An interplay of practices and processes

In music, counterpoint describes the simultaneous relationship of independent melodic lines—distinct yet interwoven, each voice retaining its autonomy while creating a richer whole. Counterpoint brings together the work of Jude Rae, Ruth Waller, and Toni Warburton, three artists whose practices resonate through material, form, and process.

Rae’s still life paintings distil the complexities of everyday experience, where light, touch, and spatial awareness transform objects into both image and presence. Waller’s paintings explore the poetics of shape and space, engaging the motif of the vase as a vehicle for abstraction, contemplation, and display. Warburton’s ceramics embrace the uncanny, drawing from botanical, geological, and architectural structures to sustain a sense of wonder through material and form.

The artists share a deep engagement with the physical and formal properties of their chosen materials, paint, clay, and the spaces in between. Their works cultivate attentiveness, revealing the beauty and strangeness of the familiar. The interplay of these practices suggests a counterpoint of ideas: materiality and illusion, perception and process, intuition and structure.

Growing up within a few kilometres of each other on Sydney’s Northern Beaches, the artists also share early experiences of place. Their experiences and practices remain unique, yet in dialogue, three voices attuned to the resonances of the world around them.