Mikala Dwyer

Mikala Dwyer is an Australian artist born in 1959 in Sydney. She is a contemporary sculptor who was shortlisted with fellow artist Justene Williams to represent Australia at the 2019 Venice Biennale.

Education In 1983, Mikala Dwyer attended the University of Sydney and in 1986 received a Bachelor of Fine Art. Dwyer also spent time at the Middlesex University from 1985 to 1986 in the United Kingdom. In 2000, Dwyer earned her Masters of Fine Art at the University of New South Wales, College of Fine Art. Dwyer also trained under Professor Stan Douglas at Berlin University of the Arts from 2005 to 2007.

Career Dwyer has been producing work for exhibition since the early 1980s, developing a career in installation and sculptural work. Her practice deals with the spiritual, magic, rituals, the occult, alchemy and the "other". Dwyer's practice can be described as "playful and fanatical" as she invites the audience to participate with her works and draw their own conclusions. Dwyer is known for her use of everyday materials such as plastics, metal, wood, fabric, paint, plants and other found objects.

In 1992 Dwyer was amount the first group of young Australian artists selected to have their work exhibited in the first Primavera exhibition, held at the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia. Curated by Linda Michael, the exhibition included James Angus, Dwyer, Gale Hastings, and Constance Zikos. In 2000 Dwyer had a major solo exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia. The exhibition included the recent works from Dwyer's practice as well as site specific pieces tailored to interact with the gallery space. In 2010 Dwyer created an installation titled Square Cloud Compound on Cockatoo Island for the Biennale of Sydney. Dwyer's work deals with the island's ominous history in a playful manner. In 2017 Dwyer had another major solo exhibition held at the Art Gallery of New South Wales titled A Shape of Thought. The exhibition explored Dwyer's investigation of "the consciousness and liveliness of matter surrounding us" and was composed of current artworks which included Square Cloud Compound (2010), The letterbox Marys (2015–17), and The silvering (2017). In 2018 Dwyer and Justene Williams, with curators Susan Best and Ann Stephen, were shortlisted to represent Australia at the 2019 Venice Biennale.

Dwyer has lectured at Sydney College of Art, the University of Sydney, as well as being an associate professor at RMIT University, Melbourne City Campus.

Dwyer has work in the following collections: the Cruthers Collection of Women's Art, University of Western Australia; National Gallery of Australia, Canberra; University of New South Wales, Sydney; Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Sydney; UQ Art Gallery, University of Queensland, Brisbane; Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne; National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne; Monash University Museum of Art, Melbourne; Museum of Old and New Art, Hobart; Auckland City Gallery, New Zealand.

