fortyfivedownstairs

29/05/2026

CLOSING TOMORROW: ‘In the silence between our heart beats’ by Anthea Vayonitis ()

Artworks available to purchase on our website. Follow the link in our bio.

The exhibition will close this Saturday 30 May.

Opening hours: Tuesday-Friday 12-7pm, Saturday 12-4pm.

Image credits: ‘In the silence between our heart beats’ installation view, 2026. Photographed by George Jefford.

28/05/2026

FINAL DAYS: ‘Aural Transferences – Memory of Sound Through Deaf Ears’ by Chelle Destefano ()

Join Chelle in the small gallery for an artist talk this Saturday 30 May at 2pm!

This will also be the final day of the exhibition.

Opening hours: Tuesday-Friday 12-7pm, Saturday 12-4pm.

Image credits: ‘Aural Transferences - Memory of Sound Through Deaf Ears’ installation view, 2026. Photographed by George Jefford.

Supported by

27/05/2026

Opening next week: ‘Melbourne Studio School New Works’ ()

Opening Night | Tuesday 2 June, 5 – 7 pm
Exhibition runs | 2 - 27 June 2026

Founded in 1998 by Richard Birmingham, Melbourne Studio School grew out of a need to recalibrate painting and drawing in a Post-Modern era where conceptual arts practice and critical theory began to dominate teaching institutions throughout Australia and the world.

Loosely based on the New York Studio School model, an atelier system, the school prioritises the acquisition of fundamental, analogue painting and drawing skills. These skills include manual dexterity in mark making, practice in compositional language and exploration of colour theory. A gradual assimilation is the key to mastering these disciplines whilst holding the observed and the imagined in balance.

This Group exhibition represents the work of 17 artists currently working at the school. Their work represents a cross-section of themes ranging from figuration to abstraction.

Many of these artists pursue independent careers and exhibit regularly outside the school structure. Attendance at MSS provides an opportunity to enhance their professional practice.

Those who attend classes, are encouraged to discover their authentic voice, develop a body of work of exhibition standard and establish an independent studio practice away from school hours.

Drawing and painting flourishes when there’s a willingness to explore process and medium over any predetermined outcome.

A spirit of enquiry creates the best chance for something transformative, something special to take place in the work.

Images:
1. ‘Letters and Numbers’, Lyn Buckingham, acrylic on canvas, 30 x 30 inches.
2. ‘On the way’, John McCallum, acrylic on canvas, 100 x 76 cm.
3. ‘Scenes from an Australian Garden’, Carsten Segerlund Frederiksen, acrylic on canvas, 91 x 91 cm.
4. ‘Western Australia- Diggers Rest’, Joy Lea, acrylic on canvas, 66cm x 102 cm

27/05/2026

Opening next week: ‘Unicellular’ by Kate Hunter ()

Opening Night | Tuesday 2 June, 5 – 7 pm
Exhibition runs | 2 – 13 June 2026

Unicellular emerged from a research residency spanning Victoria and South Australia’s western Wimmera region and Limestone Coast, during which subaquatic field recordings were gathered from the limestone springs at Ewens Ponds, the brackish water at the mouth of the Glenelg River at Nelson, and from Lake Wallace in Edenhope.

These audio recordings became generative material for an exhibition which positions microscopic, non-human life – single-cell organisms, phytoplankton, the fragile ecosystems already destabilised by climate change – as active participants in an expanded attentional field.

Drawing on the artist’s theatre-making, performance, sound-design and painting practices, Unicellular intersects personal stories with sounds and images that reflect the barely-visible and the easily-overlooked – building on a long-standing interest in giving voice, in all sorts of ways, to the small, unheard, and persistently alive.

Images:
1. ‘Edenhope’, Kate Hunter, 2025, ink on muslin.
2. ‘Nasturtiums 2’, 2023, Kate Hunter, watercolour on paper
3. ‘Estuary’, Kate Hunter, 2025, ink on paper

27/05/2026

Melbourne Shakespeare Company's new production of Eurydice by Sarah Ruhl, directed by Gary Abrahams, previews tomorrow and opens on Friday!

BOOKINGS: https://fortyfivedownstairs.com/event/eurydice/

Melbourne Shakespeare Company will present Eurydice by two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist Sarah Ruhl, directed by multi–award-winning director Gary Abrahams, at fortyfivedownstairs, from 28 May 2026.

26/05/2026

An emerging contemporary artist, Anthea Vayonitis () works with dance and meditation practices to create gesturally embodied immersive paintings. “In the silence between our heart beats” is an activation of works that includes the same-titled 1.7 x 15m painting that was channelled whilst on a residency in July-August of 2025 in the Blue Mountains.

The exhibition will continue until this Saturday 30 May.

Opening hours: Tuesday-Friday 12-7pm, Saturday 12-4pm.

Artworks available to purchase on our website. Follow the link in our bio.

25/05/2026

Answering frequently asked questions about our Emerging Artist Award 2026.

Follow the link in our bio to apply or read the full Conditions of Entry.

Entry is FREE for First Nations people. Please contact [email protected] for more information.

Image credit: 2025 1st Prize Winner: Steph Everett, 'backseat of a commodore', glass beads, thread, copper rod, 43 x 75 cm.

24/05/2026

Join Chelle Destefano () for an artist talk in the Small Gallery this Saturday, 30 May, 2pm.

Chelle will discuss her latest exhibition, ‘Aural Transferences – Memory of Sound Through Deaf Ears’, and do a live demonstration.

This will be an AUSLAN interpreted event.

No RSVP needed.

This will also be the final day of the exhibition.

Opening hours: Tue–Fri 12–7pm, Sat 12–4pm.

Supported by

23/05/2026

New in the Gallery Stockroom: ceramics by Hazel Lanyon (.byhazel)

Hazel works as a multidisciplinary artist with experience in a wide range of mediums, including ceramics, oil painting, lino cuts, etchings, photography, water colour and graphite drawing. Since completing her studies in Fine Art and Anthropology at the University of Melbourne, Hazel has taken part in group exhibitions across Melbourne, Ballarat and Canberra, and has been commissioned for workshops, artworks and mural projects. She undertook private pottery tutoring and mentorship with Ballarat ceramicist Steph Wallace in 2024 and in 2025 she was selected for the Emerging Artist Award at fortyfivedownstairs. This year she is working on a new collection of artworks that will form a solo show in 2027.

Shop via the link in our bio or visit us in-store.

1. 'Narrow neck vase', Hazel Lanyon, stoneware reduction, 13.5 x 8 x 8 cm, $65
2. 'Woven bowls (small/large)', Hazel Lanyon, stoneware + raffia, 13.5 x 13.5 x 7.5 cm, $70/$90
3. 'Half glazed vase', Hazel Lanyon, stoneware, 8 x 8 x 10.5 cm, $60

21/05/2026

For Chelle Destefano(), her latest exhibition, ‘Aural Transferences – Memory of Sound Through Deaf Ears’ is an ongoing process of exploring the memory of sound from childhood as a native Deaf-from-birth person. Chelle has been using her artistic process to meditate on those memories and to transform them into colour, line and movement.

Join Chelle for an artist talk next Saturday, 30 May, 2pm. This will be an AUSLAN interpreted event. This will also be the final day of the exhibition.

Supported by