Wentworth Galleries Brisbane presents Ambient River, a new solo exhibition by Australian artist Phil Stallard, showcasing 20 new paintings inspired by memory, landscape, and the meditative rhythms of water.
Describing himself as an “Emotional Abstractionist,” Stallard’s latest body of work expands upon his long-standing relationship with the Hawkesbury River and the Australian landscape. Created largely in a bush studio overlooking the river, the paintings explore the space between realism and abstraction, transforming personal experiences into vibrant visual memories.
For Stallard, Ambient River represents a metaphorical and meditative state of mind. Drawing inspiration from the waterways between Sydney and Brisbane, the Hawkesbury region, and recent travels through the Whitsundays, the works seek to capture not only the appearance of a place but the emotional traces it leaves behind. Turquoise waters, white sands, bushland horizons, and river reflections merge into richly layered compositions that balance geometric structure with spontaneous painterly gestures.
Working primarily in oils, Stallard embraces experimentation, often using chisels, scrapers, and found studio tools to create dynamic surfaces and energetic mark-making. Circles, hearts, numbers, and location-based references appear throughout the exhibition, adding playful and deeply personal elements to each work.
Rather than simply depicting landscape, Ambient River invites viewers into a shared experience of place and memory, where colour, movement, and emotion become vehicles for connection.
