The Bounty Years

Phil Hayes' solo exhibition "The Bounty Years" at SOL Gallery, Fitzroy, Melbourne, featuring paintings, prints, sculpture and drawings that blend modernist structure with the bold energy of pop art. On show August 12 to 24, 2025.

"The Bounty Years" is a solo exhibition by Phil Hayes, presented in the Project Room at SOL Gallery, 420 Brunswick Street, Fitzroy, Victoria, running August 12 to 24, 2025, with an opening reception on Wednesday August 13, 6:00 to 8:30pm.

Phil Hayes is an Australian artist whose practice spans painting, printmaking, sculpture and drawing. Since the early 1980s he has exhibited nationally and internationally, with works held in public and private collections from Japan and the USA to Lithuania. His 13 years living in Hong Kong shaped a distinctive visual language that merges modernist structure with the bold energy of pop art, influenced by both Western and Asian popular culture.

A recurring symbol in his work is the Dog, originally conceived in the late 1980s as social commentary on Australian suburbia and now an instantly recognisable motif rich with layered meaning. Alongside his fine art career, Phil spent 18 years as an artist and designer in the global surf industry with Rip Curl and Quiksilver.

The thylacine is another enduring presence in his work, developed during his postgraduate studies and lecturing years at the University of Tasmania. More than an extinct animal, it functions as a symbol of loss, myth and resilience within the Australian psyche, part cautionary tale, part ghost story, part emblem of wildness lost.