Interiors Assembly’s inaugural group art show In Full Bloom just launched and we’re giving you the chance to win one of two gorgeous prints.
Cocktail Hour by Vanessa Encarnacao
More than 50 original artworks have gone on sale online and are available to view at the gallery in Torquay, Melbourne. Highlights include eight new original works by Interiors Addict favourite Joan Blond.
Illuminating Moments 2 by Joan Blond
Other artists include Aliki Kapoor, Camilla Ciccoria, Hanna Rose, Jayde Chandler and Vanessa Encarnacao with prices starting from $350 for a smaller original and works all the way up to 2 metres in size!
Paddock at Sundown by Alexandra Strong
The show launched on 5 September with many works still available. It runs until 30 September.
Drawing is second nature to Sydney-based designer and artist Karina Jambrak. She first started selling the art she created as a high school student in 2001, at the famous Bondi Beach Markets.
Her career as an independent artist began in 2018, when she was made redundant from her dream job as a graphic designer, right after her husband had undergone open heart surgery. Needing to provide for her family, she decided to turn her passion into a full-time career and start her own small business.
Karina’s art is hand-drawn using copic markers, and predominantly uses soft, pastel colour palette. She draws inspiration from Australian landscapes and flora, as well as other parts of the world.
After the success of the first range, Karina has collaborated with Adairs to release a new range of homewares. The collection evokes imagery of dusky, winter foliage, and is sure to lend a sense of serenity to the rooms in which they are placed.
“I want everyone to see the beauty that the winter can bring to the Australian landscape, and how we can bring that beauty into our indoor spaces,” Karina explains, speaking of her inspiration for the collection.
The pastel-hued designs are printed on an array of items, including organic cotton linen, dinner and serving ware, towels, and décor items.
“I am so excited that Adairs asked me to design a second range for them after the success of the first,” Karina says. “Seeing my work come to life on everyday items has been such a dream and I am so proud with how this second collection came out.”
Karina has also designed a playful, jungle inspired collection for Adairs Kids. It features tangerine tones that are sure to ignite the imagination. Delightful hand-drawn images embellish the items, with fun African animals parading amongst greenery similar to that of the main collection.
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Marcia Priestley’s latest works are about so much more than the female silhouette, but it’s certainly a beautiful place to start. Known best for her line art inspired by the female form, if you like that, you’re probably going to love these new abstract works!
Nude
What’s more, the Bendigo artist is now taking commissions for family portraits in this style. What a precious and unique keepsake and future heirloom that could be!
Colour
Her paintings serve first to illustrate the contour lines of a female silhouette, but when you look more deeply, they’re designed to reveal a certain integrity and grace within each individual subject. It’s easy to see how the curves of Marcia’s new collection complement a Mid Century Modern aesthetic, with sumptuous silhouettes formed by her organic approach.
Marcia, who works as an artist under the brand Bibi Ana + Co. (meaning a story about a woman) has a diverse style depending on her mood, but her signature style would have to be her line works which have more recently been developed into her latest original art range, the Contour Collection.
Lollo, one of Marcia’s line sketches
The clean, simple lines have been designed with predominantly earthy tones. You could say her unique style has been carefully curated to pair with her lifelong axiom: ‘The simple things in life are often the best’
Femme
Endlessly inspired by Mother Nature, Marcia paints in a studio surrounded by the Australian bush. Forever experimenting with line design, her symbolic and minimal style is derived from one single fluid line in a simplistic yet powerful formation.
“I’m diverse in my thinking,” Marcia says. “I paint what I see which translates into what I feel. I paint from emotion. About how I see myself and how I see others. I paint from inspiration I find in love, passion, vulnerability and strength.
“My goal is to capture a feeling rather than just a simple image. Art gives me the freedom to be myself”
Julia Green of Greenhouse Interiors, who represents her, says: “Beauty often lies in simplicity; sometimes the most uncomplicated pieces of art are the most captivating, and so it is with Bibi Ana + Co. With no more than a few strokes, Marcia creates an alluring sketch of the female silhouette.
“Her collection of works capture the dignity, elegance and grandeur of the female form, and each piece evokes a seperate emotion that is left to its audience to interpret. These contemporary creations are as impactful as they are unassuming, and are examples of modern line artistry at its finest.”
Contour Collection limited edition prints start at $295.
IMAGES: Styling by Julia Green assisted by Aisha Chaudhry and Jess Retallack with photography by Armelle Habib.
