Ben Thomas – Water

The gallery is pleased to present our first series of work from acclaimed Australian photographer, Ben Thomas. The Hasselblad Master has a dynamic approach to photography. When he moved to Melbourne in his mid-twenties, the camera was his key to discovering the vibrant city. Since then, he has photographed the Australian landscape in a uniquely hyperreal style, combining a documentary eye with a strong visual aesthetic that slowly reveals a hidden narrative playing out, and asks how people identify with their surroundings.

In his latest series, Water, Thomas explores Australia’s most impressive natural phenomenon: its ocean. Utilising distortion and perspective in his photographs, Thomas casts beachgoers and surfers as minuscule figurines in his vast landscapes, while his bleached-out vistas of saltwater swimming pools and sandy beaches adhere more closely to compositional traditions. Wherever you glance, Thomas is playing with your eye; you have to look twice if you want to experience the full impact of these visually rich and playful scenes. 

Adding Hasselblad Master to his list of awards, Ben has been recognized on multiple occasions previously: Winner, LensCulture Emerging Talents 2016 Jurors’ Pick; Finalist, William and Winifred Bowness Photography Prize 2016; Winner, 125 LIVE Olympus Vision Award (London) 2015 honoring an established artist for pushing the boundaries of the medium through innovation, technical expertise and originality; Winner in Photography Category, Desktop Create Awards 2015. 

Johanna Goodman – The Catalogue of Imaginary Beings

Based in New York, Johanna Goodman is an illustrator and collagist who studied at Boston University’s School of Fine Art and Parsons School of Design (NYC) where she graduated with a BA of Fine Arts in Illustration in 1992. She has been a freelance Illustrator ever since. Her work has garnered awards from The Society of Publication Design, American Illustration and Communication Arts. 

In 2017 she was awarded the New York State Council for the Arts/New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship grant for her on-going body of work The Catalogue of Imaginary Beings. The images, developed from over twenty years of portraiture and collage work, explore a range of themes in popular culture, including the role of the individual in fashion, in history, in the artistic imagination and draws inspiration from magical realism, surrealism and symbolism.

Johanna’s work has been featured in a wide variety of publications from The Guardian and Marie Claire to Vice and Creative Review. Her work has also been included in several books about Illustration, Art and Collage including The American Illustration Annual Book, 3×3: The Best of International Illustration, Communication Arts Illustration Annual, and she was profiled in The Age of Collage: Contemporary Collage in Modern Art published by Gestalten.