Stephen Haley

BACK TO THE FUTUREAustralian artist Stephen Haley builds a bridge between the discoveries of the Renaissance and the 21st century. The development of the vanishing point and, with it, linear… Read more

Bio Exhibitions

Background Information about Stephen Haley

Introduction

BACK TO THE FUTURE

Australian artist Stephen Haley builds a bridge between the discoveries of the Renaissance and the 21st century. The development of the vanishing point and, with it, linear perspective laid the foundations for the modern, technologically dominated world of images. In the cityscapes of the early Renaissance, buildings were depicted through a measured gaze upon carefully ordered urban spaces. Haley creates an equally ingenious vision of the highly structured environments in which we live and work today. Using 3D technology, he produces compelling illusions, only to disrupt them through repetition and the incorporation of real urban panoramas. His is a visual art of the fugue, in which carefully organised underlying themes give rise to images of the modern world. His works, which he calls “virtual photographs”, are scientifically informed visual commentaries on present and future developments.

Stephen Haley holds a doctorate from the University of Melbourne, where he also taught art history. His academic research has explored the relationship between society and reflection in depth. His artistic thinking today is informed by the idea of networks, encompassing the internet and the other interconnected systems and dependencies of modern life: “The network encompasses us all. It has the power to restrict us, but also to connect us. It can oppress, but it can also radiate dizzying beauty – depending on how and by whom it is used.”

According to Haley, physical space is increasingly being designed according to models created in virtual environments. “The mirror has become a symbol of our time. We stand at a historical turning point where reality is disappearing into simulation.” The scholar's ideas find their perfect visual counterpart in his almost unsettlingly beautiful images of a particular vision of the future.

Horst Klöver

BETWEEN REALITY AND VIRTUALITY

Stephen Haley's artistic exploration of urban space extends far beyond the depiction of architecture. His works are both images of the world we inhabit and reflections on how that world is created. What initially appears to be an urban landscape reveals, on closer inspection, a complex perspective on the relationship between humanity, space and technology.

This inquiry runs throughout his decades-long career. As early as “New Estate & Nature Strips” (2002), he placed the designed environment of modern life at the centre of his work. In subsequent exhibitions such as “Cities, Factories, Walls and Malls” (2018), “Formwork and Forgeries” (2020) and “Unsettled” (2022), he continued to develop his exploration of urban structures. Architecture emerges not only as an expression of human creativity, but also as a reflection of the social systems that shape our everyday lives.

The connection between artistic practice and scholarly reflection defines Haley's distinctive approach. With a doctorate in art history and many years of university teaching experience, he combines analytical precision with visual imagination. His works move between painting, photography and digital image-making, opening up a space in which the boundaries between reality and simulation become increasingly blurred.

His artistic achievements have been recognised with numerous awards, including the ANZ Visual Art Fellowship (2004) and the Rupert Bunny Foundation Visual Arts Fellowship (2016). His works are held in major collections, including the National Gallery of Victoria and the Bendigo Art Gallery.

Haley's art does not simply transport us into a possible future. It reveals just how deeply that future is already embedded in the images of our present.

Bio

Stephen Haley was born in Melbourne, Australia, in 1961. He studied history, philosophy and painting at renowned institutions in his home city and in 2005 received his doctorate from the University of Melbourne with a thesis on the significance of the mirror in contemporary culture. The combination of art and scholarship has shaped his work ever since, as well as his academic career: for many years he taught at Australian universities, including as Head of Painting at the University of Melbourne, which appointed him Honorary Senior Fellow in 2023.

His works, exhibited internationally, are held in major collections, including the National Gallery of Victoria and the Bendigo Art Gallery. Numerous awards recognise his artistic achievements, among them the ANZ Visual Art Fellowship (2004), the R & M McGivern Acquisitive Prize for Painting (2006) and the Rupert Bunny Foundation Visual Arts Fellowship (2016).

