The Art Journal
Ralph Kerle Returns to Manly with a New Flagship Gallery at 36‑38 Sydney Road
Manly, NSW – Internationally acclaimed fine‑art photographer Ralph Kerle is coming home—literally—by opening a sophisticated new gallery at 36‑38 Sydney Road, Manly, only metres from the beaches and waterways that inspire the majority of his work. The move follows a successful tenure in the former Billabong store on The Corso; the fresh location offers a more refined, purpose‑built space that aligns with Manly’s evolving cultural scene and growing appetite for premium art experiences. Local Waters, Global Reach Kerle’s signature imagery—captured while kayaking the sheltered waters of Middle Harbour, Fairlight and Manly Cove—has been exhibited from Palm Beach, Florida to the Rothko Museum in Latvia. Now, his latest series of large‑scale water‑reflection photographs returns to the very shoreline that birthed them, inviting visitors to witness how Sydney’s coastal beauty can resonate on a world stage. A Decade of Impact & Well‑Being Over the past ten years, Ralph Kerle has: Presented 15 solo exhibitions on three continents. Selected as one 4 global artists to exhibit in the 10th Anniversary of the Rothko Museum, Latvia Recognized as one of 42 Emerging Young Artists in Berlin Art Week Commissioned by the Rotal Australian Navy to create a major exhibition for the Australian National Maritime Museum Collaborated with Australians’ leading eye health specialists raising awareness of eye health and tissue donation showing his immersive artworks lower stress and foster mindfulness in clinical and community settings. “Living with art is living with calm,” says Kerle. “The rhythms of water reflections remind us to slow down, breathe and find balance—something city dwellers and tourists alike can benefit from.” What to Expect Opening Reception: Friday, 22 August 2025, 6 pm – drinks & light entertainment. Gallery Hours: 10 am – 5 pm (Mon–Sat), 11 am – 4 pm (Sun). Well‑Being Programs: (Coming Up) Creative photographic skills programmes based on “Mindful Viewing” sessions Collection Highlights: New limited‑edition prints exploring the play of dawn light across Middle Harbour, alongside international works first unveiled at the Rothko Museum and Louis Vuitton commissions. Posted In: Events, Gallery Opening Tagged: Destination NSW, Manly Cove,, Fairlight,, Art & Wellness,, Northern Beaches Events,, Sydney Art,, Middle Harbour,, Australian Artist,, Water Reflection Photography,, , Gallery Opening,, Ralph Kerle,, Manly Gallery,, Sydney Art
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Burning Outback Blazes at the Rothko Museum
A little self-promotion never hurt—especially when the news is this exciting. Throughout June 2025 the Rothko Museum is featuring my photograph “Burning Outback” as its monthly highlight. The honour feels doubly significant because the museum has only just attained full EU museum accreditation, cementing its status as Latvia’s national heritage collection with more than 4,000 works (including original Rothkos). To have an Australian water-reflection image hanging in dialogue with those colour-field masterpieces is, frankly, surreal. “My fine-art photography captures the unending source of colour variations, shapes, forms, and movements created by light reflecting on water. I work to reveal the joyful engagements—and the quiet sublimity—I feel every time I launch the kayak.” “Burning Outback” (2019, 109 × 158 cm) was created on Sydney Harbour but channels the scorched hues of inland Australia. The lower register—molten ochres rippling across the water—meets a weather-worn band of teal and rust, crowned by a sun-baked wall of orange. It’s equal parts landscape, abstraction, and silent sonata to fire and flood. The Rothko Museum team describes the work as “a vivid echo of Rothko’s own explorations of colour and feeling, translated through the lens of contemporary photography.” I’m humbled by the comparison and grateful for the museum’s ongoing support after my 2023 solo show “The Indeterminate Sublime.” If you find yourself in Daugavpils this month, please drop by the museum and spend a moment with the piece. And watch this space—later in the year I’ll share news about my forthcoming project “Discovering Gold in the Desert,” incubated during recent conversations at Dubai’s Alserkal Avenue. Thank you, as always, for following the journey. Your interest keeps the work alive long after the shutter clicks.
