Eleanor Millard at Wagner Contemporary

Wagner Contemporary under the Directorship of Nadine Wagner, a second-generation Gallerist, is strongly committed and passionate about showcasing, what she believes to be, the most thought-provoking, inspiring and interesting modern and contemporary artists, working across a variety of media in Australia today.

Focusing on both early career and established artists as well as secondary market works of art, Wagner Contemporary alternates new and exciting solo and group exhibitions on a monthlybasis. We boast an extensive and impressive stockroom which holds a vast selection of works to suit any taste and interest. Female and male artists are equally represented.

"I sense each artist has a voice. Looking, understanding and enjoying their work is like engaging in meaningful conversation. It is not only important to reflect great technique; a work of art should open the mind and expose one to other ideas, concepts and new ways of thinking"- Nadine Wagner.

ELEANOR MILLARD | A Chance Encounter | 19 September - 7 October
Eleanor Millard's landscapes arrest the speed of life. In her artworks, the furious pace of the everyday suddenly stops, and gives way to a painted meditation. "I try to paint the stillness of the now, with all of its sound," Millard explains. "The sound of silence; the sound of stillness."

Millard's landscapes are personal"they represent places that the artist has been and paths that she has walked"yet their power resides in the fact that they hold a universal resonance. The artist's brushstrokes pull into existence scenes that tug at our memory; they remind us of places that we've never seen, yet somehow know. This paradox sits at the heart of Millard's new exhibition, A Chance Encounter.

A Chance Encounter presents two sides of the singular artist. Here, we find paintings that are calm, and considered, and paintings that are unhesitating and visceral. This first group of landscapes reflect the artist's practice in its most sensitive and process-driven form. Layer upon layer of paint underpins these soft compositions, which blur the line between abstraction and representation.

In the second group of landscapes, the gentle brushstroke is replaced by a swifter, more urgent sequence of painterly marks. If Millard paints sound, then these works are the crescendo"bursting with raw vibrancy and energy. "These paintings come out really fast and then they are done," Millard says. "I don't know how long they take, because, when I am painting, I don't even know that I am doing it. It's a form of meditation."

But even these meditations can require time to develop. Millard will often revisit artworks that she has commenced but not concluded. "Some paintings I'll start, and then I'll have to put them away for a few months, because they just aren't ready to be finished," she observes. The artist explains that sometimes years can go by before she revisits a painting - as she only ever reintroduces herself to a work when the moment is right.

In a sense, these artworks embody a collaboration between the artist of the past and the artist of the present, who both work across time, searching for a particular, intangible quality that sets their landscape apart. The paintings of A Chance Encounter represent the end of this search.