NEW EXHIBITION! THE POWER OF COLOUR – SALA 2026

Behind the scenes, while also exhibiting in group exhibitions in Europe, I have been slowly preparing for an exhibition of my latest work here in Adelaide, South Australia.

The Power of Colour opens at Mezzanine 55 in Kent Town on 27 August 2026, as part of the South Australian Living Artists Festival (SALA). I’m exhibiting alongside fellow South Australian artist Greta Laundy, and I’m so excited to finally bring these new paintings out of the studio and into the gallery.

For me, The Power of Colour is a celebration of the profound shifts colour can make in our lives – far beyond the decorative. Colour carries energy. It can change the way we feel, move through a space, remember, connect and imagine.

New Work – and a Journey into the Archive

Alongside my latest paintings, I’ll also be showing a selection of archive works in the adjacent gallery, including one large painting that has never previously been exhibited.

The New Earth was painted in Sydney in 2008 while I was pregnant with my first daughter. At 136 x 183 cm, it is a significant work for me personally, and it feels very special to be bringing it into the light after all these years.

You’ll have to come to the exhibition to see it!

Creating New Futures

The new paintings are nearly ready. I’m in those final stages of varnishing, making tiny touch-ups and photographing the works before they leave the studio.

My painting New Futures took many weeks of gentle focus and collaboration with what I experience as an unseen world.

When I paint, I often get a very clear internal sense of where colours need to go and what needs to be added. The answers can arrive swiftly from a deep meditative space. I can spend hours mixing colours, listening and working intricately with the brush until the painting begins to reveal itself.

New Futures is about embracing our connection with spirit in a world where we are so often encouraged to disconnect.

It is about imagining and creating our future from the true human heart rather than allowing the incessant voices of materialism and pure rationalism to determine who we are and where we are going.

For me, painting is a way of listening to something deeper.

Seven Small Paintings That Came From Nowhere

Yesterday I finished signing a group of small 24 x 24 cm paintings that seemed to arrive completely unexpectedly.

I had begun painting without any intention of creating a series, but suddenly a small nature series emerged – paintings that felt like trees in motion, infused with the energy of the leaf.

There are seven:

Do, Re, Mi, Fah, Sol, La, Te.

My little pieces of colour. My energy pieces.

Music is enormously important to my painting process. I’m constantly inspired by notes, instruments, rhythm, vibration, sound and the mysterious healing world created when sounds come together.

Those internal journeys become embedded in the paintings.

The Stars Fall into Me

I’m also sharing a sneak peek of one of my new geometric works, The Stars Fall into Me.

I painted this at a time when I could feel what I experienced as a distinctly new energy coming from the stars. Even during the day, it felt as though the Earth was being scattered with tiny, sparkling energetic tingles – a sense of lightness that was completely separate from the fear and noise we so often encounter through our screens and media.

At the time I was also listening to a novel connected with the Pleiades – the Seven Sisters – and somehow those ideas, sensations and invisible connections began finding their way into the painting.

That is so often how the work happens.

Something is felt before it can be explained.

And then colour gives it a language.

Come and Spend Some Time With the Work

It is an exciting moment bringing together these new paintings and selected archive works for The Power of Colour.

I would love you to join Greta and me at the gallery.

One of the things that will be a little different about this exhibition is that I’ll be spending time at Mezzanine 55 during the show. So there will be opportunities to ask questions, talk about the paintings and the process behind them – or simply have a coffee and a chat.

Artists are not always there when you visit an exhibition, so I’m looking forward to having that direct connection with people who come to see the work.

THE POWER OF COLOUR

Kari Bienert + Greta Laundy

Opening: Thursday 27 August 2026, 6–8pm
Exhibition: 27 August – 12 September 2026
Mezzanine 55
55 Rundle Street, Kent Town, South Australia

Viewing hours:
Tuesday–Thursday: 11am–3pm
Friday–Sunday: 11am–4pm
Closed Mondays

Part of SALA 2026 – South Australian Living Artists Festival.

View The Power of Colour in the official SALA program:
https://www.salafestival.com/artfuel/program/view/12878/the-power-of-colour

RSVP for the opening night:
https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/the-power-of-colour-sala-exhibition-opening-27-aug-6-8pm-tickets-1993762046953

I hope to see you there.

Kari x