Adam Elliot - Melancholy and Marmalade

About

Academy Award® winning filmmaker and artist, Adam Elliot , is back with his long awaited second show at Beinart Gallery in his beloved hometown of Melbourne. This time he presents a recent collection of his personal and eccentric drawings. Titled, Melancholy and Marmalade, he once again delivers a gorgeous mini smorgasbord of detailed graphite and ink drawings that will allure, amuse, and sometimes gently shock. Opening reception: Jul 25th, 5 - 8pm. This is a free event. As Beinart Gallery is a licensed venue, any minors attending the opening reception will need to be accompanied by a responsible adult. This exhibition will run from Jul 26th - Aug 16th 2026, and will coincide with John Kenn Mortensen's Ligfærd , Jessica Ng's I am Home and Jale Soysal's Soft Mutations . From a naked florist to a series of unfortunate fish titled The Fish John West Rejects , Adam's random drawings are full of humour and pathos. Just like his acclaimed stop motion films, his small and highly coveted works provide a spark of joy and empathy in a world that seems to be growing more despondent and gloomy. Adam has always been a minimalist and obsessive purist, and still draws exclusively in black, white and grey. Unlike his complex and time consuming films that need hundreds of people and millions of dollars to make, he keeps his drawing practice simple and pared back. He still uses his cherished wooden Japanese ink nib dip pen and only draws on Arches French watercolour paper, with Winsor and Newton black waterproof ink. He renders with a Progresso graphite pencil from the Czech Republic and only uses tools and implements that have a narrative attached to them; bits and pieces he has collected from his travels with his films. Working in a deeply intuitive way, he never knows what his fingers and brain are going to produce. A kind of unconscious messing, his people, birds, fish, and occasional insects are extensions of his psyche; they are precious to him and he draws them with sincerity.