Awards

2016	Rupert Bunny Foundation Visual Arts Fellowship, City of Port Phillip, Melbourne, Australia
2012	Arts Victoria Project Grant, Australia
2010	Australia Council Visual Arts Board New Work Grant, Australia
2006	Australia Council Visual Arts Board Overseas Studio Residency, Los Angeles, USA
	R & M McGivern Acquisitive Prize for Painting, Maroondah Regional Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
2004	ANZ Visual Art Fellowship, Melbourne, Australia
1998	Deacons Graham and James / Arts 21 Award, including research residency in Tokyo, Japan
1996	Pat Corrigan Award, NAVA / Australia Council, Australia
1995	Pat Corrigan Award, NAVA / Australia Council, Australia
1993	Christine Abrahams Award for Painting, Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne, Australia

Exhibitions

2020	Formwork and Forgeries, Mars Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
2019	DigiCiti, Art Central, Hong Kong, China
2017	Out of Place, Survey Exhibition 2004–2017, curated by Simon Lawrie, McClelland Sculpture Park + Gallery, Langwarrin, Australia
	Reverse Photography, Rupert Bunny Art Fellowship Award Exhibition (collaborative photography with Penelope Davis), St Kilda Town Hall Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
	Changing Places, Mars Gallery at Sydney Contemporary Art Fair, Sydney, Australia
2012	Somewhere About Now, Survey Exhibition 2006–2012, Glen Eira City Council Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
2011	Here is There, Bendigo Art Gallery, Bendigo, Australia
2008	Projected Worlds, Academy Gallery, School of Visual and Performing Arts, University of Tasmania, Australia
2007	Selected Video Works: Stephen Haley, National Gallery of Victoria International, Melbourne, Australia
2006	Projector, 18th Street Arts Centre, Los Angeles, USA

Solo Exhibitions

2021	The McClelland Collection: 50 Years of Spatial Practice, McClelland Gallery and Sculpture Park, Langwarrin, Australia
2018	Chaos and Order: 120 Years of Collecting at RMIT, RMIT Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
2017	Digital: The World of Alternative Realities, Justin Art House Museum, Melbourne, Australia
2011	2112: Imagining the Future, RMIT Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
2010	At Home in the World, LUMAS Galleries worldwide
2009	Shelter: On Kindness, Melbourne International Arts Festival, RMIT Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
2004	The Spirit of Football, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia
	Siggraph, Super Computing Conference, Pittsburgh, USA
2003	Glacier (touring exhibition), curated by Darren Wardle and Suzanne Davies, Benalla Art Gallery, Newcastle Regional Art Gallery, QUT Art Museum Brisbane, Australia
1998	Deacons Graham and James / Arts 21 Award, The Ian Potter Museum of Art, The University of Melbourne, Australia

