Buxton Contemporary unveils major solo exhibition by Hany Armanious

Buxton Contemporary will close out 2025 with a landmark exhibition by one of Australia’s most acclaimed sculptors, Hany Armanious, whose inventive and playful approach to form has redefined the boundaries of contemporary art.

Opening November 21, Hany Armanious: Stone Soup is presented in partnership with the Henry Moore Institute in the United Kingdom, following its debut in Leeds last year. The Melbourne presentation expands significantly, showcasing more than 80 works – including a major new commission – and will run until April 11, 2026.

Guest curated by Laurence Sillars, head of the Henry Moore Institute, with Samantha Comte and Charlotte Day from The University of Melbourne, the exhibition spans the full breadth of Armanious’s practice, from his renowned resin-cast sculptures to his lesser-known two-dimensional works.

Armanious is celebrated for transforming everyday objects into extraordinary reflections on perception and process. Using found materials as his starting point, he casts them in resin at a one-to-one scale, preserving every imperfection to highlight the act of creation itself. His works explore how we see, value and relate to the objects that populate our lives.

This exhibition captures the breadth of his practice – presenting a body of work that favours ambiguity and poetic possibility over overt symbolism,” Samantha Comte, head curator of art museums at The University of Melbourne, said. “His art questions how we use objects to anchor ourselves in the world – an enquiry that feels particularly important today.

Highlights include the six-metre canvas Water Lilies (2018), held in Auckland Art Gallery’s collection, and a new site-specific wall work printed directly onto the gallery using large-scale commercial signage technology. The exhibition opens with Body Swap (2015), a dual-sided mirror sculpture that invites viewers to see themselves and their surroundings from fresh perspectives.

In a characteristic twist, Armanious also subverts Buxton Contemporary’s architecture by turning the gallery’s vertical columns into horizontal plinths for his sculptural works.

“We are thrilled to bring this significant international exhibition to Melbourne,” Charlotte Day, director of art museums at The University of Melbourne, said. “Armanious has an extraordinary ability to transform the everyday into something profound and mysterious.”

Featuring loans from leading Australian and New Zealand institutions, Stone Soup will be accompanied by a richly illustrated monograph published in collaboration with the Henry Moore Institute.

Hany Armanious: Stone Soup runs from November 21, 2025, to April 11, 2026, at Buxton Contemporary, Southbank. Entry is free.

buxtoncontemporary.com •