This exhibition presents sculptural works by Matt Hinkley, Elizabeth Newman and Luke Sands. Although they sometimes incorporate found and readymade materials into their work, these artists remain committed to a peculiar idea of craftsmanship. Much of their work is handmade, but it is not technically accomplished—at least not in the usual sense of the term. It often has a haphazard or amateur look about it. These artists recognise that to make something new, the tricks of the trade must be unlearnt. In another sense, this is a prerequisite for all art. Art making always involves more than mechanically exercising a skill, following a rule or applying a formula. The trade must be unlearnt, even if it was never mastered in the first place. 

Matt Hinkley completed a Bachelor of Visual Arts at the Queensland College of the Arts in Brisbane in 2000. Hinkley was a studio artist at Gertrude Contemporary between 2009 and 2011. He is about to undertake an Australia Council Studio in Japan, and undertook an Australia Council Studio in Los Angeles in 2009. Recent individual exhibitions include: Matt Hinkley, Sutton Gallery, 2014; List, w/ Joshua Petherick, Robert Heald Gallery, Wellington, 2013; Frame, Frieze Art Fair, London, 2009; Folio and Matt Hinkley, Acca @ Mirka. Melbourne, 2007. Hinkley has also contributed to a number of significant group exhibitions both locally and internationally, including: 19th Biennale of Sydney: You Imagine What You Desire, Sydney, 2014; Pavilions, Tcb Art. Inc, Melbourne, 2014; Melbourne Now, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 2013; Freehand, Recent Australian Drawing Heide Museum of Art, Melbourne, 2010; New08, Australian Centre For Contemporary Art, Melbourne, 2008.

Elizabeth Newman studied at the Victorian College of the Arts in the 1980s. Recent solo exhibitions include: Elizabeth Newman, Hamish McKay, Wellington, NZ, 2013; Axiom, Neon Parc, Melbourne, 2013; Elizabeth Newman, NADA Cologne, Germany, 2013; Elizabeth Newman, SNO (Sydney Non Objective), Sydney, 2013; Elizabeth Newman, Art Copenhagen, Denmark, 2012; room for plan B with Nicki Wynnychuk, AEAF, Adelaide, 2011; and Spazio A, Pistoia, Italy, with Esther Klaes (curated by Chris Sharp), 2011. Group exhibitions include: No You’re Product, Slopes, Melbourne, 2014; Fin, Utopian Slumps, Melbourne, 2014; Melbourne Now, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 2013; In The Cut, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art (ACCA), Melbourne, 2013; Forever Young, Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne, 2011; and The Unprecedented Dark Light of the New Letters, CAST, Hobart, 2009.

Luke Sands received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in 2011. In 2014 Sands was in a two-person exhibition with Kieren Seymore at Sutton Projects. Selected exhibitions include: New Argument Stream, curated by David Homewood, Slopes, Melbourne, 2014; 感情警備員ビザ, TCB Art Inc, Melbourne, 2013; Drunk vs. Stoned XIII, Neon Parc, Melbourne, 2013; Group Exhibition: Artwork Documentation, curated by David Homewood, Studio 6, Gertrude Contemporary, Melbourne 2013; Great Views, Snake Pit, Auckland, New Zealand 2012 and 3SQUARE, Conical Inc, Melbourne, 2010.