Stephen Pleban

1964 | Ballarat

Stephen Pleban‘s heavily textured paintings depict saturated scenes of interconnection between humans, animals and pseudo-landscapes. He explores the uncertainty of our altered relationship with the natural world and in dream-like depictions, examining the imaginative interplay between light and dark, night and day, and our desire to discover new ways of sensing, learning and being. His images are other-worldly but grounded in behaviours, gestures and relationships that enable connection. Drawing inspiration from imagery sourced from the internet, music, documentaries, and his personal collections, Pleban sometimes composes montages to inform his compositions.

Pleban says, "I draw imagery from photographs and music and am interested in attire that is timeless, perhaps from the distant past and merging with the
contemporary. The use of technology to examine and understand a new world is often present in my work."

Stephen Pleban has been shortlisted for a number of award exhibitions including the Paddington Art Prize, Calleen Art Award, Glover Art Prize, Len Fox Art Prize and is represented in the collection of Ballarat Art Gallery, City of Moonee Valley and St John Of God Hospital in Perth among others.

AVAILABLE WORKS

CV

STEPHEN PLEBAN

born 1965, lives in Ballarat

QUALIFICATIONS

2003 University of Ballarat, Master of Fine Art (incomplete)

1995 Academie Van Beeldende Kunsten, Rotterdam, Postgraduate

1986 Victorian College of the Arts, Bachelor of Fine Art

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2025 Finding Sanctuary, Martin Browne Contemporary, Sydney

2024 A Wild Kindness, Gallerysmith, Melbourne

2023 Kind of World, Gallerysmith, Melbourne

Half the Day is Night, Martin Browne Contemporary, Sydney

2022 Thinking of a Place, &Gallery Australia, Sorrento

2021 Thinking of a Place, Project Gallery 90, Sydney

2018 In Search, Biennale of Australian Art, St Andrews Hall, Ballarat

2011 Lake Surfaces, Art Gallery of Ballarat

2004 In Vivo, Span Gallery, Melbourne

2003 In Vivo, Post Office Gallery, Ballarat

1995 De Kooning Academie Rotterdam, Netherlands

1994 West Space, Footscray

GROUP AND PRIZE EXHIBITIONS

2025 Sydney Contemporary, presented by Gallerysmith, Carriageworks, Sydney

Winter Exhibition, Martin Browne Contemporary, Sydney

Group Show, Rarity Gallery, Greece

Beyond Generation Z, Yudian Gallery, China

Finalist, Flanagan Art Prize, St Patrick’s College, Ballarat

2024 Finalist, Len Fox Painting Award, Castlemaine Art Museum, Castlemaine

Revere Reflect and Regenerate, St John of God Murdoch, Perth

Sydney Contemporary, presented by Martin Browne Contemporay, Carriageworks, Sydney

2023 Finalist, Calleen Art Award 2023, Cowra Art Gallery, New South Wales

Sydney Contemporary, presented by Gallerysmith, Carriageworks, Sydney

Winter Group Exhibition, Martin Browne Contemporary, Sydney

XV: PAST PRESENT FUTURE, Gallerysmith, Melbourne

2022 Resistance! Paintings as Provisional Realities, M16 Artspace, ACT

Summer Group Exhibition, Martin Browne Contemporary, Sydney

2021 The Nude Exhibition, Project Gallery 90, Sydney

Finalist, Tatiara Art Prize, Walkway Gallery, South Australia

2020 1.5 Degrees, fortyfivedownstairs, Melbourne

Finalist, Glover Art Prize, Tasmania

2019 Finalist, Len Fox Art Prize, Castlemaine Art Museum, Castlemaine

Finalist, Kilgour Prize, Newcastle Art Gallery, New South Wales

Finalist, Kennedy Prize, Adelaide

2017 Finalist, Kennedy Prize, Adelaide

What’s in the box?, BOAA, Ballarat

2016 Finalist, Belle Art Prize, Bailey Gallery, Abbotsford

Miniature Immensities, Kingston Art Centre, Moorabbin

Finalist, Paddington Art Prize, Sydney

2015 Finalist, Belle Art Prize, Bailey Gallery, Abbotsford

Finalist, Flanagan Contemporary Art Prize, Ballarat

2014 Finalist, Rick Amor Drawing Prize, Art Gallery of Ballarat

Finalist, Calleen Art Award, Cowra Regional Art Gallery

2013 Finalist, Flanagan Contemporary Art Prize, Ballarat

2012 Unicorn Art Space, Ballarat

2011 Orbit, Space 22, Ballarat

Finalist, Flanagan Contemporary Art Prize, Ballarat

2010 Finalist, Williamstown Contemporary Art Prize, Williamstown

Weather Project, Space 22, Ballarat

2009 Finalist, Williamstown Contemporary Art Prize, Williamstown, Victoria

Finalist, Flanagan Contemporary Art Prize, Ballarat

2008 Finalist, John Leslie Art Prize, Sale Art Gallery, Gippsland

Art Deco Postcard Exhibition, Post Office Gallery, Ballarat

2005 Art for Science, Nellie Castan Gallery, South Yarra

2004 Masters/PhD Exhibition, Post Office Gallery, Ballarat

2003 Post card exhibition, Linden Gallery, St. Kilda

2002 Masters/PhD Exhibition, Post Office Gallery, Ballarat

1998 Finalist, City of Moonee Valley Contemporary Art Prize, Moonee Ponds

Coalesce, Diane Tanzer Gallery, Fitzroy

1997 Finalist, Shell Art Prize, Williamstown, Victoria

Finalist, City of Moonee Valley Contemporary Art Prize, Moonee Ponds

1996 Gesprek met Vermeer, Museum Prinsenhof, Delft, Netherlands

1995 Gallerie Maurits van der Laar, Den Haag, Netherlands

Contemporary Art Fair, Belgium

1989 Three-person exhibition, Judith Pugh Gallery, Melbourne

Second Contemporary Art Fair, Exhibition Buildings, Melbourne

1988 Ten New Artists, 70 Arden Street, North Melbourne

Le Quattro Stagioni (Four Artists, Four Approaches, Four Mediums), The Warehouse, Melbourne

1987 Murdoch Travelling Fellowship, Mornington Art Gallery, Mornington

PRIZES

2014 Highly Commended, Calleen Art Award, NSW

1999 City of Moonee Valley Art Prize

1991 National Art Prize, The Australian newspaper

1990 VTU Art Prize, Caulfield Art Gallery

1983 Winner, Sarah Levy Painting Prize, Victorian College of the Arts: Victorian National Art Gallery

COLLECTIONS

Art Gallery of Ballarat; City of Moonee Valley; Victorian Teachers Union; Clarendon College Ballarat; St John of God Health Care Art Collection, Private Collections in Australia and Europe