Prototypes: The Art Of Becoming
Curated by interdisciplinary artist, Angelina Mirabito, PhD
Prototypes presents works that are fully realised; alive with a glimpse into the unfolding of contemporary artistic ideas. The exhibition explores the tension between the present and the future, revealing how each artwork exists as a completed form and as a catalyst for what is yet to come.
Kasia Dudkiewicz, Lucia Medina, and Arabella Strachan navigate this terrain with technical precision. Drawing on their deep engagement with texture, art, and design, they interrogate form through a highly tactile lens. Utilising a diverse material palette, including plaster, air-dry clay, and natural fibres, their works expand the language of contemporary practice by transforming physical matter into design-inflected sculptural forms.
Defining this exhibition is a disciplined tonal restraint. The palette is anchored in white, black, grey and blue, a monochromatic foundation that emphasises structural integrity and raw materiality. This core palette is subtly punctuated by metallic hints of gold and silver, as well as delicate, earthy accents of peach and yellow-green within the fibre works.
Kasia Dudkiewicz utilises meticulous hand-knotting and contemporary macramé techniques to create large-scale and smaller sculptural works that emphasise the sensory and emotional resonance of texture.
Kasia Dudkiewicz, Now You See Me, 2025, Cotton cord, metallic thread, 107 x 192cm.
Lucia Medina presents high-relief structural paintings on canvas, where forms of plaster and clay extrude extensively from the surface to challenge traditional boundaries between painting and sculpture.
Lucia Medina, Soft Mnemonics Volume 1 & 2, 2025, Plaster and acrylic on canvas, 105 x 80 x 5cm (each).
Arabella Strachan explores functional sculpture through luminous lamps created using needle tufting techniques with fibre, featuring these nuanced metallic and earthy accents.
Arabella Strachan, White Light, Tasmanian oak frame, brass tacks, cotton yarn, hessian cloth, reclaimed lamp timber lamp base, wool felt, lamp fixtures, 34 x 29 x 29cm, 2025.
Hosted at The Gladstone as part of an ongoing Artist Residency supported by Greystar, Romulus Folio Gallery operates as an independent creative hub where conceptual rigour meets tactile presence.
Exhibition Dates: 6 February – 1 March 2026
Prototypes Exhibition Opening X The Gladstone Social Night: 13 February, 5–7pm
Address: 55 Gladstone Street, South Melbourne, 3205
Wednesday - Friday 12-7pm | Saturday and Sunday 12-5pm | By appointment
For a deeper look into the material processes and spatial installation of the works, read our feature on Material Inquiry and the Development of Form.