Shelley O'Keefe & Philip Senior

Opening Night

Friday 17 October | 6 - 8 pm

15 - 26 October 2025

G2

Artist Statement

Shelley O’Keefe

The mid twenties in this century reveals a world controlled by billionaires, with digital platforms and influencers drawing followers down fantasy rabbit holes, the insidious increase of porn and the dark net trading women and children.

One can be forgiven for our anxiety and concern but not for turning a blind eye or passively reaping the benefits while clicking the ‘likes’.

Meanwhile AI masquerades as the alternative reality creating authentic deep fake art.

We ask ChatGPT….. do we need to worry?.... as women’s rights are eroded and the projected ideal woman, the Tradwife, stay at home mum, stays obedient to her husbands thoughts and desires. In this world feminism and independence equates to Man-hater not empowerment and equality for half the population of human beings on this planet.

So, what can artists do, can they make a difference?

Art reflects the culture of our time, it is the soft power billionaires want to own and governments want to control to deflect the narrative for their own ends. The artist, responding to the worlds beauty and savagery, plays a vital role in depicting humanities ethos.

In this exhibition Strength and Vulnerability, O’Keefe has taken a snapshot of key issues impacting women today that are linked to a cross-cultural, global bias inherent in religious, political, legal and cultural institutions. In this context she explores how myths and narratives have significantly shaped social and cultural perspectives of women.

Philip Senior6

Strength and Vulnerability - Elements and Time Passes

We humans are predominantly made up of six elements and these we share with all other matter on the Earth. Us, the Earth, and everything on it, is made of matter, and the only difference between different kinds of matter is the way their atoms fit together. 

As well as being subject to the whims of elements we are also subject to the passing of time. Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. Time dictates all forms of action, age, and causality. It quantifies rates of change of quantities in material reality or in our conscious experience. Time is also of significant historical and social importance, as well as a very personal value, due to an awareness of the limited time in each day and in our human life spans.

The physical elements and the passage of time is what gives all of us our strength and also our vulnerability.

Our cognitive state gives us the capacity for imagination and thoughts to ponder and indulge in these remarkable facts. “The work in this exhibition is a continuation of my pondering.”

Artist Biography

Shelley O’Keefe

Shelley O’Keefe graduated from the University of Sydney, majoring in Fine Arts. She went on to teach art in various Sydney High Schools while continuing to paint and exhibit her works. When moving to a small regional town on the Mid North Coast of NSW she was able to devote herself to art on a full time basis.

Shelley has exhibited in Berlin, New England Regional Art Museum (NERAM), Gallery Lane Cove and Studio W in Sydney. Recently she joined Articulate Project Space, a Sydney based artist cooperative where like minded artists exhibit and discuss art. This is Shelley’s third gallery show at Red as well as participating in various group shows including the recent ‘Celebrating Women’ curated exhibition.

Philip Senior

From a young age Philip Senior has been involved in the visual arts and, while he chose architecture as a career, he continued painting, drawing and exhibiting in Sydney throughout his adult life. After moving to Bellingen, he has been involved in organising community art events with Arts network Bellingen as well as exhibiting in Berlin and in Sydney during Sydney Arts Month. He is a founding member of the cultural presentation group Sunday Bites, the Sydney/Bellingen art group VOX 4 and the Bellingen based art group, Collective Four.

Philip’s work is basically a continuing exploration of his understanding of what his world is. The layers of time – geological, cultural, political and personal – that inhabit his existence all play a part in providing impetus to find a visual mark reflecting where he is now. This is Philip’s third gallery show at RED as well as exhibiting in various group shows.

Contact
Phone : (03) 9482 3550
mail@redgallery.com.au

Address
157 St Georges Rd
Fitzroy North, Victoria, 3068
Map

How to get here
Tram: Route 11
Stop 21 just north of Edinburgh Gardens

Melway Ref: 30B12
Parking in nearby streets

Bus: 504 (Reid Street)