China Heights Gallery presents 'The Drifting Place', the latest solo exhibition by Lucy O'Doherty, opening Friday 9th of May. Featuring twenty oil paintings and soft pastel drawings, this collection explores the transient beauty of our external and internal worlds, weaving together motifs of movement, stillness, and the quiet resonance of memory.

O’Doherty’s work captures ephemeral elements that embody the essence of drift—glacial icebergs, ferries tracing harbour waves, a solitary car navigating rain-slicked roads, and the moon’s silent traverse across the cosmos. These subjects act as portals to a meditative state, where the boundaries between observation and imagination blur. Through hazy, blended strokes and a muted yet luminous palette, her pieces evoke the sensation of wandering through a daydream, inviting viewers to linger in moments of introspection.

Central to the exhibition is the concept of the “drifting place”—a mental landscape where thoughts and memories meander freely, untethered from time. Windows framing glittering seas, homes glimpsed during aimless walks, and surreal, imagined interiors converge to create an immersive experience of inner quiet. O’Doherty’s technique mirrors this fluidity, with soft edges and layered textures guiding the eye as if through fog or shifting tides.

“I want the exhibition itself to become a space where the mind can roam,” says O’Doherty. “It’s about finding stillness within motion, letting the viewer’s gaze and thoughts wander as freely as the subjects themselves.”

The Drifting Place invites audiences to step into a realm of tranquil contemplation, where art and environment merge into a shared sensory journey.

Lucy O’Doherty is a Sydney-based artist celebrated for her evocative explorations of place and memory, expressed through works imbued with atmospheric depth and poetic subtlety. A recipient of the prestigious Brett Whiteley Travelling Art Scholarship, she has been a finalist for the Wynne Prize, Doug Moran National Portrait Prize, Ravenswood Women’s Art Prize, and Mosman Art Prize, and earned a high commendation in the Pro Hart Outback Prize. Her practice, represented by China Heights Gallery, has garnered national and international acclaim, with features in publications such as Artist Profile, the Art Gallery of NSW’s Look, and Grass Fires Magazine. The Drifting Place—her fifth solo exhibition with China Heights.

China Heights Gallery, in collaboration with Louis Vuitton, presents Fragments of Time, a group exhibition featuring the works of Ellen Virgona, Henrietta Harris, Rachel Farlow, and Regine Bartsch. This exhibition examines themes of temporality, memory, and human connection through diverse artistic practices. Each artist contributes a distinct approach to these universal concerns, offering a layered exploration of identity, impermanence, and the interplay between the personal and the collective. The exhibition is now open and will run until June 2025, providing an opportunity to engage with works that interrogate the complexities of existence through formal and conceptual rigour.

Ellen Virgona’s work is rooted in the exploration of communal spaces and the transient moments that define human connection. Drawing inspiration from her travels, particularly her experiences in Greece, Virgona captures the essence of παρέα—the shared moments of companionship that enrich life. Her pieces often depict in-between spaces, such as sunlit squares and quiet corners, where the presence of community is felt even in absence. Through her art, Virgona reflects on the enduring value of these moments, offering a subtle critique of contemporary isolation. Her work is a meditation on the ways in which physical spaces can embody freedom, connection, and the passage of time.

Henrietta Harris’s practice revolves around portraiture, though her approach transcends mere representation. Her latest body of work revisits and reinterprets key pieces from her career, creating a dialogue between past and present. Harris employs subtle distortions and delicate brushwork to explore the tension between the familiar and the surreal, capturing fleeting emotional states and introspective pauses. Her portraits are not static; they are dynamic explorations of identity and the ephemeral nature of human connection. By blending traditional techniques with innovative approaches, Harris challenges viewers to engage with the quiet intensity of her subjects, reflecting on the continuous evolution of both the individual and the artist.

Rachel Farlow’s paintings are a series of works that grapple with grief, memory, and the fragility of existence. Using still life as a framework, Farlow draws parallels between the cycles of nature and the human experience. Her paintings are marked by a tension between vibrant blooms and murky undertones, symbolising the interplay of life and loss. Through sweeping brushstrokes and layered textures, Farlow creates a visual language that oscillates between abstraction and figuration, capturing the elusive nature of memory. Her work is deeply informed by art history, referencing artists such as Cy Twombly and Gerhard Richter, while maintaining a distinctly personal voice. Farlow’s paintings invite viewers to confront the impermanence of life and the lingering traces of absence.

Regine Bartsch’s artwork focuses on the transient beauty of flowers as a metaphor for the cycles of life and death. Her work interrogates the ways in which we navigate impermanence, using vibrant, raw depictions of blooms to explore themes of renewal and interdependence. Bartsch’s compositions often feature domestic interiors, where flowers coexist with objects that evoke personal and collective memories. Her technique is deliberately unrefined, employing heavy pigmented watercolours, collage elements, and mixed media to create textured, tactile surfaces. By challenging conventional artistic rules, Bartsch emphasises the visceral and ephemeral nature of her subjects, offering a meditation on the marks we leave behind and the joy found in fleeting moments.

Fragments of Time brings together four artists whose works collectively address the transient nature of human experience. Ellen Virgona’s focus on communal spaces and fleeting moments contrasts with Henrietta Harris’s introspective portraiture, which interrogates identity and emotional resonance. Rachel Farlow’s meditations on grief and memory, rendered through the lens of natural cycles, are juxtaposed with Regine Bartsch’s exploration of impermanence and renewal, symbolised by the ephemeral beauty of flowers. Together, these works create a dialogue that is both intellectually engaging and formally diverse, reflecting how fragments of time—moments, memories, and marks—accumulate to define our lives. The exhibition, running until June 2025, invites viewers to consider the ways in which art reflects and refracts the complexities of existence.