Stephen Pleban

1965 | Ballarat

Stephen Pleban‘s heavily textured paintings depict saturated scenes of interconnection between humans, animals and pseudo-landscapes. Pleban explores the uncertainty of our altered relationship with the natural world and in dream-like depictions, examines 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 composes montages to create his compositions.

AVAILABLE WORKS

CV

STEPHEN PLEBAN

born 1965, lives in Ballarat

Education

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

2024       A Wild Kindness ,
Gallerysmith, Melbourne

2023       Kind of World,
Gallerysmith, Melbourne

2023       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, The Art
Gallery of Ballarat, 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

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

2023       Sydney Contemporary Art Fair,
presented by Gallerysmith, Carriageworks, Sydney

2023       Winter Group Exhibition, Martin
Browne Contemporary, Sydney

2023       XV: PAST PRESENT FUTURE,
Gallerysmith, Melbourne

2022       Resistance! Paintings as
Provisional Realities, M16 Artspace, Australian Capital Territory

2022       Summer Group Exhibition,
Martin Browne Contemporary, Sydney

2021       The Nude Exhibition,
Project Gallery 90, Sydney

2021       Finalist, Tatiara Art Prize,
Walkway Gallery, South Australia

2021       OMNIA Art Prize (formerly St
Kevin’s Art Award), Toorak

2020       1.5 Degrees,
fortyfivedownstairs, Melbourne

2020       Finalist, Glover Art Prize,
Tasmania

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

2019       Finalist, Kilgour Art Prize,
Newcastle Art Gallery, New South Wales

2019       Finalist, Kennedy Art Award,
Adelaide

2017       Finalist, Kennedy Art Prize,
Adelaide

2017       What’s in the box?, BOAA,
Melbourne

2016       Belle Art Prize, Bailey
Gallery, Abbotsford

2016       Miniature Immensities,
Kingston Art Centre, Moorabbin

2016       Finalist, Paddington Art Prize,
Sydney

2015       Belle Art Prize, Bailey
Gallery Abbotsford

2015       Flanagan Contemporary Art Prize,
Ballarat

2014       Rick Amor Drawing Prize,
Ballarat Fine Art Gallery, Ballarat

2014       Finalist, Calleen Art Award,
Cowra Regional Art Gallery, New South Wales

2013       Flanagan Contemporary Art Prize,
Ballarat

2012       Unicorn Art Space, Ballarat

2011       Orbit, Space 22, Ballarat

2011       Flanagan Contemporary Art Prize,
Ballarat

2010       Williamstown Contemporary Art
Prize, Williamstown, Victoria

2010       Weather Project, Space 22,
Ballarat

2009       Williamstown Contemporary Art
Prize, Williamstown, Victoria

2009       Flanagan Contemporary Art Prize,
Ballarat

2008       John Leslie Art Prize,
Sale Art Gallery, Gippsland

2008       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       City of Moonee Valley
Contemporary Art Prize, Moonee Ponds

1998       Coalesce, Diane Tanzer
Gallery, Fitzroy

1997       Shell Art Prize,
Williamstown, Victoria

1997       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

1995       Contemporary Art Fair,
Belgium

1989       Three-person exhibition,
Judith Pugh Gallery, Melbourne

1989       Second Contemporary Art Fair,
Royal Exhibition Buildings, Melbourne

1988       Ten New Artists, 70 Arden
Street, North Melbourne

1988       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

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