forseen uncircumstances is an exhibition of archival and new works showcasing Richard Gillespie’s multi-layered practice. The works emerged instinctively and easily, fueled by the artist’s interests in mythology (universal metaphors); animism (practical objects having a personality); and pareidolia (finding faces in grouped objects). The artist taps into a sense of universal consciousness to bridge the gap between the mundane and the sacred. By elevating the discarded byproducts of our material economy, he finds a hidden spirituality within the debris.

Gillespie explains how the title of the show conjures a dimension beyond that which is known to humans; it lies between the longing for creativity and the struggle for security, the dimension of forseen uncircumstances where life happens while you are busy making other plans. His work for this exhibition brings together these ideas to span altars, vector drawings and designs, cast paper pulp works and large-scale assemblages.

Exhibitions launch
6pm Friday 12 June 2026
Speeches from approx. 6:30pm
Free entry | Bookings not required

Richard Gillespie In Conversation
10am Sunday 28 June 2026
with Deputy Director Daniel Qualischefski
Full details here

Richard Gillespie sees an alignment from his art career with the phrase John Lennon popularised: ‘life is what happens while we are busy making other plans’. Gillespie grew up in Gadigal / Sydney, completed a Bachelor of Commerce to satisfy his parents’ wishes, then hit the road and discovered the power of art. He spent two years abroad, mostly in Sweden and the USA, and arrived at the decision to pursue art. He returned home and enrolled at Alexander Mackie CAE, going to art school in his mid-20s. After exhibiting with Hogarth Galleries and living in Sweden again through some of the 1980s, Gillespie moved to the tropics of North Queensland, transforming from hunter-gatherer to grower-reaper and salary-earner. He has worked in advertising, the public service and at James Cook University; and built a house, acted in plays and shared the parenting of a boy. Gillespie was a founding member of Umbrella’s associated organisation, where he exhibited in the very early days. While concentrating on a regular income for many years, he found little time to create work for solo exhibitions, however he has exhibited regularly in annual group exhibitions alongside occasional public art commissions.