Idris Murphy Returns To Brisbane With A New Exhibition
outback state of mind
By Kiri Johnston | 11th September 2026The acclaimed Australian landscape artist brings the colours and spirit of the outback to Fortitude Valley.
One of Australia’s leading contemporary landscape artists, Idris Murphy, has returned to Brisbane with Incantation, a major new exhibition now showing at Mitchell Fine Art in Fortitude Valley.
Running until 10 October, the exhibition brings together two significant bodies of Murphy’s work: a rare collection of three-dimensional landscape assemblages alongside a new series of paintings inspired by his journeys through the Australian outback.
Known for landscapes alive with colour and movement, Murphy approaches the Australian environment through memory, emotion and lived experience. The result is far removed from a literal depiction of the bush, instead capturing the atmosphere and energy of the places he encounters.
Working en plein air, Murphy describes his approach as capturing the “spirit of a place rather than its literal likeness”. His regular journeys through remote Australia – which the artist calls his “expeditions” – have provided a lifetime of visual references that continue to inform his work.
“Rather than documenting, Idris’ works transform lived experience into vivid fields of colour and gesture, capturing the emotional resonance of remote country with an extraordinary vitality,” says Mitchell Fine Art Gallery Director Mike Mitchell.
In Incantation, those expansive painted landscapes sit alongside Murphy’s three-dimensional works, offering another perspective on his longstanding exploration of place. Moving between scale, material and form, the exhibition considers the Australian landscape not simply as a physical environment, but somewhere experienced through memory and personal perspective.
Murphy is widely regarded as an important figure in contemporary Australian landscape painting, with his work held in major public collections including the National Gallery of Australia, National Library of Australia, Parliament House Art Collection, Art Gallery of New South Wales, State Library of New South Wales and State Library of Queensland.
For those wanting to hear directly from the artist, Murphy will join Mitchell Fine Art for a free artist talk on Saturday 12 September from 2.30pm, followed by the exhibition’s opening event.
Incantation by Idris Murphy is showing at Mitchell Fine Art, 86 Arthur Street, Fortitude Valley, until 10 October 2026. The gallery is open Monday to Friday from 10am–5.30pm and Saturday from 10am–5pm.
