We are thrilled to share that Robyn Sweaney has been selected for the Salon des Refusès 2026 for her incredible work Chasing Butterflies, which opens at S.H Ervin Gallery on 9 May.
My paintings capture a single moment in time, focusing on homes within the Australian landscape. These spaces reflect the quiet, personal worlds built within suburban boundaries. ‘Chasing Butterflies’, is based on a house spotted in Woodburn NSW, on Bundjalung country, over 12 years ago on my way back up the coast along the old Pacific Hwy. It has been sold twice since then and is now painted grey and white and the garden and butterflies are gone.
I was attracted to the colours and compositional balance of the typical post war facade. Contrasting to its starker architectural elements the occupants had created a garden that displayed a whimsical and friendly narrative seemingly directed to its passing audience.the garden becomes a gesture of hope—an attempt to attract beauty, meaning, or change. Yet like butterflies, these desires remain fleeting. The work explores the tension between creating and letting go, holding space for the transient nature of life and the soft optimism that continues to shape it. — Robyn Sweaney 2026
Each year the panel of judges is invited to go behind the scenes of the judging process for the annual Archibald Prize for portraiture and Wynne Prize at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, to select from the many hundreds of works entered in both prizes but not chosen for the official award exhibition.
The Salon des Refusés exhibition at the S.H. Ervin Gallery has established an excellent reputation that rivals the selections in the ‘official’ exhibition, with works selected for quality, diversity, humour and experimentation, and which examine contemporary art practices, different approaches to portraiture and responses to the landscape.
My paintings capture a single moment in time, focusing on homes within the Australian landscape. These spaces reflect the quiet, personal worlds built within suburban boundaries. ‘Chasing Butterflies’, is based on a house spotted in Woodburn NSW, on Bundjalung country, over 12 years ago on my way back up the coast along the old Pacific Hwy. It has been sold twice since then and is now painted grey and white and the garden and butterflies are gone.
I was attracted to the colours and compositional balance of the typical post war facade. Contrasting to its starker architectural elements the occupants had created a garden that displayed a whimsical and friendly narrative seemingly directed to its passing audience.the garden becomes a gesture of hope—an attempt to attract beauty, meaning, or change. Yet like butterflies, these desires remain fleeting. The work explores the tension between creating and letting go, holding space for the transient nature of life and the soft optimism that continues to shape it. — Robyn Sweaney 2026
Each year the panel of judges is invited to go behind the scenes of the judging process for the annual Archibald Prize for portraiture and Wynne Prize at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, to select from the many hundreds of works entered in both prizes but not chosen for the official award exhibition.
The Salon des Refusés exhibition at the S.H. Ervin Gallery has established an excellent reputation that rivals the selections in the ‘official’ exhibition, with works selected for quality, diversity, humour and experimentation, and which examine contemporary art practices, different approaches to portraiture and responses to the landscape.
6 May 2026
