20/20

FLINDERS LANE GALLERY SHOWROOM

Follow Harley on his painting adventure around Melbourne via Instagram! @harley_manifold_artist

Due to the nature of this project, the artist will be bringing in a new work to add to this exhibition over the course of 20 days, so at the completion of the project 20 artworks will then be on display.

A closing celebration will be held on Saturday 16th June, 12 - 2pm, to admire this complete body of work.

We are delighted to invite Harley Manifold to present this adventurous exhibition at Flinders Lane Gallery. Harley Manifold is a painter and a flaneur, a duality that has been present in many an artist for centuries. Baudelaire first penned the latter term to describe a passionate wanderer, observer, and reporter of street life. Observing society with a creative eye, Manifold uses traditional painting techniques to depict both the natural landscape that surrounds us, but also the concrete facades and narrow alleyways that define urban existence.

20/20 is a challenge that the artist has set for himself. Embarking on painting 20 plein air paintings in 20 consecutive days, Manifold will take to the streets of Melbourne, despite the weather or other hindrances, engaging directly with the cityscape and the passers-by who stop to enquire about his oeuvre.

As Manifold states, ‘Painting live, without a safety net, allows viewers the opportunity to interact with me, the artist, so that they see the city through my eyes and also understand the act of creating. I will be doing these small works in Melbourne both day and night regardless of the weather, as oil paints are robust and do not require to be hidden from the elements. This return to a more traditional style of painting will engage another segment of the community. The artworks channel the famous Heidelberg School, master artists of years past who sought to capture Australian life, their surroundings of the city, bush, and the harsh sunlight that typifies the country.’

The exhibition title also plays on the city’s love of cricket, and in doing so further sets this body of work up as though it is a sport in itself – the physical and mental pursuit to complete the 20 paintings in 20 days, and the opportunity to garner a wider audience, barracking for his success.

This exhibition is supported by the City of Melbourne Arts Grants Program, 2018.

Harley Manifold completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts, Honours at Melbourne’s VCA in 2010, and has been painting full time for the past four years. He has been a recent finalist in the 2018 Percival Portrait Painting Prize, became a two time finalist in the Doug Moran National Portrait Prize (2015 and 2017) and was a finalist in the 2017 Wyndham Art Prize. In 2017 he was announced the winner of the Flanagan Emerging Art Award. In 2016 he hung in the Salon des Refuses exhibition, and in 2015 he was selected to exhibit in the Imago Mundy collection at the Venice Biennale, Italy. He has also been a past finalist of the M Contemporary Art Award, the Gallipoli Art Prize, the Rick Amor Drawing Prize, the ANL Maritime Art Prize, the Metro Art Award and the Josephine Ulrick Portrait Prize. His work is housed in the collections of the Warrnambool Regional Art Gallery, the Maryborough Regional Art Gallery, the Casama Group, and private collections both nationally and internationally.