Unseen Cosmic Clock

Next date: Saturday, 06 June 2026 | 10:00 AM to Saturday, 22 August 2026 | 02:00 PM

Seth Birchall, 'This Unreality', 2026. Courtest the artist.

Unseen Cosmic Clock is a solo exhibition of new work by Seth Birchall that situates personal experience within broader questions of climate disaster and responsibility.

Through painted and printed landscapes, the exhibition explores loss and possibility. Recurring imagery – including marred olive trees, property markers and enclosed walls, moonlit skies, garden paths, still mornings and lightning – forms a visual language of fragility and endurance. The trees appearing throughout the work as silent, innocent bystanders to environmental degradation.

At the centre of the exhibition is an intergenerational conversation between the artist and his young daughter. Birchall reflects on what he feels he cannot promise her – land, the continuity of gardens, or a sense of permanence – while remaining committed to modelling a life shaped by a pursuit that is sometimes difficult, poetic and generative, rather than extractive or destructive.

For Birchall, these works echo a longstanding belief that painting participates in an ongoing dialogue across time, history, and with those who continue to make work today. His landscapes are akin to family heirlooms, and his practice is driven by a deep appreciation of nature and the need to protect it. He often responds to locations of environmental urgency, including the Bega Valley, where he has close family connections and undertook a residency at Myer House in Mimosa Rocks National Park in 2020 (hosted by the former Bega Valley Regional Gallery). Ideas of reciprocity, expressed through acts of giving and receiving – most visibly in Birchall’s creation of prints for audiences to take – are key themes in the exhibition, aligning with the Bega Valley’s broader circular economy ambitions.

The exhibition also features a custom-designed bench, created in collaboration with designer Jonathan West for the 2024 Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art. Birchall invites audiences to sit and contemplate his landscapes, encouraging a shift in attention and viewing behaviour. The bench references art historical traditions in which nature is experienced as a solitary encounter or viewed from the comfort of the domestic sphere.

About the artist:

Seth Birchall is an artist based in Naarm/Melbourne and is of dual Australian and American nationalities. Born in New Jersey, USA, he has spent most of his life in Australia, having arrived with his family at the age of eight. He holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the National Art School and a Master of Arts from the College of Fine Arts, University of New South Wales. As well as being included in the 2024 Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art, he has been a finalist in numerous awards, including the Wynne Prize and the Geelong Contemporary Art Prize. He has undertaken residencies at Artspace and Bundanon, among others, has exhibited nationally and internationally, and is represented by Sullivan+Strumpf.

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Dual exhibition opening event alongside Dennis Golding: POWER – The Future is Here.

Friday 5 June 2026, 5:30pm

Free event. All welcome.