The Authentic Consequence: Forty years of John Baird

MPRG Local Focus
Curated by Rodney James

6 September – 16 November 2025.

The Authentic Consequence presents the first major survey of accomplished Mornington Peninsula artist John Baird.

The exhibition traces Baird’s beginnings as an artist with Roar Studios through to key examples of his recent paintings, drawings, collages, and sculptures. Baird’s approach to his work will be on display as mini-tableaux comprising paintings, hand-built furniture and associated table-top sculptures, a wall of inspirations (sketches, photographs and musings) and a group of new paintings specially produced for the exhibition.

The Authentic Consequence explores the artist’s exploration of the frisson between the real and the imagined, and the innate difference between what is seen and what can be felt. Landscape and seascapes are richly loaded evocations of past histories and combine fresh observations with memories, shared experiences, and storytelling. Surfaces pulsate, shift and transition over time as they do in the arrangement of his still lives.

 

John Baird, 'Sydney in the Rain', 2022, acrylic and shellac on board,Private Collection, Courtesy of the artist and Arthouse Gallery, Sydney.