Codex 12:6
Hilarie Mais
2006 | oil on wood | accession number 741
purchased by the Art Board 2006 - Murdoch University Art Collection

Hilarie MAIS

born 1952, Yorkshire, United Kingdom
lives and works Sydney, New South Wales

Hilarie Mais’ minimalist, colour layered grid constructions could equally be described as either sculpture or painting. Whilst her works are often substantial in size they are created with extreme poise and symmetry. The resulting works demonstrate an alluring play of light and shadow and for this reason the works are often presented leaning against walls to create dramatic shadow effects. Codex 12:6 is a poetically engaging and reflective installation which typifies Mais' practice since the early 1990's.

Hilarie Mais is one of Australia’s leading contemporary sculptors. She was born in England and studied at the Winchester School of Art and the Slade School of Art, London. In 1977 she was awarded the Boise Scholarship and moved to New York, where she was awarded a Fellowship to the New York Studio School. Hilarie Mais came to Australia in 1981. She has exhibited widely in Australia and internationally, including the 6th and 7th Biennale of Sydney at the Art Gallery of New South Wales (1986 and 1988); Systems end: contemporary art in Australia in Osaka, Japan, and touring Asia (1996); and Southern reflections, Stockholm Kulturhuset, Sweden, and touring Scandinavia (1998–99). Mais has received a number awards, including the Australia Council Fellowship in 1993, the Blake Prize for Religious Art in 1994 and a Pollock–Krasner Foundation Award in 2000. Hilarie Mais’s work is represented in major public and private collections in Australia and internationally.

Other selected artwork acquisitions