For its first exhibition of 2026, Milani Gallery presents In Time, Out of Time, featuring paintings and works on paper by Leonard Brown.
Leonard Brown is an Australian painter whose practice moves between two distinct yet spiritually unified modes: the sacred, living tradition of Byzantine religious iconography and contemporary abstraction. His work resists simple categorisation, inhabiting a rare space where contemporary painting and Orthodox theology converge.
Brown maintains the Byzantine Orthodox icon not as nostalgic revival or reproduction, but as a living visual theology. His icons are shaped by centuries of liturgical and theological tradition and function as spiritual windows—created through prayer, meditation, and worship.
Running parallel to this, Brown’s abstract paintings are minimal and contemplative, existing in dialogue with the metaphysical intent of the icon through a contemporary visual language. These works share the icon’s purpose through a poetics of evocation, affirming the goodness of matter as a worthy vehicle for accessing the invisible. Deeply rooted in theological understandings of time, eternity, and the soul’s ascent, they invite viewers into a quiet, sustained visual encounter.
In Time, Out of Time brings these practices together, presenting a body of work that feels both timeless and immediate, sacred and contemporary.
Opening Event:
Saturday 31 January 2026, 4–6pm
Image: Leonard Brown, Recording the dimensions before it faded, 2025, oil on Belgian linen.
