OPENING NIGHT I SATURDAY 22ND OF AUGUST 5PM-7PM
VIEWING DATES I 22ND OF AUGUST TILL THE 2ND OF SEPTEMBER 2026
EXHIBITION STATEMENT
Curated by Jess Gilbert
Featuring Indeah Clark, Jessica Gilbert, Jo Shand and Kimberley Swan.
LADY GRUBS is a celebration of the unrefined, the ordinary and the imperfect. Across the exhibition, recurring and overlapping themes emerge: a rejection of the pretence and gatekeeping of the highbrow art world; pride in working-class and suburban life; and an affection for the mundane, rough and deeply familiar.
The exhibition pushes against the aspirational images we are continually sold of success, taste, femininity and the ways a life is supposed to look. Instead, these artists paint what they know, notice and connect with: the culture of suburban Newcastle, the Hunter and its surrounds; loved ones and domestic spaces; humour, awkwardness, mess and the mismatched things that make up a life. There is no apology for being unpolished, sentimental, silly or grubby.
The title began as the name of a group chat and became something of a shared philosophy. LADY GRUBS embraces the contradictions within identity: self-deprecation alongside self-respect, femininity alongside irreverence, earnestness alongside humour. Its spirit is quietly punk and iconoclastic suspicious of gatekeeping, prescribed good taste and the idea that refinement makes something more worthy.
At its heart is a mutual respect between four artists who understand that there is no singular way to be a woman, an artist, or a “lady.”
There is more than enough room to be silly, earnest, imperfect and grubby. Ladies can be grubs too.
JESS GILBERT
Known for her intimate, expressionist depictions of everyday life, Jess’ practice explores love, loss and change, finding meaning in the ordinary, and in the objects and moments we use to hold onto one another.
For LADY GRUBS, Jess draws on her longstanding fascination with vanitas and memento mori symbols that remind us of life’s impermanence, and therefore, its urgency.
In Jess’ words:
“I ponder the deeper meaning behind our possessions and the stories they hold. Portraits of friends capture a second in time, a way to document and hold onto moments that will only happen once.”
Jess has exhibited extensively across Newcastle since beginning her practice in 2020. Following a mentorship with James Drinkwater, she presented her first solo exhibition Spinster with Cats at Blackstone Gallery in 2023, followed by her highly regarded second solo exhibition, SAUDADE, at LEDA Gallery in 2025.
INDEAH CLARK
Jo Shand is a multidisciplinary artist based in Murrurundi who has exhibited for more than 30 years. Largely self-taught, she later honed her practice at the National Art School from 1997–1999 and studied ceramics full-time at Hornsby TAFE in 2000.
Working across painting, ceramics and sculpture, Shand’s practice is grounded in close observation of her surroundings, with particular attention to the small, necessary rituals and pastimes that become embedded in local culture and expressions of identity. Through observation, road trips, plein air painting and hand-built clay, she seeks out the stories held within everyday places and communities.
Her recent work explores demolition derby culture and the unexpected tenderness that exists within it. Brightly painted vehicles carry messages to loved ones, children’s handprints, mental-health advocacy and promotions for local businesses before entering the arena. Shand considers these cars as offerings — their destruction a sacrifice to the unknown, where care, danger, exhilaration and the hope for a merciful outcome collide in twisted metal.
KIMBERLY SWAN
Working predominantly in oil, her paintings move between figurative and domestic scenes, unconventional landscapes and arrangements of familiar objects. Playful and quietly ironic, her work finds significance in the ordinary, while her recent practice expands beyond the canvas through sculptural elements and assemblage.
With a background in Visual Communication and Natural History Illustration, Swan brings a strong observational quality to her work. Following a twelve-month mentorship with painter Rachel Milne in 2022, she has exhibited extensively throughout the Hunter region and has been selected as a finalist in numerous Australian art prizes.