Contemporary Art Society of Victoria
Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show 2025
26 to 30 March 2025
Review by Joy Elizabeth Lea
What a vibrant and exciting show for the Contemporary Art Society of Victoria (CAS) to be involved with. CAS, along with many metropolitan and regional art societies, was able to exhibit art work for the duration of the MIF&GS. Beautiful weather and a heritage venue attracted crowds of people, both local and interstate.
CAS was able to showcase Members’ works - fitting 74 on the screens provided - ranging in genres from acrylic, oil, printmaking, mosaics, pen, pencil, pastel and collage.
Crowds of people circulated throughout the duration of the show and visitors who purchased work were able to take them as soon as purchased, with these works then replaced with extra works in our storage area.
Works varied and some were notable such as ‘Flowers Blooming’ and ‘Spring Joy’, both works by Vida Ryan, using acrylic paint to evoke nature with the use of a luscious contemporary colour palette.
Santosh Mahale used oil on canvas to paint ‘Bendigo’, ‘Dandenong Ranges’ and ‘The Grampians’. These contemporary works generated much public interest as each work evoked their place of title by use of an image of local flora and fauna or iconic buildings. ‘The Dandenong Ranges’ were immediately recognisable by the small image of a lyrebird as well as the image of a distant city scape. Colours and creatures as well as geometric shapes and the depth created by these created identifiable and pleasing contemporary images.
A mixed media approach was used by Gita Mamman in her work titled ‘And the Antigone’s Dust Pink’. An evocative work about memory and place with the under surface of the work printed using the artist’s own poetry. The offset printing used a shadow effect with the text and the sensitive painting over the text created an emotive and sensitive work. The flower Antigone is known to have a trailing habit and in the Seychelles apparently sends a message, ‘your photo is engraved on my heart’.
Pratibha Madan used acrylic and ink to create skilful images of tigers in action in each of her three works, ‘Nature Unbound 1’, Nature Unbound 29’ and ‘Nature Unbound 30’. Each of these works created movement in their subject by using shape and form as well as the use of pattern to create a textural effect. The unworked background allowed the images to almost jump out of the work.
‘Untitled’ by Robert Lee combined both the use of collage and paint to create a colourful and textured work using textured papers and splashes of vibrant colours by the use of luminous foil.
Printmakers in the exhibition - Damon Kowarsky, Hyuriju Kim and Denise Keele-Bedford - each of whom used etching and aquatint to create their works.
Damon Kowarsky created works reflecting his travels as evidenced in works such as ’Istanbul V’, ‘Stari Bar’ and ‘Angkor II’. Each work used a monotone colour palette and reflected the artist’s skill in both drawing and composition.
‘Star’ a work by Hyuriju Kim, is an evocative contemporary work with the historical subject matter concerning the star that was followed by the shepherds and the three kings to the scene of the nativity of the birth of Jesus. ‘Pyramid’ evokes the bounty of the natural world that was given to mankind.
Denise Keele-Bedford created a work titled ‘Foliage, Form and Flow’ in which she used a monotone palette of colours offset with collage pieces using the colours of nature.
Susan Gustafson submitted a work titled ‘Tropical Fusion’ and completed this using acrylic paint.
The skilful use of stencilling is evident in the colourful leaf shapes with layers of paint and pattern used to create a balanced evocation of a tropical forest. The vibrant colour palette and geometric patterning create an exciting work.
The most quirky and bizarre creatures in a work by Cressida Fox title ‘A Chorus Singing Phenomena’ is evidence of this artist’s love of creating bizarre but believable creatures.
The MIF&GS has been a wonderful show for CAS to be able to showcase Members’ works and hopefully we will be able to participate in this significant Melbourne event next year.
