Exhibition Program
Ksenia Shinkarenko, Pinot, 2025
Current
KSENIA SHINKARENKO, Quiet Hours
10 March - 4 April, 2026
Opening Event: Thursday 12 March, 6–8pm
Nightingale Gallery, 909A High Street, Armadale
Nightingale Gallery is delighted to present Quiet Hours, the first solo exhibition with the gallery by Melbourne-based contemporary artist Ksenia Shinkarenko.
Please join us for the opening event on 12 March, 6–8pm.
“This body of work explores subtle shifts of light and the contemplative presence it carries in the softer hours of the day. The compositions remain minimal, allowing attention to rest on tone and presence. It looks at moments when contrast lowers and surrounding forms hold depth without sharp definition. The atmosphere grows still, yet light continues to move.”
Upcoming
HOLD STILL: A STUDY OF SOULS
7 April - 30 May, 2026
Artists Include: Olaf Hajek, Daria Petrilli, Mauro Llanas, Rufus Punton, Sally Ryan, and Ben Ryan
We are proud to present Hold Still: A Study of Souls, a major group exhibition dedicated to contemporary portraiture, bringing together internationally renowned artists from Australia and abroad. This exhibition marks the first time these highly sought-after works are presented together in Australia, shown alongside a considered selection of established and emerging Australian artists.
Through meticulously crafted portraits, the exhibition explores how each artist captures the inner life of their subjects. Across diverse visual languages, the works navigate shadow and tenderness, revealing the raw emotional territories of joy, love, loss, and longing.
Hold Still: A Study of Souls offers a rare opportunity to experience these artists’ practices in dialogue - a powerful meditation on the human condition and the enduring complexity of the soul.
Llael McDonald, Mixology
2 June – 30 June
Past
Olaf Hajek, Fragile Bloom
3 February - 9 March, 2026
We are delighted to announce Fragile Bloom, an exhibition by celebrated artist Olaf Hajek. As one of Germany’s most renowned illustrators, Hajek has developed a highly distinctive and frequently awarded visual language.
Fragile Bloom marks Hajek’s first solo exhibition in Australia, on view 3 February – 9 March.
Fragile Bloom brings together works from different periods, forming a multi-layered visual landscape in which human figures, nature and memory intertwine. Faces dissolve into floral structures, bodies move in rhythm with organic patterns, and identities appear fluid rather than fixed.
The paintings explore moments of connection — between human and environment, strength and vulnerability, presence and disappearance. Dance and movement become metaphors for transformation, while ornamental details and natural forms suggest both protection and permeability. Figures seem to emerge from blossoms, clouds or night skies, only to fade again, suspended between becoming and dissolving.
Bloom, as a state rather than a fixed form, runs quietly through the exhibition: a moment of opening that holds both vitality and fragility. Fragile Bloom speaks of hope without certainty, of resilience without hardness — an invitation to encounter tenderness as a form of strength, and vulnerability as a space of deep connection.
– Olaf Hajek
Alexey Kondakov, Reciprocity
6 January - 2 February, 2026
Ukrainian artist Alexey Kondakov unveils a series of works that reimagine how the past and present coexist within the modern world. Known for blending figures from classical painting with scenes of everyday city life, Kondakov creates compositions where art history meets the pulse of contemporary culture. His images suggest that beauty and meaning can be found as easily in a morning commute as in a Renaissance chapel.
In this latest collection, Kondakov continues his exploration of myth, memory, and urban experience. By setting timeless characters amid concrete streets and neon light, he highlights the shared humanity that links us across centuries. The resulting works are both grounded and ethereal — familiar yet dreamlike — revealing quiet stories of grace, longing, and connection that transcend time itself.
Embodiment of Summer, Summer Group Exhibition
5 November - 5 January, 2025
Embodiment of Summer brings together diverse voices of emerging and established artists. Across painting, sculpture, and mixed media, the artists celebrate summer’s essence — its joy, freedom, and creative vitality.
This exhibition invites viewers to reflect on the season’s sensory richness and emotional resonance: the bloom of gardens and streetscapes in light, the gatherings that spill into long, sun-warmed evenings, and the beauty found in moments of rest and renewal. Together, they form a vibrant portrait of connection to place, to memory, and to the shared experience of living within the warmth and wonder of the Southern Hemisphere’s summer.