The space has been created for something to happen; 1:2
Esther Stewart

Developing from an ongoing project that focuses on the representation of fictional and non-fictional architectures, Esther Stewart presented a 1:2 scaled fabric model of the artist’s home. From inside the model, interior spaces are punctuated by openings that recontextualise a domestic space within a gallery environment. Windows and doors appear to frame the sight lines of the work, altering both the scale and materiality of the architecture upon which it is based, while also collapsing distinctions between interior volumes and exterior façade.
 
Stewart creates paintings and installations that examine the possibilities offered through the visual languages of architecture, design and geometry. In her practice, the axioms of Euclidean geometry unfold in new and utopian interiors that are at once enticing and impenetrable. Stewart’s practice makes use of paintings, textiles, flags, screens and sculptures in her construction of architectural experiences, establishing a space between form and function, art and design.
 
Esther Stewart completed a Bachelor of Fine Art (First Class Honours) at the Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne in 2010 and Master of Cultural and Arts Management at the University of Melbourne in 2012. Her most recent project was presented as a solo exhibition at the Sarah Cottier Gallery booth at the Melbourne Art Fair 2018, being awarded the inaugural YarraBend Stand Prize. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally in public institutions and galleries, including at the Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne; Australian Centre for Contemporary Art (ACCA), Melbourne; and Víctor Lope Arte Contemporáneo, Barcelona, Spain. In 2016 Stewart was the winner of the Sir John Sulman Prize at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney. She is represented by Sarah Cottier Gallery, Sydney.
 
The space has been created for something to happen was a connected and accompanying work commissioned for and presented as part of the inaugural exhibition at the new Lyon Housemuseum Galleries, March 2019.