Melbourne Art Fair
Lachlan Stonehouse
Booth L2
February 20-23rd, 2025
Five Walls Gallery is thrilled to announce our participation in the Melbourne Art Fair from February 20–23, 2025. For our second entry, we will present a solo exhibition by Melbourne-based, Tasmanian-born artist Lachlan Stonehouse. If you are attending the MAF we invite you to visit us at booth L2. To register your interest in our MAF preview catalogue please contact the gallery on +61 3 90436704 or email info@fivewalls.com.au
Lachlan Stonehouse (b. 1999, Scottsdale, Tasmania) is an emerging artist known for his innovative approach to painting, drawing, and collage. His practice explores themes of recurrence, pattern-making, and the controlled alteration of surfaces, deeply engaging with the legacies of Modernism, Minimalism, and Post-Minimalism to develop new techniques.
At the core of Stonehouse’s work is an investigation into the foundations of painting, with a focus on its structural supports—particularly the woven grid. This recurring motif acts as both a stabilizing force and a perceptual puzzle, creating optical rhythms and repetitive patterns that can appear almost mechanical. While his paintings adhere to a structured, systematic approach, they are also imbued with play and spontaneity, challenging the rigidity of the grid and modernist aesthetics. His process embraces both fabricated and hand-constructed techniques, allowing imperfections and gestures to emerge within a controlled framework.
Stonehouse’s recent body of work features oil and linen adhered to wooden substrates, unpacking the formalities of modernism and geometric abstraction. The handmade, off-kilter woven grids generate a sense of rhythm, suggesting how one experiences the world through bold patterns and vibrant colors. The structured surface is often disrupted by accentuated cutouts, layered uneven oil paint, and the repetitive overlaying of linen strips, transforming the painting process into an act of endurance. While the compositions may seem restrained, gestural expressions naturally unfold through the act of repetition, forming an endless cycle of pattern, rhythm, and reduction.
Stonehouse graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Art (Honours) from the Victorian College of the Arts, University of Melbourne. He held his debut solo exhibition at Five Walls Gallery in April 2024, followed by a two-person presentation at Sydney Contemporary alongside Emma Langridge in September 2024. His work has been exhibited widely in Melbourne, including at Caves ARI, Blindside ARI, Oigall Projects, George Paton Gallery, Centre for Contemporary Photography, and Arts Projects Australia, as well as in Tasmania at Sawtooth ARI and Poimena Gallery.
Notable awards include the George Paton Gallery Artist’s Residency Award (2021) and the Vice Chancellor’s Award of Excellence (2024). His work is held in several collections, including Macquarie Group (NSW), Leeuwin Estate (WA), Justin Art House Museum (VIC), Winton Group (QLD), UMSU (VIC), Melbourne University, and private collections across Australia and New Zealand.