Solo exhibitions In the Manger, Chapel of Love, Sydney, 1982 Drunheart, performance, ANZART, Old Mail Exchange, Hobart, 1983 Poor Bare Forked Animal (with Mary Rose Sinn), Chelsea College of Art, London, 1985 Becalmed, City Artists Gallery, London, 1986 Untitled Installation, First Draft, Sydney, 1987 Boot, KSK Gallery, Sydney, 1988 Untitled Installation, 338 Gallery, Sydney, 1988 Untitled Installation, Window Gallery, Sydney, 1989 Ringing, First Draft, Sydney, 1989 Wall to Wall: Ceiling to Floor, 200 Gertrude Street, Melbourne, 1990 Untitled Installation, First Draft West, Sydney, 1990 Untitled Installation, First Draft West, Sydney, 1991 Untitled Installation, 200 Gertrude Street, Melbourne, 1991 Untitled Installation, BLACK, Sydney, 1992 Henle's Loop, Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane, 1993 Whoops, Sarah Cottier Gallery, Sydney, 1994 Jean's OK, Regents Court Hotel, Sydney, 1994 Collaboration With Gale Hastings, CBD Gallery, Sydney 1994 Sad Songs, Artspace, Sydney, 1995 Voodoo Lambchop, Teststrip, Auckland, 1995 Vincent (Aires), Dunedin Public Art Gallery, Dunedin, 1995 Nail-Polish Paintings, Hamish McKay Gallery, Wellington, 1995 Recent Old Work, Sarah Cottier Gallery, Sydney, 1996 New Work, Hamish McKay Gallery, Wellington, 1996 Tubeweight, CBD Gallery, Sydney, 1996 Hollowware and a Few Solids, Australian Centre of Contemporary Art, Melbourne, 1996 I.O.U, CBD Gallery, Sydney, 1998 Addon (Clothing Plan) (Closing Plan), Hamish McKay Gallery, Wellington, 1998 A Work by Mikala Dwyer Done in Someone Else's Studio, Fortitude Valley, Brisbane, 1998 Uniform, Sarah Cottier Gallery, Sydney, 1999 Mikala Dwyer Solo Exhibition, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney 2000 Indifinity Maybe; I Care Because You Do; The Loozer Planet; Sweetpotatosexpet Antenna; Hanging Eyes; I.O.U (a tile); My Home is Your Home; Floating Old Man; Selfshel, Chapel Art Centre, Cardiff, 2000 Iffytown, Hamish McKay Gallery, Wellington, 2000 Mikala Dwyer, Sarah Cottier Gallery, Sydney, 2001 Mikala Dwyer, Hamish McKay Gallery, Wellington, 2001 Art Lifts, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, 2002 Flowers, Flies and Someone Else, Anna Schwartz Gallery, Melbourne, 2004 Some More Recent Old Work, Darren Knight Gallery, Sydney, 2004 I Maybe We, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington, 2005 The Addition and Subtractions; The Hanging Garden, Kunstraum, Potsdam, 2007 Moon Garden, Aratoi Museum, Masterton, 2008 Costumes and Empty Sculptures, Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane, 2008 Outfield, Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney, 2009 Square Cloud Compound, Biennale of Sydney, Sydney, 2010 Square Cloud Compound, Hamish Morrison Gallery, Berlin, 2010 Swamp Geometry, Anna Schwartz Gallery, Melbourne, 2011 The Silvering, Anna Schwartz Gallery, Melbourne, 2011 Drawing Down the Moon, Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane, 2012 Panto Collapsar, Arts Project, Berlin, 2012 Divinations for the Real Things, Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney, 2012 Goldene Bend're, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne, 2013 Hollowwork, Anna Schwartz Gallery, Melbourne, 2014 The Garden of Half Life, University Art Gallery, The University of Sydney, Sydney, 2014 Pantocollapsar, Mermaid Arts Centre, Bray, Ireland, 2014 Underfall, Mildura Arts Centre, Mildura, 2014 The letterbox Marys, Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney, 2015 Mikala Dwyer: MCA Collection, Curated by Natasha Bullock, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, 2015 In the Head of Humans, Hopkinson Mossman, Auckland, 2016 Square Cloud Compound, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, 2016 A Shape of Thought, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 2017 Soft Relics, Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney, 2018