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Known for his large scale, vibrant florals and impasto technique, we’ve long admired the work of Sydney artist Alesandro Ljubicic. One for colour lovers, Alesandro’s work centres around his passion for colour and a natural, gestural use of paint.
“My work has no demons or dark metaphors; it is simply full of positive energy, with flowers picked at their peak and recorded in paint. It’s about celebrating and prolonging the joy of the moment and life in its prime,” says Alesandro who explains that if there is a metaphor to be had, it’s “all is well.” How refreshing!
Alesandro in the studio
Born in central Bosnia and Herzegovina, Alesandro studied at Sydney’s National Art School and, since graduating, has exhibited with leading galleries in Sydney, Melbourne, Berlin and Montreal. His work can be found across the globe, housed in collections from New York to London, Berlin, LA, Hong Kong and Singapore. “Moving forward, I am in discussions with two galleries, both in New York and London,” says Alesandro.
One of Alesandro’s recent works
Alesandro uses pure oil paint, made from single pure pigment and linseed oil, to create his works. “I apply the paints with various tools of the trade such as large brushes and painting knives,” says Alesandro who had to switch to acrylic paint when creating his latest work – a large-scale installation inside the G.H. Mumm sponsored birdcage at this year’s Melbourne Cup. “It used acrylics over birch panel due to drying time and the scale of the work,” says Alesandro.
Alesandro with the bespoke work he created for this year’s Melbourne Cup
Working alongside fashion designer Dion Lee, interior stylist Nina Maya, presenter Kate Peck and surfboard entrepreneur Hayden Cox, the installation was designed to bring a boutique Parisian hotel feel to the heart of the birdcage. “We each contributed to the different experiences within the ‘Maison Mumm,’ from our respective fields. The bespoke piece of artwork I contributed draws on my signature style,” says Alesandro.
Alesandro’s corner of ‘Maison Mumm,’ found at this year’s Melbourne Cup
“G.H. Mumm’s cuvees have always been my champagnes of choice when celebrating my own successes, so when approached by the brand, the alignment felt organic,” says Alesandro.
Another of Alesandro’s recent works
When not hard at work at the easel, Alesandro also runs The Sydney Art Store, a bricks and mortar Sydney retail outlet and online Australian art store. The store sells some of the world’s finest painting products including oil paints and acrylics from France, handmade paints from New York, and pastels and watercolours from Germany and America, as well as brushes and canvasses too.
Artist Kezz Brett has always painted but between raising two children and owning her own fashion boutique for 24 years, she never had the time. But all that changed upon retirement three years ago when Kezz started focussing seriously on creating her joyful, colourful semi-abstract works that are inspired by the landscape in Orange where she lives. The vibrant works also look right at home inside her exclusive stockist Jumbled; the award-winning homewares emporium owned by her daughter Pip.
Kezz’ work on display at Jumbled. Photo by Jacqui Turk
“I have always had an interest in art and am a very creative person by nature. I did art for my HSC and then trained as a teacher before moving into fashion so I really only got back into painting before my retirement,” says Kezz who now paints as much as she used to work in between playing golf and travelling the globe.
Kezz’s work is inspired by the Orange landscape
Vibrant, colourful, bold and unstructured, Kezz’s work combines abstraction with figurative elements and Dulux sample pots are her medium of choice. “Their colour book is like my bible with literally thousands of colours. I love that I can dunk my brush in and slap it on – its a really versatile medium. I also use acrylic tubes of paint too.”
Constantly creating, the artist finds that her best paintings are often the ones that are the quickest to create. “I like my art a bit abstract but so that you can still see what it is. Most times I pick up a brush and let it all flow out. Sometimes the faster and more furious I go, the more energy the painting has. I try not to overthink it too much!”
Photo by Jacqui Turk
It’s an approach that is clearly working with most of her works selling within 24 hours of appearing on the Jumbled Instagram feed. And instead of creating collections, Kezz works on a constant basis with each piece making its way into the Jumbled online or bricks and mortar store.
“I try to do a bit of everything to appeal to everyone and I feed them into Jumbled a couple of times a week and don’t sell anywhere else,” says Kezz.
Kezz in her studio
It’s the lack of deadlines and the ability to remain fairly anonymous that Kezz finds most appealing about her new life phase. “I have loved every part of my life, but retirement and being able to paint when I want to, is really the icing on the cake. I feel very lucky.”
