Lucy Feagins, founder of popular blog The Design Files, added yet another string to her well-designed bow when she opened TDF Collect in March. It’s a new gallery space that highlights emerging Australian artists.

Last night’s launch of Sydney-based Laura Jones’ Shadow and Soul marked the second exhibition in the quarterly program. For Jones, the opportunity to show her work to a new market is a welcome one.

“I’ve never exhibited in Melbourne before, so I was thrilled to be asked,” she says. “Lucy has such a fantastic attitude towards art. She has a real feel for it, so even though she’s featured my work on The Design Files before, I was excited to be able to work with her on this solo exhibition.”

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Jones’s oil paintings are exquisite, still-life pictures of flowers, including pansies, roses and camellias. The 16 works in Shadow and Soul are all new and painted from flowers she foraged around her studio in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales.

With a deliciously vibrant colour palette and emotive brushstrokes, Feagins’ decision to paint the gallery walls charcoal grey only heightens the works’ vivid qualities. The large hanging floral installation by Cecilia Fox floral studio is another unexpected addition to the space.

“Curatorially, I thought both of these ideas were wonderful, because Lucy is literally thinking outside of the white box,” says Jones. “She’s innovative in the way she presented the work and I’m so happy with how the exhibition looks.”

Shadow and Soul is showing at TDF Collect until July 9.

Shadow and Soul at TDF Collect

87 Albert Street, Brunswick

July 4 & 5, 10am–4pm

July 6 11am–3pm

July 9 10am–4pm

tdfcollect.com

Laura Jones is represented by Gallery Ecosse.