Select group exhibitions APMIRA Land Rights Exhibition, Paddington Town Hall, Sydney, 1982 ANZART (performance in Hardened Arteries), Old Mail Exchange, Hobart, 1983 Certain Versions, City Artist Gallery, London, 1986 Eevy, Ivy, Over, with Belinda Holland, First Draft, Sydney, 1988 Exploring Drawing, Ivan Dougherty Gallery, Sydney, 1989 Fresh Art, S.H. Irvin Gallery, Sydney 1989 Installed and Temporal Work, Tin Shed, Sydney, 1990 Disonnance: Frames of Reference, Pier 4/5, Sydney, 1991 Discrete Entity, Canberra School of Art Gallery, Canberra, 1991 Primavera, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, 1992 Wish Hard, 9th Biennale of Sydney, Wollongong City Gallery, Sydney, 1992 Australian Perspecta, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 1993 Purl, The Fifth Melbourne Sculpture Triennial, West Melbourne Primary School, Melbourne DEcor, Pepper Bistro, Canberra, 1993 Monster Field, Ivan Dougherty Gallery, Sydney, 1993 Shirthead, Mori Annexe, Sydney, 1993 True Stories, Artspace, Sydney, 1994 The Aberrant Object: Women Dada and Surrealism, Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne, 1994 Aussemblage, Auckland City Gallery, Auckland, 1994 OrientATION, 4th International Istanbul Biennale, Istanbul, 1995 A Night at the Show, Field, Zurich, Switzerland, 1995 De Huid van der Whitte Dame (The White Lady's Skin), Eindhoven, The Netherlands, 1995 The Believers: Mikala Dwyer, Maria Cruz, Anne OOms, CBD Gallery, Sydney; Artspace Gallery, Auckland, 1997 Object and Ideas – revisiting minimalism, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, 1997 Body Suits, Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts, Perth, 1998 The Infinite Space: Women, Minimalism and the Sculptural Objects, Ian Potter Museum of Art, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 1998 Close Quarters: Contemporary Art from Australia and New Zealand, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Monash University, Melbourne; Canberra school of Art, Govett Brewster Art Gallery, New Plymouth, 1998 Beauty 2000, Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane, 1998 Contempora5, Ian Potter Museum of Art, National Gallery of Victoria Australia, Melbourne, 1999 Avant-Gardism for Children, University of Queensland, Brisbane; Monash University Gallery, Melbourne, 1999 Brainland – The Believers: Mikala Dwyer, Maria Cruz, Anne Ooms, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 1999 9 Lives, Casula Powerhouse, Sydney, 1999 Nostalgia for the Future, Artspace, Auckland, 1999 Monochromes, University Art Museum, University of Queensland, Brisbane, 2000 Plastika, Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, Auckland, 2000 Bonheurs des Antipodes, Musee de Picardie, Amiens, 2000 Verso Süd, Palazzo Doria Pamphiji, Rome, 2000 Artful Park, Centennial Park, Sydney, 2001 Unnecessary Invention, Artspace, Sydney, 2001 Fieldwork: Australian Art 1968–2002, Ian Potter Museum of Art, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 2002 Helen Lempriere National Sculpture Award, Werribbe Park, Melbourne, 2002 Face Up: Contemporary Art from Australia, Nationalgalerie im Hamburger Bahnhoff, Berlin, 2003 This was the Future... Australian Sculpture of the 1950s, 60s, 70s + Today, Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne, 2003 Still Life, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 2003 The Shangri-La Collective, Artspace, Sydney, 2003 Pegging Out, Hazelhurst Regional Gallery & Art Centre, Gymea, 2004 Three-way Abstraction: Works of the Monash University Collection, Monash University Museum of Art, Melbourne, 2004 The Wallflower, Canberra Contemporary Art Space, Canberra, 2005 National Sculpture Prize and Exhibition 2005, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, 2005 Unscripted: Language in Contemporary Art, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 2005 High Tide, Zacheta National Gallery, Warsaw, touring CAC, Vilnius, Lithuania, 2006 Beckon, Perth Institute of Contemporary Art, Perth, 2006 Out of Context, OMI Sculpture Park, New York City, 2006 21st Century Modern: 2006 Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art, Art Gallery of South Australia, Nada Art Fair, Miami, 2006 Von Riots Zu Angels, NYRT, Berlin, 2007 Truths, Auckland Art Gallery, Auckland, 2007 Den Haag Sculptuur 2007 De Overkant / Down Under, The Netherlands, 2007 Bal Tashchit: Thou Shalt Not Destroy, Jewish Museum, Melbourne, 2008 Lost and Found: An Archaeology of the Present, TarraWarra Biennal, TarraWarra Museum of Art, Victoria, 2008 Common Space, Private Space, Margaret Lawrence Gallery, Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne, 2008 Come-In: Interior Design as a Contemporary Art Medium in Germany, RMIT Gallery, Melbourne, 2008 