About this event
What to expect
Jan Murphy Gallery is delighted to present, Don't forget to breathe by Richard Lewer. Across over sixty small paintings, the world arrives without much regard for hierarchy. A storm gathers over a suburban street. Two Cape Barren geese stand in the middle of a road. An albatross crosses an empty sky. MH370 remains suspended above a line of trees. Elsewhere there is a vase of flowers, Uluru after rain, a full moon.
Taken one by one, each painting is an immediate response to a particular thing. Together, they begin to resemble something far more complicated: the unruly movement of a mind trying to keep pace with the world. – Milena Stojanovska
Richard Lewer has been a six-time finalist in the Archibald Prize, winning the award in 2026 with his portrait of senior APY artist and Ngangkari (traditional healer) Iluwanti Ken. His work has also been shortlisted for the Sulman Prize, Basil Sellers Art Prize, Blake Prize and the Black Swan Prize for Portraiture. Recent major exhibitions include 'What They Didn't Teach Me in School', New Zealand Portrait Gallery, Wellington (2024); the NGV Triennial (2023); 'Steve', commissioned by the National Gallery of Australia (2023-24); and 'On-Site', commissioned for the opening of Sydney Modern at the Art Gallery of New South Wales (2022). Lewer's work is held in major public collections throughout Australia and New Zealand.