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Opening Reflections: The Indeterminate Sublime Arrives in Vilnius
Last Thursday May 22nd in the evening, a powerful ripple of abstraction and human connection swept through the Kalve Art and Design Gallery in Vilnius, Lithuania. The opening of The Indeterminate Sublime, my Rothko Museum touring exhibition, marked more than the continuation of a European journey—it marked a moment of deep synchronicity and unexpected meaning. The invitation to exhibit had came from Ramunė and Ramas Kalvėnas, owners of the new Kalve Art and Design Gallery, situated in the Old Town. I first met Ramunė some years ago in Manly, Australia—when she wandered into my gallery as the Chief Operating Officer setting up the Lithuanian Embassy in Australia. We talked, and I mentioned my Rothko Museum exhibition in Latvia. A dream was seeded. So when they opened Kalve earlier this year, they invited me to exhibit. Their hospitality and introductions to the Lithuanian arts world have been extraordinarily generous. Vilnius reminds me of Lisbon 15 years ago—restless with an emergent vibrant young creative energy. But what truly moved me on the night was a conversation I didn’t see coming. A Filmmaker, a Theorist, and a Moment of Recognition Among the attendees was Mindaugas Meškauskas, a Lithuanian documentary filmmaker. He shared a reflection on Facebook about the exhibition—his words ltouched me with a rare resonance. “By completely random invitation,” he wrote, “I ended up in this exhibition of an Australian artist. No longer young, I guess, around 70, but actively taking photographs. He was once a theatre and commercial director, burned out, depressed. He started kayaking. Then he started seeing things. Now, his photographs are in some of the homes of rich collectors and the leading museums and galleries. He uses a small Sony camera that could have been bought duty-free, and he’s half-blind. His condition, keratoconus, means he can’t see straight lines—everything pours into itself. And then, the most astonishing thing. During the opening, he started speaking—not just about his work, but about Guy Debord. That shocked me. Debord? Situationist theory? At an art opening? I’ve never met someone who connected art and Debord like that. We had a brief, wonderful exchange. He said he’d never met anyone who understood what he was saying. ‘What are the chances?’ we both asked.” – Mindaugas Meškauskas Reading those words floored me. As artists, we often wonder if our breath—our speech, our work—has meaning beyond ourselves. Mindaugas didn’t just hear what I said. He heard why I said it. The recognition of Guy Debord’s influence, the shared understanding of how we see—and fail to see—in this mediated world… it was a gift I did not expect. Photographs That Don’t Prove Anything – They Just See Mindaugas wrote something else that struck me: “The honesty with which he spoke… that fragile, unguarded quality… was deeply moving. He said he wasn’t a ‘real’ photographer—as if anyone truly is. Maybe that’s why his images resonate. They’re not trying to prove anything. They just see.” That, in essence, is what The Indeterminate Sublime exhibition is about. It’s about unlearning how we’ve been taught to perceive. It’s about letting go of the need to define everything immediately. It’s about standing at the edge of what we think we know—and surrendering to what we feel instead. A Journey Still Unfolding Also present that night were longtime colleague and new supporters: Brigita Strods, a Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne Australia, a fellow student from 47 years ago who became Latvia’s leading crown designer; Zina Auzelytė, one of Lithuania’s foremost photographers; the President of the Lithuanian Artists’ Association; and the wife of the Kazakhstan Ambassador to Lithuania with her daughter. Each brought a different facet of meaning to the evening. I invite you to read more about the exhibition’s philosophy in the earlier blog entry on The Indeterminate Sublime. And while you’re in Vilnius, don’t miss Fotografijos Teritorija ‘25 at AP Galerija, where Mindaugas will present his film on 19th-century photographer Joseph Chechavicius. Strange coincidences, yes. But also threads in a deeper creative pattern. In times as complex and divided as these, I’m reminded that creative conversations—across languages, across borders—do more than bridge understanding. They build friendships. They nurture empathy. And, in their quiet way, they sow the seeds of peace. Thank you, Mindaugas. Your words mattered more than you know.
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The Indeterminate Sublime Exhibition opens the new Kalve Gallery, Vilnius, Lithuania
When Ramune Kliukaite visited my gallery in Manly, Australia during her tenure at the Lithuanian Embassy in Canberra, I never imagined that two years later, my exhibition The Indeterminate Sublime from the Rothko Museum would feature as the opening show for Kalve Gallery, a new upscale art and design space in Užupis—known as the Independent Republic of Artists—in Vilnius, Lithuania. Kalve Gallery was conceived and designed by Ramune and her partner, Ramunas Kalvenas, after their return to Lithuania. Their vision was to create a space that showcases modern, sustainable design products—from furniture to unique artworks. Ramunas Kalvenas, one of Lithuania’s leading designers, is internationally renowned with a global client base. The Indeterminate Sublime exhibition explores the intersection of abstraction, nature, and the subconscious, offering viewers an emotional and meditative experience. The works draw inspiration from the subtle interplay of color, light, and texture in natural landscapes, reflecting a connection to the philosophies of Mark Rothko and the emotional resonance of color field painting. The exhibition invites viewers to pause, reflect, and immerse themselves in the mysterious and transformative qualities of abstraction. Following its successful debut at the Rothko Museum in Latvia, I was keen to tour The Indeterminate Sublime in Europe. Ramune and Ramunas’s invitation to showcase it at the opening of the Kalve Gallery came at the perfect time. The exhibition will run at Kalve Gallery until the end of February 2025.