Axis Bold as Love Video Salon, CAPC Bordeaux, 2008 To Make a Work Of Timeless Art, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, 2008 Zeigen. An Audio Tour through Berlin, with Karin Sander, Temporare Kunsthalle, Berlin, 2009 Mirror Mirror, then and now, Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane; University Art Gallery, Verge Gallery and Tin Sheds Gallery, Sydney; Samstag Museum of Art, Adelaide, 2009 The Beauty of Distance: Songs of Survival in a Precarious Age the 17th Biennale of Sydney, Alterbeast, Super Deluxe, Artspace, in The Beauty of Distance: Songs of Survival in a Precarious Age the 17th Biennale of Sydney, 2010 Alterbeast, Gertrude Contemporary Art Spaces, Melbourne, 2010 Before and After Science, 2010 Biennial of Australian Art, Adelaide, 2010 Ich Wicht, Kunstraum, Potsdam, 2010 Captain Thunderbolt's Sisters, with Justene Williams, Cockatoo Island Artists in Residence Programme, Sydney, 2010 To Give Time to Time, with Natural Selection Theory, Australian Experimental Art Foundation, Adelaide, 2010 Colour Baazar, Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne, 2011 NETWORKS (cells & silos), Monash University Museum of Art, Melbourne, 2011 Alterbeast, Penrith Regional Museum, Penrith, Australia, 2011 Monanism, Museum of Old and New Art, Hobart, 2011 Plus ou Moins Sorcières 2/3: Epreuves Ritulisées, Maison Populaire, Paris, 2012 Less is More, Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne, 2012 Das Ende des 20. Jahrhunderts. Es Kommt Noch Besser: Ein Dialog mit der Sammlung Marx, Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin, 2013 Light Sweet Crude, Hopkinson Mossman Gallery, Auckland, 2013 Schwarz//Weiss, Hamish Morrison Gallery, Berlin, 2013 Primavera 2014 (curator) Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, 2014 The Cinemas Project: Exploring The Spectral Spaces of Cinema, Mildura Arts Centre, Melbourne, 2014 From a Near Future, SCA Gallery, Sydney College of the Arts, University of Sydney, Sydney, 2014 De Rerum Natura, Studio La Citta, Verona, Italy, 2014 You Imagine What You Desire, curated by Juliana Engburg, 19th Biennale of Sydney, Cockatoo Island, Sydney, 2014 Future Primitive, Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne, 2014 Dead Ringer, Perth Institute of Contemporary Art, Perth, 2015 Antropia, curated by Marco Meneguzzo, Eduardo Secci Contemporary, Florence, 2015 Hall of Half-Life, Strierischer Herbst Festival, GrazMuseum, Graz, 2015 Saint Judes's Leftovers (Your Thoughts in Lights), Stierischer Herbst Festival, Vordernberg, 2015 Believe not every spirit, but try the spirits, Monash University Museum of Art, Melbourne, 2015 Hiding in Plain Sight: A selection of works from the Michael Buxton Collection, Bendigo Art Gallery, Victoria, 2015 Neverwhere, curated by Vikki McInnes, Gaia Gallery, Istanbul, 2015 MAGNETISM, Hazelwood, Sligo, 2015 Deeply Highly Eccentric, Winchester Gallery, Winchester School of Art, Hampshire, 2015 Glazed and Confused, Hazelhurst Regional Gallery, Sydney, 2015 Square Cloud Compound, Encounters, curated by Alexie Glass-Kantor, Art Basel Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 2015 Redlands Konica Minolta ArtPrize, curated by Tim Johnson, National Art School Gallery, Sydney, 2015 Primavera at 25: MCA Collection, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, 2016 Quicksilver, Anne & Gordon Samstag Museum of Art, University of South Australia, Adelaide, 2016 Soft Core, curated by Michael Do, Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre, Sydney, 2016 Erewhon, curated by Vikki McInnes, Margaret Lawrence Gallery, Victoria College of the Arts, Melbourne, 2016 Wonder, curated by Carrie Kibbler, Hazelhurst Regional Gallery, Sydney, 2016 Riddle of the Burial Grounds, curated by Tessa Giblan, Extra City Kunsthal, Antwerp, 2016 Fabrik, Ian Potter Museum of Art, Melbourne, 2016 Dämmerschlaf, Artspace, Sydney, 2016 Soft Core, Lake Macquarie City Art Gallery, Booragul; Hawksbury Regional Art Gallery, Windsor, 2017 Occulture: The Dark Arts, City Gallery, Wellington, 2017 Every Brilliant Eye: Australian Art of the 1990s, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 2017 Triple Point of Matter, Foundation Fiminco, Paris, 2017 Unpainting, Art Gallery of South Gallery, Sydney, 2017 Occulture: The Dark Arts, City Gallery, Wellington, 2017 Blessed Be: Mysticism, Spirituality, and the Occult in Contemporary Art, curated by Ginger Shulick, Museum of Contemporary Art, Tucson, 2018 The shape of things to come, Buxton Contemporary, Melbourne Soft Core, Shepparton Art Museum, Shepparton, 2018 Second Sight: Witchcraft, Ritual, Power, The University of Queensland Art Museum, Brisbane, 2019 Bauhaus Now, curated by Ann Stephen, Buxton Contemporary, Melbourne, 2019