Petalia Humphreys is an artist living and working on Gubbi Gubbi land on the Sunshine Coast.
Petalia Humphreys' three-dimensional paintings invite the ambulatory viewer to participate in an illusory game of shifting dimensionality. Employing reductive abstraction her playful architectonic inspired works celebrate the legacy of material and a genealogy of art making and woodworking, constructing site-responsive built forms that map familiar (and familial) domestic spaces. Humphreys’ work references a history of abstraction, including neo-concretism and the active object.
Petalia is passionate about advocating and promoting the development of rigorous and contemporary arts practices in regional areas. She is founder, producer and curator for Studio 26, a project that curates opportunities for mentoring, critical conversation and exhibitions concerning non-objective and reductive abstraction.
Follow Studio 26 on Instagram @studio26art.
Petalia Humphreys was born and raised in Queensland, she graduated from QUT with a Bachelor of Art, Visual Art (First Class Honours) and a Bachelor of Education (Visual Arts). Humphreys has worked as a teacher of Visual Art and Design in secondary and tertiary education and has exhibited at the Institute of Modern Art (IMA), Metro Arts, and Outer Space. Humphreys has been commissioned for multiple public art projects and has exhibited regionally at Noosa Regional Gallery, Caloundra Regional Gallery and interstate galleries including Melbourne’s Five Walls and Stephen McLaughlan Gallery.
Follow Petalia on Instagram @petalia_humphreys.
Solo Exhibitions
2023 Tend, Five Walls, Melbourne
2022 Prompt, SUPERCUT X Petalia Humphreys, Outer Space Window Gallery, Brisbane
2022 A-part-ment, Metro Arts, Brisbane
2022 Artist in Session, Studio 26, Noosa
2021 Inhabit solo exhibition, Noosa Regional Art Gallery, supported by Noosa Regional Art Development Fund
2019 Flying Arts Seasonal Sittings of Tiny Art, Judith Wright Centre of Contemporary Arts, Brisbane
1999 Protrusions, Shop 49B, Brisbane, a project by Peter Alwast
1998 a work, Someone Else’s Studio, Brisbane, curated by Gail Hastings
1997 flat, Palace Gallery, Brisbane
Selected Group Exhibitions
2025 In Plain Sight, Five Walls, Melbourne
2025 Local Contemporary Art Prize, Finalist, Caloundra Regional Art Gallery
2025 Latest & Greatest III: Sunshine Coast Art Collection new acquisitions, Caloundra Regional Art Gallery
2025 Red Salon, Red Gallery, Melbourne
2025 Merv Moriarty Landscape Award, Flying Arts Alliance Touring Exhibition
2024 Linden Postcard Show, Linden New Art, Melbourne
2024 Redland Art Awards, Finalist, Redland Art Gallery
2024 Stanthorpe Art Prize 2024, Finalist, Stanthorpe
2024 Fresh, Stephen McLaughlan Gallery, Melbourne
2024 No Vacancy Annual, No Vacancy, Melbourne
2024 Colour Conference, KEPK, Brisbane
2023 Expansion Point, Known Associates, Noosa Regional Gallery, curated by Studio 26
2023 FORM: Interrupted, Waiting Room Gallery, Fish Lane, Brisbane
2023 Local Artists Local Content Art Prize, Finalist, Caloundra Regional Gallery
2023 Latest & Greatest II: Sunshine Coast Art Collection new acquisitions, Caloundra Regional Art Gallery
2023 More than the sum of its parts, Noosa Regional Gallery
2023 3 Squared, Butter Factory Art Centre, Cooroy
2022 Neo Non-objective, G Contemporary, curated by Studio 26
2022 EDIT-ism, Outer Space Gallery, Brisbane, curated by Studio 26
2022 Lethbridge Small Scale Art Award, Finalist, Lethbridge Gallery, Brisbane
2021 Glimpse, The Side Gallery, Brisbane
2021 Betwixt, Webb Gallery, Brisbane
2021 Mutual Intent, The Design Conference, Brisbane Powerhouse, Brisbane
2020 Abstraction, Finalist & Viewer’s Choice Award, Petrie Terrace Gallery, Brisbane
2019 Milburn Art Prize, Finalist, Brisbane Institute of Art
Public Art
2023 HOur, Concept Design, Peregian Community House
2022 Field of Vision, Currie Street, permanent installation for Reimagine Nambour
2022 Affinite, Concept Design for AVID, Harmony District Recreation Park
2021 Occupation: Observances in Counterpart, Commissioned work for SunCentral, The Met, Maroochydore City Centre
2021 Sightlines, Key commissioned work, Floating Land, Noosa
Residencies and Projects
2022-4 Studio 26 Project Founder & producer, Studio 26, Peregian Beach
2023 Known Associates, Noosa Regional Gallery, Curator
2022 Neo Non-objective, G Contemporary, Curator
2022 Critical Light, Horizon Festival
2022 The Keeper Project, facilitated by Field Theory
2022 SC Creative Spaces Artist in residence, The Old Lock Up, Maroochydore
2022 EDIT-ism, Outer Space, Co-curator
2022 Studio 26 Project Founder & producer, Studio 26, Peregian Beach
2021 Liminal States Co-curator, The Old Lockup, Maroochydore
2021 Curator Program, Professional development facilitated by Hamish Sawyer
2021 The Path, Project development facilitated by Kellie O’Dempsey
Publications
Forthcoming: Sharing Space: Studio 26 collected essays, Studio 26
Forthcoming: Bai, P, “Form, Object and an Open Space - Geometric Abstraction by Petalia Humphreys”, Studio 26
Walsh, G, “A Space Between”, SUPERCUT, Outer Space
Hine, M , EDIT-ism exhibition essay, Outer Space
Mayhew, L , Painting is Dead. Long Love Painting!
Brennan, M , “Precision Painting”, In Noosa, Iss 28, Winter
Delany, M , No Noise: Light, Colour, Action, !Metro Arts
Anderson, P , “No Noise”, Eyeline Isuue 42, Autumn/Winter
McNamara, A , “Looking for an opening”, Globe, Issue 9, Monsah University
Kubler, A , Suite, exhibition essay, Smith & Stoneley