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Ralph Kerle’s ART Opens new temporary Sydney gallery
Ralph Kerle’s Art, my new temporary gallery is NOW open at Brookfield Place, Lobby Level 301 George Street Sydney. Hours Monday - Sunday 8ish to 6ish. Come by and say hullo. Lots of new work coming up for viewing!
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ManLy Gallery Closing Down Auction Report
Thank you to all our wonderful friends in person and globally on-line who attended the auction and celebration. It was a great night and the auction was fast paced, exciting and our guests bid on some remarkable pieces at astounding prices. Our auctioneer, Robert Salisbury, was very pleased with the proceedings and it was a huge success with 14 pieces soldWe have now shut the doors on our beautiful Manly location but if you missed out on a work that you had your eye on make sure you send us an email or have a look at our catalogue on the website.We will still remain active online and Ralph will be exhibiting in galleries across Australia and Europe over the next few months. You can keep in touch with his exhibition schedule here.Thank you for your visits, support and your appreciation of Ralph Kerle's art.Best regards,Ralph Kerle and gallery team (Cressida & Sophie)P.S Ralph will continue to produce new works over the coming weeks and months as well as sending his updates. Stay tuned for exhibition announcements as well as new gallery locations.
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A Walk Through the Water Spirits of Aveiro ExhIbition, Aveiro, Portugal
The exhibition catalog is available here. Full details on each artwork is available here A report on the exhibition and photos from the opening are available here
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The Official Opening of the Indeterminate Sublime Exhibition
A video of the official opening of the exhibition including a speech by the Australian Ambassador to Sweden Finland and Latvia and a short speech in which I describe the history and intent behind the exhibition and the artworks.
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National Opportunities for Impaired People
I looked up at the gallery entrance to see Alan with his white cane feeling his way down the stairs into the gallery. As I looked up from the entrance desk, he smiled at me and said “Love your artwork...” This was a shock. Was this guy having me on? I am the one who is playing with perception and how the brain works so this ironic exchange required some cognitive adjustment of my own. Alan has developed a rare eye condition in which the pigment in his eye is slowly disintegrating. He will go blind ultimately. The condition was diagnosed 5 years ago and he has now lost all peripheral vision. He uses the cane so he doesn’t knock people over or knock into things. He has tunnel vision on a good day. Alan’s attitude towards his condition is brave. He is opposed to the name “the national disability scheme”. He wants it renamed “the national opportunity scheme for impaired peoples” because of the way he has seen opportunities to view and interact with the world in different ways as he actively learns to live with his condition. Daily creative and intellectual conversations about how he is experiencing his life and sharing those insights (pun intended) is vital for Alan’s continuing mental health Thanks, Alan for sharing your journey and I’m looking forward to your next visit to the gallery.
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Take A Quick Trip Inside the Latest Ralph Kerle Gallery
For those of you who haven't visited the new Ralph Kerle Gallery at 63 the Corso, Manly, Sydney Australia, or who simply wont be able to, I've made a short handheld social media style film so you can see what the new gallery looks like.
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Showcasing with Leading Latvian Interior Designer, Elina Yukuma
Leading Latvian interior designer, Elina Yukuma, recently re-located to London, has included two of my works, Inner Estuaries 1 and Water Notation Reflection 1 in a showcase for luxury apartment development Moho Park in Riga, Latvia. I was introduced to Elina’s work via Vineta Ungailo, art consultant from Arte Tre Ta and it is an honour to be collaborating with Elina. You can see more of Elina’s completed projects and more about Elina’s philosophy here. Full details and stories about the works can be viewed here. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="1440"] Water Reflection Notation 1 - 90 x 112cm [/caption] [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="2048"] Inner Estuaries 1 - 105 x 160 [/caption]
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The Opening of Ralph Kerle's Gallery, 63 the Corso, Manly
I N V I T A T I O NFriday 26 November/Saturday 27 NovemberThe Opening of Ralph Kerle's Gallery63 the Corso, Manly, Sydney Australia. REGISTER TO ATTEND Please join us in celebrating the opening of a brand new exhibition space exhibiting Ralph Kerle's art in Australia's famed the Corso, Manly Beach, Sydney. The celebrations will include, in collaboration with US company ChromaLuxe, the launch of a unique exhibition of 8 new artworks created on high-performance photographic metal panels. Covid 19 regulations require us to limit the event attendance so we are offering you a a choice of Friday November 26 or Saturday November 27 evenings. RSVP is essential. Admittance is by ticket only. Choose your preferred date and register REGISTER TO ATTEND Join us for a night of drinks, conversation, music and art!! We really look forward to welcoming you to the next step in Ralph Kerle's evolution in fine art photography!! Kind regards, Ralph
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