Upcoming Exhibitions
10 -30 April 2026
Solo show
Opening Friday April 10th 5-7pm
“Lately, it feels like as the world is getting bigger and more globalised, we as people are made to feel smaller, drowned out in a sea of digital noise and the endless grind of modern life. With my latest series, Space Invaders, I wanted to kick back against this soul-crushing trend, putting together a series of truly larger-than-life characters who refuse to be silent, who unapologetically take up space in the world, rebel against the norm and express themselves with conviction and drive. Inspired by the classic video game ‘Space Invaders’, I conceptually reimagined the ‘space invader’ as a metaphor for boldly taking up space and showing up as your true self in a world that all too often rewards carbon copies and blind conformity. The idea of space, both in terms of its physical quality and its reference to the heavens, very much informed how I approached my latest paintings. Compositionally, it was liberating to push my rag tag crew of visionary artists, cosmic superheroes and animal voyagers to the very edges of the canvas, exploring how they, in their own unique ways, can command space within the pictorial plane. At the same time, I used the notion of outer space as the ‘final frontier’ to examine how we can be truly bigger than ourselves and rise above the banal realities of the everyday, to not be limited by the immediate world around us but tap into the infinite possibilities of the cosmos”.
Johnny Romeo
2026
The Figurative Collective - In Time a Group Show
8-30 May 2026
Opening Friday May the 8th 5-7pm
(Delicia Sampero, Andy Leleisi’uao, Gary Waldrom, Richard Boyd- Dunlop, Nephi Tupaea and Marcus Hipa)
The Figurative Collective can be seen as a group of painting activists, united by a commitment to exploring and sharing their raison d’être. Each artist has developed a distinctive visual language through which they grapple with life’s questions, offering painted reflections on how they see and experience the world. Their work is nurtured in a spirit of solidarity, finding solace in the company of fellow artists who support one another’s perspectives on the beauty and the difficulty of the human condition.
In Time takes its context from the year 2026 — a moment shaped by the AI revolution and rapid technological, ecological, and societal shifts. The exhibition will present original and multiple painted figures by each artist, highlighting concepts that exist alongside these transformations. It seeks to provide perspectives that encourage curiosity and imagination, drawing on human experience as both fragile and resilient.
Culturally diverse, the artists of the Figurative Collective have developed evocative ways of portraying the human form and face. Their paintings reach beyond personal experience and heritage, referencing multiple times, places, dimensions, and cultures, and inviting viewers into diverse perceptions and interpretations.
In Time is envisioned as an exhibition that is aesthetically compelling, thought-provoking, and imaginative — simultaneously enigmatic, transcendent, and subtly humorous. The exhibition aims to immerse viewers physically as well as emotionally in the possibilities of contemporary figurative painting.