Given her penchant for painting on silk and linen, and her training in fashion design, it’s no surprise that Perth’s talented Elle Campbell calls herself a textile artist. The young artist also worked as a make-up artist for a decade, which may explain why her large, dramatic, abstract works use colour to such breathtaking effect.
Elle Campbell original works ‘Soma Vision,’ $3100 and ‘Bleeding Dogs,’ $2400.
“I would describe my work as luminous, large-scale, expressive and abstract,” says Elle. She paints mostly on silk and linen and usually in a fast, emotionally driven way.
And when it comes to inspiration, Elle draws on her natural surroundings – a practice that perhaps has its beginnings in childhood where she grew up on a farm in rural Dandaragan in Western Australia. “I am influenced by my current surroundings, imminent impulses and emotional response,” says Elle. She now works out of a studio set up in her garage in the Perth suburb of Inglewood.
Elle Campbell
“I predominantly use acrylic and enamel paint, markers and oil pastels on silk and linen base cloth. To paint cloth to endless limit has, and will stay, my biggest aim,” says Elle who has an Advanced Diploma of Fashion and Textile Design from Perth’s Central Institute of Technology.
‘Butterfly versus monsters’ original, $3400.
“There has been the more recent emergence of subtle figurative narrative in my work too,” says Elle with reference to her latest collection titled SOMA and Nightmares that just launched through Greenhouse Interiors where she forms part of stylist Julia Green’s coveted artistic stable.
‘We are all going to die’ original artwork, $3800.
Elle has a civic focus too. “After experiencing a variety of public and community art projects I have grown a desire for rural health-based art projects.”
‘Dogs on a hill crying,’ $3100 and ‘Nightmare’ $2400.
Photography: Armelle Habib | Styling: Julia Green for Greenhouse Interiors and Sarah Huckett – Lennox Rd
It was while pregnant with her first child that Lamai Anne started to dabble in illustration on her computer – and winning an international design competition set about a career change.
Styling and photography by Belinda Jovanovski and Katrina Chambers
“I have always been quite creative, but never really explored it enough. Growing up, I didn’t have the opportunity to go to university – I had to earn an income – otherwise I would have immersed myself in textile design then and there. Being pregnant gave me that opportunity,” says Lamai.
“After my first fabric collection showcased through Robert Kaufman three years ago, I was approached by a large homewares company to work with them. It was a dream come true.”
Hailing from a quiet semi-rural setting in Victoria, Lamai’s artworks draw on her love of Australian flora and fauna.
“I love gardening and nature. When we moved into our current home, there was a flowering gum in the backyard that had laid dormant – one day it just exploded, and it was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. I knew I just had to capture that beauty somehow.”
Completely self-taught, each of her pieces has a strong focus on colour, and can take over two weeks to complete.
“My background as a signwriter helped me learn a lot about colour, and now I’m addicted. I get so wrapped up in a drawing that I need to step away for a few days. It’s a great way to reassess the design, especially the colour palette which is so important to get right – and it’s also a good opportunity to catch up on the pile of washing in the meantime!”
Lamai currently splits her time between her part-time role, her family and her own art.
“Working with buyers to develop product in a commercially driven company, you realise that as much as you want to be an artist who does your own thing, you need to find that happy medium – people respond well to passion, but not everyone is going to love your work. I love exploring different styles, but that can confuse people – so it’s important to stick to a distinctive style.”
Her current collection Native Grace features beautiful limited edition prints, with only 25 available in A1 size, and 50 in A2 (from $135).
“I feel like I’m constantly working on new pieces and trying new things. Being limited edition helps me explore further works, and it also means that I can give people something special, personal and exclusive.”
As hard as it can be to pick favourites, Lamai’s personal choice would be her Gum Tree print.
“I just love the humble gum. So many people will walk past it without taking much notice, but all it takes is a closer look to discover all of the colour and beauty – it’s simply inspirational.”
Lamai shares her advice with other budding artists: “Don’t be afraid to show your work to the world – and don’t ever think that you’re not good enough. Rejection hurts, but it doesn’t have to hold you back. Dust yourself off and try again, because you never know when that ‘yes’ will be lurking behind that ‘no’.”
Lamai has teamed up with homewares brand Nathan + Jac to produce a selection of limited edition prints and cushions – stay tuned for the release in October! In the meantime, Lamai hopes to continue sharing her work with the world – and we hope that she continues to do so.
“Passion drives me. If this wasn’t really a part of who I am, then I wouldn’t do it. But now that I do, I couldn’t function without it.”
