Sense of Direction: Alpha60 X Brendan Huntley at the Heide Museum of Modern Art.

Installation view of Sense of Direction: Alpha60 X Brendan Huntley at the Heide Museum of Modern Art. Photography by Clytie Meredith.

A collaborative exhibition between Australian artist Brendan Huntley and fashion label Alpha60 has launched this March at the Heide Museum of Modern Art. Sense of Direction is an installation of paintings, sculptures, monotypes, rugs and clocks together explore the transience of personal transformation.

The show is presented in the Heide Modern, which began its life as the home of John and Sunday Reed in 1967. It is today is one of five gallery spaces at Heide, with a special focus on site-responsive exhibitions by contemporary artists.

The centrepiece of the exhibition is a 32-metre-long carpet runner, custom-made to traverse the spaces, spanning both floors and flowing from room to room. Brendan Huntley also unveiled his largest painting to date and recent sculptures, as well as archival artworks acquired by Alex and Georgie Cleary of Alpha60 over the years.

From the initial conversation about a collaborative rug back in 2019, the idea for the project grew through countless meetings. The synergy and excitement between Brendan, Alex and Georgie enabled the concept to evolve and the singular rug morphed into an ambitious immersive installation, with accompanying clocks to mirror the rug’s motifs.

Relatively Useful by John Wardle & Simon Lloyd at Heide Modern.

This humbly powerful showcase celebrates the talent and skill of a range of makers from Melbourne, regional Victoria and Hobart, with John Wardle and Simon Lloyd describing the pieces as “gradients of collaboration”.

Brendan Huntley comments: “The idea of creating something that will be shown in Heide Modern—with the house’s extraordinary history—inspired us to exaggerate the scale of a domestic item, to reflect how the space blurs the lines between house and museum.”

Alex, Georgie and Brendan began moving in the same circles when Brendan was gaining popularity as the frontman of rock band Eddy Current Suppression Ring. Georgie Cleary said, “Our journey started with a friendship, became a desire to work together, sparked an idea, which has culminated in an exhibition.”

Georgie and Alex went to one of Brendan’s first exhibitions at Hell Gallery in Richmond and bought a painting of a pair of upside-down wine glasses with faces on them—the painting still hangs in Georgie’s bedroom today. Throughout Brendan’s art career, Georgie and Alex have followed him through multiple galleries and collected many of his works.

For the duration of the exhibition the artworks, clocks and rugs will all be available to purchase via Alpha60’s online store. Brendan is represented by Tolarno Galleries and will be having a solo exhibition with the gallery later this year.

Sense of Direction is on show at Heide Modern until 10th April. For more information, click here.

Hanging Out in Alpha60 Autumn/Winter 2013 Collection.

When I saw Alpha60 Autumn/ Winter 2013 collection, I was instantly compelled to turn a few of my favourite looks into 'reverse mood-boards'.

(L-R) Alex Cleary, Brendan Huntley, Georgie Cleary. Image courtesy of Alpha60.

Brendan Huntley, The Runner (detail), 2023, photograph courtesy of Alpha60.

[Images courtesy of Alpha60. Installation photography by Clytie Meredith.]