Group Exhibitions

2008	Fletcher Jones Art Prize, Geelong Art Gallery, Geelong, Australia
	Macarthur Cook Painting Prize, FortyFiveDownstairs Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
	When I think about Art, George Paton Gallery, University of Melbourne, Australia
2007	Penelope Davis, Stephen Haley, Joyce Khol, Artcore Brewery Annex, Los Angeles, USA
	The Director’s Lounge 2007 Contemporary Art and Media, Berlin, Germany
	U-Turn, Glendale Art College Gallery, Glendale, Los Angeles, USA
	The Arthur Guy Memorial Painting Prize, Bendigo Art Gallery, Bendigo, VIC
	Maroondah City Council Collection Highlights, Maroondah Art Gallery, VIC
	Macarthur Cook Painting Prize, 45 Downstairs, Melbourne, Australia
	Living Elvis, RMIT Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
2006	Random Access, curated by Robert Lindsay, McClelland Gallery and Sculpture Park, Langwarrin, Victoria
	Resistance is Futile, VCA Gallery, Victoria Melbourne Reign, Michael Carr Gallery, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
	Reunion, Westspace Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
2005	The Arthur Guy Memorial Painting Prize, Bendigo Art Gallery, Bendigo, Victoria
	World Year of Physics Art Prize, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
	Savage Club Invitation Prize, Savage Club, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
	Industrial Strength, Horsham Regional Art Gallery, Victoria, Australia
2004	The Spirit of Football, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia
	Sigraph, Super Computing Conference, Pittsburgh, USA
	ANZ Visual Art Fellowship, ANZ Bank Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
	Young Collectors, Michael Carr Art Gallery, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
	Spring, Michael Carr Art Gallery, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
	FloraNova, Nellie Castan Gallery, Melbourne, Victoria Boogie, Jive and Bop, Curator Malcom Bywaters, Plimsoll Gallery, Centre for the Arts, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia
2003	The Arthur Guy Memorial Painting Prize, Bendigo Art Gallery, Bendigo, VIC
	Glacier, Curators Darren Wardle and Suzanne Davies, Benalla Art Gallery, Benalla, Victoria
	Newcastle Regional Art Gallery, Newcastle, New South Wales
	Queensland Art Museum, Queensland University of Technology, Queensland
	Boogie, Jive and Bop, Curator Malcom Bywaters, Launceston Academy Gallery, University of Tasmania, Launceston, Tasmania
	Hobart School of Art, Hobart, Tasmania
	Red Spot Special, Nellie Castan Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
	Hallelujah, Michael Carr Gallery, Sydney
2002	Suburban Echo (Stephen Haley, Howard Arkley, Alex Danko, Darren Wardle; Curator Robert Lindsay), McClellan Regional Gallery, Mornington
	Home Front, Canberra Contemporary Art Space, Canberra, Australia
	Third Nature, Michael Carr Art Gallery, Sydney, Australia
	John Leslie Art Prize, Gippsland Art Gallery, Sale, Victoria
	Recent Acquisitions 1999 – 2002, Horsham Regional Art Gallery, Horsham, Victoria
	Clear Seeing, UMPA Art Prize Exhibition, Span Galleries, Melbourne, Australia
	Innovation Exhibition, Innovation: Arts-Media-Design National Symposium Part 2, The VCA Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
2001	Glacier, RMIT Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
	Here There Elsewhere: Suburban Themes, Maroondah Art Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
	Office of Utopic Procedures, Westspace Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
	A4 Art, Westspace Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
2000	A Brush With Death, La Trobe Street Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
1999	The Keith and Elizabeth Murdoch Travelling Fellowship 1999, VCA Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
	A Four Art, Westspace, Melbourne, Australia
1998	Deacons Graham and James/ Arts 21 Award, Museum of Art, The Ian Potter Museum of Art, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia
	Stable, La Trobe Street Gallery, Melbourne Diversity, Switchback Gallery, Gippsland Centre of Art and Design, Churchill
	A-4 Art, Westspace Gallery, Footscray, Melbourne, Australia
	Talk Artists Run Space, Melbourne, Australia
	Pinoak Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
1997	Deacons Graham and James/ Arts 21 Award, Museum of Art, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia
	Whim: Humour in Art, Linden Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
	Autumn Show, La Trobe St. Gallery, Melbourne. Christ I’m Pissed Off, Stop 22 Gallery, Fringe Arts, Melbourne, Australia
	Work, Westspace Gallery, Footscray, Melbourne, Australia
	A-4 Art, Westspace Gallery, Footscray, Melbourne, Australia
1996	See Spot Run, Next Wave Festival, Temple Studios, Melbourne, Australia
	Shifting Ground: Moonee Valley Invitation Art Prize, City of Moonee Ponds, Melbourne, Australia
	100 Years of Footy, The Artist’s Garden, Melbourne, Australia
	A-4 Art, Westspace Gallery, Footscray, Melbourne, Australia
1995	Destinazione - Arte: Platform Artists Exchange Exhibition, Villa Spinola, Genova, Italy
	Rupert Bunny Foundation Selected Artists Exhibition, City of Port Phillip, Melbourne, Australia
	Save Albert Park Nine by Five Invitation Exhibition, Robert Lindsay Gallery, Melbourne
	ArtWorkz 7, 101 Collins St Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
	A-4 Art, Westspace Gallery, Footscray, Melbourne, Australia
1994	Power and Site, Next Wave Festival, Gallery Gecko, Fitzroy, Melbourne, Australia
	Out West, Westspace Gallery, Footscray, Melbourne, Australia
	Endangered Species, Linden Gallery, St.Kilda, Melbourne, Australia
	The Room Outside, Argyle St. Studios Gallery, St. Kilda, Melbourne, Australia
	A-4 Art, Westspace Gallery, Footscray, Melbourne, Australia
1993	Slide, Gertrude St Gallery, 200 Gertrude St, Fitzroy, Melbourne, Australia
	Small Works, Fitzroy St. Gallery, St.Kilda, Melbourne, Australia
	Young Melbourne Artists, Leonard Joel’s’ Auctions, Melbourne, Australia
1992	ArtWorkz Four, 101 Collins St Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
	Mass Hang, Deutscher Gallery, Fitzroy, Melbourne, Australia
	Daventry Art Prize, Monash Studios, Collingwood, Melbourne, Australia
1991	All Stock Must Go, Swanston St. Gallery, RMIT, Melbourne, Australia
	First National Student Art and Design Show, Exhibition Buildings, Melbourne, Australia
	RMIT Graduate Show, RMIT, Melbourne, Australia
1990	Verisimilitudes, Swanston St Gallery, RMIT, Melbourne, Australia