Still Life
15 - 26 October 2025
Opening Night
Friday 17 October | 6 - 8 pm
G3
Curator Statement — Still Life
This exhibition brings together six artists — five painters and one photographer — in a shared conversation about still life. John Renkin, Judith Clifton, Steve Xiao, Lata Shetty, Helen Edwards, and Gavin Haberfield each approach the genre through their own language of light, colour, and form, exploring the poetic potential of the everyday.
The still life painters capture the essence of objects and moments, distilling the ordinary into compositions of stillness and presence. In contrast, Steve Xiao’s photographic works extend this dialogue through reflection and temporality, revealing stillness as something that exists beyond the frame.
Placed together, these works invite a slower, more contemplative encounter. They ask us to notice the quiet beauty of restraint — to find meaning in what is present, and equally, in what has been left out.
Artists list
John Renkin , Judith Clifton , Steve Xiao , Lata Shetty, Helen Edwards and Gavin Haberfield
Steven Xiao
Artist Statement
American Venom is a photographic series exploring the relationship between consumption, the body, and visual symbols. The work unfolds through minimal scenes and a restrained set of props—fast food, carbonated drinks, national flags, prosthetics, and the human figure—placed within rigorously controlled light and space. They do not explain one another; they simply occupy the frame in quiet tension.
I focus on elements of contemporary visual experience that are both ubiquitous and easily overlooked: mass-produced objects, repeated gestures, and replicated desires. These images draw on personal observation as well as fragments from news, advertising, and everyday life.
The series does not point to any single nation nor offer direct political slogans. Instead, it addresses the desires and pressures that spread and infiltrate through globalized consumer culture.
Artist Biography
Steven Xiao is a photographer whose work merges staged and documentary photography, crafting evocative narratives that explore identity, cultural symbolism, and social norms. Often focusing on the female form, he examines themes of desire, politics, and representation. Trained in the U.S. and mentored by Taiwanese photographer Juan I-Jong, Xiao draws from humanistic documentary traditions while incorporating surreal, meticulously composed scenes. His use of dramatic lighting and carefully arranged elements blurs the line between reality and fiction, creating an atmosphere of mystery and tension. Through his striking visual storytelling, Xiao challenges conventional perspectives, prompting deeper reflections on contemporary life. His work has been exhibited and published internationally, earning recognition for its compelling interplay of meaning and form.
Helen Edwards
Happiness for Helen is the complete freedom with which she makes her Art. Every time she enters the studio she feels a sense of a new adventure. She takes a wholly intuitive approach and has a huge variety of mediums and subjects at her disposal. However this array of possibilities can be a little daunting so when she received an invitation to participate in the Red Gallery Still Life exhibition Helen was delighted.
With strong drawing skills and an interest in composition and creating a good likeness of her subject Helen describes her work as Contemporary Realist. Leaving a career as a school teacher she initially worked in soft pastel painting landscapes and figurative works. When the pastel dust became a problem she painted in oils and acrylics, drawing in charcoal and creating assemblage sculpture.
Helen has received numerous awards and commendations for her work. Most recently it has been portraiture which has brought success with her portrait of ‘The Seekers’ being acquired by the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra.
John Renkin
Artist Statement
The artworks that John has exhibited show compositions of simple household ceramic containers. The paintings display careful observation and the elevated views with strong lighting create clear contrast. He has used an alla prima technique with oil paint and the tactile presence of brushstrokes evokes a spontaneous reaction to the images.
Artist Biography
John pursued his interest in art as an adult at various CAE art classes and studied painting techniques with David Moore. He has been involved with numerous group and solo exhibitions.
Gavin Haberfield
Haberfield ’s work focuses on familiar everyday items and scenes . If you are patient and lucky with the light, even a very basic everyday scene can become something interesting and fun to paint. My goal is to paint something that looks engaging and attractive and that rewards a second look. The particular lighting in the set of paintings I am exhibiting only appears on my kitchen bench at the equinox and each scene is a different equinox. There are lots of reflections and unexpected lighting effects that make a simple everyday scene full of interest.
Artist Biography
Haberfield is an emerging artist who enjoys doing still life studies of everyday things. Haberfield is a student in the Seven Easels studio that has a focus on classical and indirect painting methods.
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)
