Sutton Gallery is pleased to present Microclimate, an exhibition of new works by Melbourne artist Helga Groves. Indicative of Groves’ ongoing fascination with the natural environment, the mixed-media works in this exhibition explore ecological microclimates, localised zone where the climate differs from the surrounding area. Altitude regions, stratospheres, tropospheres, elevations, moon phases and climatic conditions inhabit the gallery space to create an enveloping terrain of natural phenomena.

In Heavy Rain, 2009, a new installation piece, Groves’ surprising utilization of fishing wire transforms the material into a poetic manifestation of heavy rain. In Above Sea Level, 2009 the artist morphs photography with sculpture, presenting twelve months of photographic documentation of skies; juxtaposing views over Australia, the Arctic Circle, and the Pyrenees. Together these form a temporal spectrum enclosed in thirty-two perspex cylinders. Grove’s exploration of light and time is continued in the Last light series of paintings. Moving away from the lively visual opticality of her earlier works, these paired back images are a personal homage to a place, emanating a contemplative stillness. The multiple panels, reductive and predominantly blue, construct an ethereal temporal sequence.