AutoMatic

AutoMatic brings together three Sydney-based artists exploring rhythm, repetition, and the intelligence of the hand. Across painting, layered mark-making, and reverse glass, Annalisa Ferraris, James Ettelson, and Will Lynes investigate how perception, memory, and sensation are translated into form.

In a world dominated by digital feeds, algorithms, and constant visual stimuli, repetition and pattern have become both structural and poetic tools. AutoMatic positions human-made rhythm as a counterpoint to automated systems: the repeated gestures, layered marks, and material processes reveal how instinct, intuition, and craft can reclaim pattern and rhythm in a hyper-mediated age.

Annalisa Ferraris
Developed over the past year, Ferraris’ new work signals a shift toward abstraction, moving beyond overt architectural references to a distilled visual language of memory and impression. Though stripped of narrative, the works remain tethered to real places: a café corner, a doorway’s geometry, or the diffuse gradient of morning haze. Rendered on board or aluminium composite, subtle tonal transitions and precise geometry create the illusion of light, shadow, and spatial depth. Hovering between painting and sculpture, her works occupy the wall with quiet physicality and optical tension, rewarding slow engagement. Ferraris’ practice bridges design and painting, reflecting her Italian heritage, travel, architecture, and domestic ritual, offering a contemplative meditation on memory, perception, and the rhythm of looking.

James Ettelson
Ettelson’s recent paintings explore rhythm, colour, and iterative process, building complex surfaces through layered brushstrokes, stenciled patterns, and sprayed forms. Each gesture responds to its surroundings, materials, and the dialogue between hand and eye, balancing intuition with structure. Inspired by everyday encounters, architectural fragments, and urban textures, his works hum with visual energy and layered tension. They invite viewers to move closer, follow rhythm and pattern, and experience the meditative quality inherent in repeated, thoughtful mark-making.

Will Lynes
Lynes’ reverse-gilded glass works explore precision, imperfection, and perception. Through repeated layering of gold leaf, enamel, and mirror, he transforms traditional luxury materials to examine reflection, light, and the beauty of process. His recent solo exhibition, Oily Water, investigated the tension between perfection and failure, subverting conventional associations of wealth to engage with everyday life, street culture, and human experience. Hovering between craft and art, his works reward close observation, revealing the subtle complexity of materials and the rhythm of meticulous, embodied practice.

Annalisa Ferraris • James Ettelson • Will Lynes

Annalisa Ferraris is a Sydney-based Artist and Designer. She completed a BFA (Honours) at The National Art School, Sydney, and studied design at Central Saint Martins, London. Ferraris recently launched her first capsule furniture collection, all designed and made in Sydney. She has been a finalist in several art prizes and has exhibited at Sydney Contemporary Art Fair.

Instagram.com/annalisaferraris

James Ettelson is a Sydney-based artist whose practice celebrates colour, pattern, and the everyday. He has exhibited widely in Sydney and internationally, with works in private collections across Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore, New Zealand, Switzerland, and the USA, as well as in public collections such as Artbank and Ovolo Hotel, Woolloomooloo.

Instagram.com/jamesettelson

Will Lynes is a Sydney-based artist and designer renowned for glass gilding, hand-painted signwriting, and reverse glass processes. He has over 20 years’ experience with gold leaf, enamel, and sheet glass. His recent solo exhibition and Canberra Glassworks, Oily Water, explored the tension between perfection and imperfection, examining perception, material, and human experience through traditional techniques applied in contemporary ways.

Instagram.com/will_lynes