Gallery 3

Diamond Flower-Talisman Jam

22 July - 2 August 2026

Opening night

24 July | 6 - 8 pm

Gallery Hours:
Wednesday – Sunday: 10 am – 5 pm (please note last day of exhibition ends at 3pm)

ARTIST  STATEMENT 

Diamond Flowers – Talisman Jams, brings together Mark Misic instinctive approach to gesture, texture, and colour in a striking new series of diamond - shaped paintings. In these works Misic continues to jam in the intersection of science and myth, reflecting his interest in mysticism, magic and personal encounters with nature and the universal phenomena.

Fascinated by how flowers are used in temple rituals, Misic invokes these flower paintings as metaphysical talismans, painterly portals that charge the space between the seen and the unseen, creating subtle and direct connections between the viewer and the larger universal field, where looking flows both ways. Each diamond mandala is named after a plant associated with both magical lore and natural healing. While Western mythology links these plants to elemental spirits like fairies, modern science reveals that the compounds within these flowers form the basis of many contemporary pharmacological treatments.

Misic sees paint as a medium embedded with a light medicine that conjures and connects to the magic of nature and to source. The rotated square format allows each painting to function as a mandala. Composed of two intersecting triangles, the upward-pointing triangle represents the celestial realms, while the downward-pointing triangle signifies the underworld.

Silver is layered throughout the works as a transcendental motif. Reflective and immersive, it mirrors the world, referencing the gilded surfaces of mystical artworks across both Eastern and Western traditions. An important reference is Edvard Munch’s ocular sketches, where he rendered the visions through his damaged right eye.

ARTIST  BIOGRAPHY

Misic is concerned with the intersection of the physical human experience and universal phenomenology. His work explores the strange couplings, flows, and alliances that occur when our internal systems of self-governance and human physicality merge with the primordial landscape. He is a multidisciplinary artist working across painting, drawing, photography,

performance, and installation. Misic has had multiple solo and group exhibitions nationally, and has participated in cross-cultural projects abroad. While studying visual art, he was mentored in life drawing by Yvonne Audette.

He has been a member of numerous art groups: Damp, TramJatra (Melbourne & Kolkata Tramway Friendship), ArtTag, and Beautiful Chaos. His artistic interests include contemporary dance, authentic movement, Butoh, and community theatre.

Misic has traveled, studied, and worked extensively. He studied Fine Art at the Emily Carr University of Art and Design in Vancouver, Canada, served as a crew member at a community TV station in Arnhem Land, volunteered in a remote Guatemalan animal refuge (caring for jaguars, monkeys, and scarlet macaws), traveled to Bhutan as part of his yoga teacher training, and worked as a tram conductor in Melbourne between university courses. Misic is a qualified yoga teacher holding a Master of Fine Art, a Bachelor of Fine Art, and a Diploma of Education. He has also undertaken studies in psychology, politics, and history.