“The Rainbow Book was a collection of essays and illustration focusing on the spectrum published in 1975. In its introduction, it states “The life of a rainbow is so momentary, so transitory, so fleeting; the way a day-dream is, or a kiss, or the shape of the sound of ecstasy.” It is a fitting comparison for Misha Hollenbach’s images. Saturated in colour, taken at moment of accident, embedded with nature, exuding the sensory and the psychedelic. When questioned what is a rainbow, Rutherford Platt wrote in 1975 “Rainbows exist only when there are eyes and minds to see them”.

The meeting point between magical and the aesthetic originally emerged at turn of the 20th century. It was the subject of Annie Besant and C.W. Leadbeater’s iconic esoteric book ‘Thought-Forms: A Record of Clairvoyant Investigation’ published in 1901. The illustrated book had a huge effect on thinkers and artists in the 20th century from Rudolf Steiner to Hilma Af Klimt to Paul Klee. Charles Leadbeater had fused Tantric concept of chakras which he had studied in India, this with his own take on clairvoyance.

“Every definite thought produces a double effect — a radiating vibration and a floating form,” they wrote. “Every shade of feeling — devotional, intellectual, or other — has its own distinctive coloring, sound, and form… As the power of thought grows, so does the color of the thought-form become more brilliant and luminous.” According to the Theosophical writers, love, anger, peace, goodness and joy all created own atmospheric effects that materialised in aura. Here thought was transformed into effect.

There is something inherently alchemical in the creation of photographs. A mechanical button is pressed, chemicals transform material or pixels are fixed into a simulacrum of reality. Here alchemy lives in the edges of accident, science and technology. The transformation of feeling and emotion into a still moment. These images are a way of looking into the light. This is a document of chaos and calm by equal measure. A letting go.”

Words by Francesca Gavin

At his core, Town is a diarist who has been keeping diaries since 1995. These diaries, bound in black cloth tape and formatted as A5 hardcover notebooks, serve as a collection of collated and reimagined ephemera from the world around him. In recent years, Town has shifted his perspective, becoming less interested in using the diaries as a starting point for ideas and projects. Instead, he views the diaries themselves, and the pages within them, as standalone artworks.

One hundred aluminium screen-printed tiles are featured in the exhibition.
Each plate in the ‘DIARIES 1995 - NOW’ series represents a page from these diaries, developed as a screen print in collaboration with Brett Davis. The series explores recurring themes such as idolism, amateur self-help, mass media, substance abuse, and personal experience. Through these works, Town highlights elements of his personal history as well as broader historical narratives, creating cultural connections that reflect the zeitgeist. These narratives, which exist within and pass through him, are presented to the viewer as a shared cultural experience.

Through this exhibition, Chris Town invites viewers to engage with the interplay between personal memory and cultural history, offering a visual and tactile exploration of the narratives that shape individual and collective experiences.

Chris Town is an artist who was born and raised in Sydney and now lives and works in Adelaide.
Town makes art about his own existence, examining and exploring the minutiae of his everyday life, no matter how banal it may seem. Town studied visual arts at the National Art School in Sydney and RMIT in Melbourne. He has had numerous solo shows at China Heights Gallery in Sydney and has been involved in various group shows in South Australia and New South Wales. His work is held in the Artbank collection.