Slick Slopes, Stephan Balleux and Sam Leach, Void_ Melbourne, June - July 2023.

This exhibition is a synthesis of two distinct artistic voices, engaged in a dialogue that explores the intersections between climate change, artificial intelligence, nature, and the human condition. Named for its inherent duality, Slick Slopes encapsulates the simultaneous sense of downfall and resilience embedded in our current epoch, characterised by a precarious environment and technology's incessant advancement. Sam Leach, known for his meticulous representations of the interplay between nature and technology, pairs with Stephan Balleux, Head of the Painting Department at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Brussels, whose work, often veiled in layers of interpretation and meaning, challenges our understanding of painting as a medium.

A decade-long conversation between Balleux and Leach underpins this exhibition, initiated when Balleux undertook a residency in Australia in 2009. Over the years, their creative rapport has fostered a shared vocabulary, an artistic dialect that threads its way through their practices. Art, like language, is inherently relational; each work, object, or gesture exists within a complex network of associations, meanings, and histories. Slick Slopes bears testament to this, underscoring the fluid interplay between individual and collective, material and concept, tradition and innovation.

In addition to painting, the exhibition spans a range of media, incorporating sculptural works and found objects. Balleux and Leach eschew rigid preconceptions and fixed plans in favour of a more organic method: they respond to the gallery space, the material at hand, and the evolving dynamic of their creative dialogue, letting these elements shape the final form of the exhibition. The gallery becomes an active participant in their artistic conversation.