At the launch of The Intelligence of Painting, curated by MCA Director Suzanne Cotter and MCA Curator Manya Sellers, Irresistible caught up with Eleanor Louise Butt, one of the 14 Australian women artists of different generations in the show. Butt is based in Melbourne, and the other artists in the show work across Australia and abroad, and are a brilliant constellation representing the vitality of contemporary painting in Australia today.
Eleanor told us how she feels about being in such a stellar show. “It’s wonderful and so exciting. I feel so honoured. They are so many artists in this show that I have admired for so long. I was also really surprised. It’s the kind of the dream show to be in, so I’ve been pinching myself for three months.”
Butt’s painting in the show is called Within the Garden (Autumn Painting 2) 2022, and features a bold and life -affirming and yet earthy yellow. Much of Butt’s work embraces these natural tones and we asked her where that came from
“I live in the Dandenong Ranges which is about an hour outside of Melbourne,” she said,”It’s a little village surrounded by National Parks. This painting was actually made in my studio, which has a view overlooking the garden. My works aren’t always landscape referenced, but in this piece especially I’m trying to reproduce something that would give the same bodily excitement response that I was having to this view from my window. In a way, I was trying to match it. It was Autumn, and there are all these chestnut trees, and this kind of glowing scene. Every time I made something I would look up and think what Nature had already done was way better. So I dived into that response, recreating the feeling of the view as best I could.”
She went on to tell us that she thinks what is happening in Nature is often reflected in her work, although sometimes it might be partly subconscious. “All year round, the forests near my home have all these incredible dark greens and browns, and a moodiness, and then you get to a certain point in the year and the Wattles come into bloom and your whole body feels like its singing in this incredible visual moment,” she said. “The yellow is a spark that creates a point of difference that makes things resound in a whole new way. I also have a real bodily response to yellow as a colour, I get lost in it. It has a way of depicting an incredible excitement to be alive.”
The exhibition, which runs until 20 July 2025, includes recent MCA Collection acquisitions, as well as new and recent paintings from the last six years and encompasses a range of different practices, techniques and mediums. Artists include: Karen Black (b.1961,Naarm/Melbourne), Angela Brennan (b.1960, Wadawurrung/Ballarat), Eleanor Louise Butt (b. 1981, Naarm/Melbourne), Prudence Flint (b.1962, Naarm/Melbourne), Maria Madeira (b. 1966, Gleno, Timor-Leste), Kerrie Poliness (b.1961, Naarm/Melbourne), Jude Rae (b.1956, Gadigal/Sydney), Jessica Rankin (b.1971, Gadigal/Sydney), Gemma Smith, (b.1978, Gadigal/Sydney), Jelena Telecki (b.1976, Yugoslavia) and Jenny Watson (b.1951, Naarm/Melbourne).
The exhibition also features the work of three exceptional Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists: Arrernte and Kalkadoon artist Thea Anamara Perkins (b.1992, Gadigal/Sydney) the youngest artist in the exhibition, Warlpiri artist Julie Nangala Robertson (b.1973, Pauls Springs, Yendemu), Yolŋu artist Nayapnyapa Yunupiŋu (1945-2021, Yirrkala, north-east Arnhem Land, Northern Territory).
It is a real treat to see the last bark painting made by Nyapanyapa Yunupiŋgu, Djulpan, and a wonderful surprise to see Thea Anamara Perkins stunning work, Return 2024, which we last saw in NATSIAA 2024. Gemma Smith’s Compression Dissolve 2024, is a huge lot of colour fun, and at the launch, Jenny Watson told some charming anecdotes about her father and her painting in the show, First Beer 2018.
We asked curator Manya Sellers how much fun she had putting together the show. “It was incredibly fun,” she said. “It was many, many months of work, and studio and gallery visits. We saw a lot of great paintings.” The choice to make The Intelligence of Painting about women artists happened naturally. Sellers told Irresistible, “It really evolved out of three great works in our collection that were recent acquisitions that we hadn’t yet put on display yet, that were all by Australian women artists. That set the tone and we continued on.” We checked in to see if there has been any push back from the boys, and she told us, “Not yet, no.”
Suzanne Cotter, Director Museum of Contemporary Art Australia said, ‘As Australia’s only public museum dedicated to the work of living artists, we take great pride in exhibiting, collecting and commissioning contemporary art and supporting the work of artists throughout all stages of their career. This autumn we focus on new and innovative work by women artists living in and from Australia, and First Nations artists, offering visitors a rich perspective on contemporary art in Australia.’
The 14 paintings are excellent companions and complement each other wonderfully, as they bounce between each other in the Macgregor Gallery, none overcrowding or dominating the others, while each singing out their own specialness. It’s a joy to be in the room with them. They really do work well together, but then again, they are all made by women.
The Intelligence of Painting, Level 1 Macgregor Gallery, until 20 July 2025.
MCA
