait as Circus Banner 2019, I decided to paint a self-portrait. In her portrait, Wendy pointed to the continuing pitfalls of being a female artist, including being known as a “woman artist” rather than just an artist, having no visible means of support, and wearing a cloak of invisibility.
Female Artist is a nod to this and is painted in the style of a still life, which is often seen as female subject matter. I have imagined myself as a porcelain ornament, standing in front of an easel with a flower painting. The apron and the pastel colours add to the domesticity of the subject matter.
Jane Guthleben has been selected for the Portia Geach Memorial Award, for her painting of the bird photographer, Leila Jeffreys.
Renowned photographic artist Leila Jeffreys is internationally recognised for her bird portraiture, video installations, books, films and her contribution to bird conservation. Recently she undertook an assignment in sub-Antarctic Macquarie Island, where she observed penguin populations. She sent me pictures from the trip of penguin parents doting on their fluffy brown babies. With recent news that shrinking ice has had a devastating impact on penguin populations in Antarctica this year, her trip and research couldn’t have been timelier.
For our Portia Geach sitting we went to Sydney Aquarium where we spent a few hours looking at penguins. Leila is a bird whisperer, and the penguins there climbed all over her and were fascinated by her camera equipment. It seemed right that a portrait of Leila would include a bird.
This painting is part of an ongoing series of portraits of women I admire that I call ornament-portraits; small in size and designed to be the opposite of monuments (which have historically been mostly of men). The subject stands on a little plinth, rather like an ornament on a shelf. In this case the plinth can also be read as a shrinking iceberg floating in Antarctic waters.
Image:
'Leila and the Baby King' 2023 oil on marine ply 40.2cm x 22.6cm
The alternative Archibald and Wynne Prize selection
5th June – 26 September 2021
The Salon des Refusés was initiated by the S.H. Ervin Gallery in 1992 in response to the large number of works entered into the Archibald Prize which were not selected for display in the official exhibition. The Archibald Prize is one of Australia’s most high profile and respected awards which attracts hundreds of entries each year and the S.H. Ervin Gallery’s ‘alternative’ selection has become a much anticipated feature of the Sydney scene.
Each year our panel is invited to go behind the scenes of the judging process for the annual Archibald Prize for portraiture and Wynne Prize for landscape painting and figure sculpture at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, to select an exhibition from the many hundreds of works entered in both prizes but not chosen for the official award exhibition.
The Salon des Refusés exhibition at the S.H. Ervin Gallery has established an excellent reputation that rivals the selections in the ‘official’ exhibition, with works selected for quality, diversity, humour and experimentation, and which examine contemporary art practices, different approaches to portraiture and responses to the landscape.
JANE GUTHLEBEN Greetings from Bibbenluke (Lucy Culliton, artist)
Jane Guthleben’s subject is author and journalist Annabel Crabb, who is also known for her cookbooks and TV shows about cooking, Australian politics and history. The pair met some years ago when Annabel bought one of Guthleben’s paintings.
‘I admire Annabel because she energetically juggles full-time work and excellent cooking and has written about the pressures of modern domesticity in The wife drought,’ says Guthleben. ‘The painting aims to portray the public persona of Annabel as a baker, while celebrating the domesticity she writes and podcasts about.
‘I’ve painted her as an ornament on a small pedestal, wearing an apron and holding a wooden spoon – part of a series of ornament-portraits where the subject is transformed into a shelf ornament in a mundane pose. The work is deliberately small in scale to be the opposite of monumental, and pastel colours play upon the stereotype of woman as homemaker, which Annabel somehow manages to transcend.’
A former journalist herself, Guthleben was born in 1966 in Bairnsdale, Victoria. This is her first time in the Archibald Prize.
Jane Guthleben was the recipient of the international NG Art Creative Residency which is a two week placement at the 15th century Provincial homestead in Eygalières, Provence, Southern France in November 2019.
Directed and founded by Nicky Ginsberg, the NG Art Creative Residency is a prize that aims to provide creatives an opportunity to embark on imaginative endeavours and immerse themselves in an environment of reflection and creative freedom in the studio and en plein air.
Jane's new body of work from Eygalières will be exhibited in her upcoming show, Grandiflora at Edwina Corlette Gallery 17 March - 9 April 2020.
As an acquisitive art award for painting, the winning artworks in the Mosman Art prize form a splendid collection of modern and contemporary Australian art, reflecting all the developments in Australian art practice since 1947. Artists who have won the Mosman Art Prize include Margaret Olley, Guy Warren, Grace Cossington Smith, Weaver Hawkins, Nancy Borlase, Lloyd Rees, Elisabeth Cummings, Adam Cullen, Michael Zavros and Natasha Walsh.
In 2019 Jane Guthleben is a finalist with her work 'North Shore arrangement with superb fruit doves'. She says of the painting:
This work is based on the 17 century Dutch still life floral works by Rachel Ruysch, which have inspired my large floral compositions. For this work I have researched indigenous flora and birds from the Mosman Municipal area that are under pressure from urban encroachment and weeds.
Jane Guthleben is a finalist in 2019 with her work The scratching post (self, artist).
The Award was established by the will of the late Florence Kate Geach in memory of her sister, Portia Geach. The non-acquisitive prize is awarded by the Trustee for the entry which is of the highest artistic merit, ‘…for the best portrait painted from life of some man or woman distinguished in Art, Letters, or the Sciences by any female artist resident in Australia during the twelve months preceding the close date for entries.’
The 2019 exhibition will run from August 2 to September 15, 2019 at Sydney's S.H. Ervin Gallery.
The alternative Archibald and Wynne Prize selection
11 May – 28 July 2019
The Salon des Refusés was initiated by the S.H. Ervin Gallery in 1992 in response to the large number of works entered into the Archibald Prize which were not selected for display in the official exhibition. The Archibald Prize is one of Australia’s most high profile and respected awards which attracts hundreds of entries each year and the S.H. Ervin Gallery’s ‘alternative’ selection has become a much anticipated feature of the Sydney scene.
Each year our panel is invited to go behind the scenes of the judging process for the annual Archibald Prize for portraiture and Wynne Prize for landscape painting and figure sculpture at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, to select an exhibition from the many hundreds of works entered in both prizes but not chosen for the official award exhibition. Of the 978 entries to the Archibald Prize the AGNSW Trustees selected 52 works, and from 734 entries to the Wynne Prize the Trustees selected 29 works.
From the remaining submission our selectors have chosen 30 works from the Archibald Prize entries and 23 works from the Wynne Prize entries for this alternative exhibition. The 2019 selectors were Brian Langer, director, Cowra Regional Art Gallery and Jane Watters, director, S.H. Ervin Gallery
The Salon des Refusés exhibition at the S.H. Ervin Gallery has established an excellent reputation that rivals the selections in the ‘official’ exhibition, with works selected for quality, diversity, humour and experimentation, and which examine contemporary art practices, different approaches to portraiture and responses to the landscape.
