Jane O’Neill presents works from three distinct series for this first exhibition in Western Australia at Lost Eden Creative, each based on the experience of water. Including collages made from envelopes, stitched denim works and stitched swimming pool lanes, the exhibition is an overview of recurring concerns within the artist’s work. Following a visit to Dwellingup in 2024, the set of ten envelope collages are based on experiences swimming at the nearby Lane Poole Reserve.
The denim works are overlaid with varying shades of blue, inscribed with a new topography using synthetic, cotton and upcycled threads. The works draw on the polychromatic nature of the twill weave used to make denim to propose an alternative material existence for the pre-existing garments. Seam lines, stains and fade marks are incorporated into the works as compositional devices, revealing surprisingly watery effects. The Spring Hill Baths series explore the crossover between textiles and painting, and the capacity for thread to create the effect of swimming pool lanes, as seen through refracted light under water.
In different ways, each of the works underpin the artist’s ongoing interest in water and swimming.
Jane O'Neill is a visual artist and curator based on Wurundjeri woiwurrung Country.
Born in Brisbane in 1971, they studied art history at the University of Queensland and Sydney University. Between 2005 and 2007 Jane initiated Austral Avenue, an exhibition space hosted from the front room of a house which hosted eighteen exhibitions by artists from Australia and overseas. Jane’s practice includes installation, collage, painting and textiles and focuses on the social, historical and textural meanings inherent to materials.
Since 1996 the artist has exhibited in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne in smaller galleries including Soapbox, Fortitude, Pendulum, CBD Gallery, Soapbox, West Space, Linden and Blindside. A particular focus in O’Neill’s work is the language of swimming pools - this has been explored on a large scale including in 2015 with the creation of the Municipal City Baths exhibition at the Living Museum of the West and more recently on the exterior of a home in Melbourne. The artist exhibits in an ongoing capacity at Void Melbourne.
