Review by Holly Wilson, Director of LEDA Gallery
RUPTURE
Curated by Xavier Lane
Featuring Xavier Lane, Raffi Butler & Lexie Worboys.
RUPTURE is a thoughtful and emotionally rich exhibition that brings together three distinctly different artistic practices. Through Xavier Lane’s curation, these voices don’t compete they strengthen one another, creating an exhibition that feels cohesive, generous and deeply human.
Xavier has achieved something difficult. Allowing three artists with entirely different visual languages to sit comfortably beside one another while each remains completely themselves. It is a reminder that a strong exhibition isn’t built on similarity, but on meaningful conversation.
I have long believed in Xavier not only as a painter, but as a performance artist whose practice consistently explores the emotional architecture of relationships, power, love and social hierarchies. Over the years I have watched her visual language evolve into something unmistakably her own. There is an honesty to her practice that I deeply admire. Through expressive painting, installation and performance, she examines the complexities of intimacy, capitalism, the female experience and the invisible systems that shape our relationships with ourselves and others.
Throughout the exhibition, Xavier constructs a visual vocabulary through recurring symbols that quietly gather meaning as viewers move through the space. Crosses, dollar signs, swans, guns and female figures appear and reappear, not as fixed symbols, but as shifting metaphors. The dollar sign moves beyond wealth to question value itself, what we prize, what we pursue and what we exchange emotionally. Crosses evoke sacrifice, devotion and power, while guns introduce ideas of violence, control and vulnerability. Swans offer moments of beauty and romance that exist in constant tension with these darker motifs. The female figure is never reduced to a singular role; instead, she exists as witness, participant and author of her own narrative. Together these recurring forms create a symbolic language that feels deeply personal while remaining open enough for viewers to find themselves within it.
What has become equally clear through the show is her strength as a curator. Great curators don’t impose themselves upon artists they create the conditions for artists to become more fully themselves. Xavier has composed an exhibition that feels intuitive, balanced and emotionally intelligent. Every work is given space to breathe, while simultaneously strengthening the conversation unfolding throughout the gallery. As Director of LEDA Gallery, I believe deeply in Xavier as both an artist and curator, and I have every confidence that her contribution to contemporary Australian art will continue to grow.
Raffi Butler’s work enters the exhibition with confidence and humour. Thick, tactile surfaces carry imagery drawn from internet culture, childhood nostalgia, commercial branding and everyday life. Ramen packets, Hello Kitty, anime, Lindsay Lohan and familiar consumer objects become fragments of a shared cultural language. At first these paintings appear playful, but beneath the vibrant surfaces lies a thoughtful reflection on identity and the images that quietly shape an entire generation.
The painting 222 + 444 = LOHAN perfectly captures this approach. Lindsay Lohan becomes less a celebrity than a cultural relic an icon through which ideas of fame, femininity, nostalgia and public spectacle collide. Raffi transforms everyday visual culture into contemporary mythology, reminding us that our memories are often built as much through commercial imagery and popular culture as they are through personal experience.
Lexie Worboys offers a beautiful counterpoint. Her practice speaks softly, yet carries enormous emotional depth. Through painting, sculpture and installation, she reflects on family, childhood and the rituals that quietly shape who we become. Her work doesn’t simply depict nostalgia it honours it. The figures, birthday cakes, toys and domestic memories become invitations for viewers to reconnect with moments that may have otherwise slipped away.
Lexie herself possesses a rare combination of gentleness and grit. She is exceptionally kind and thoughtful, yet beneath that warmth lies remarkable resilience. That quiet strength is present throughout everything she creates. I believe Lexie is developing an important voice within a new generation of Australian artists. Her ability to transform personal memory into collective experience is one of the defining strengths of her practice. Rather than chasing novelty, she returns to enduring subjects. It is this sincerity that gives her work its lasting power.
As Director of LEDA Gallery, I couldn’t be prouder of what Xavier, Raffi and Lexie have created together.
I have watched each of these artists develop their practice with unwavering commitment, and what excites me most is not only the quality of the work they are making now, but the artists they are continuing to become. They each possess a distinct voice, a genuine curiosity, and the courage to make work that asks something of its audience.
RUPTURE shows us that the most memorable exhibitions are not those where artists make similar work, but those where different voices are brought together with care and intention. Xavier Lane has achieved exactly that three distinct practices, three distinct perspectives, and one remarkably exciting, refreshing and cohesive exhibition.