“ . . . how religion threads through the everyday
– even unconsciously.”
A reminder to moderate, to pause, and empathise, I Only Talk to God When I Want Something is a survey exhibition by Aotearoa/New Zealand-born, Narrm/Melbourne-based artist Richard Lewer.
Bringing together works from across Lewer’s thirty-year career, the exhibition explores his lived experience of Catholicism through narrative-based artworks – autobiographical reflections woven within iconography drawn from art history, churches, and cathedrals.
Greed (after John Brack), 2023, synthetic polymer paint on brass and copper, 100 × 100cm
Private collection, Victoria
Photograph: Andrew Curtis
© the artist
Courtesy the artist and Geelong Gallery, Victoria
In a sense, they are tongue-in-cheek; yet, in other ways, they invite a deeper reading of humanity. “I was brought up a strict Catholic, and I’ve always been interested in religious narratives,” Lewer explains. Early works, such as Stations of the Cross, 2007–8, were created during the Colin McCahon residency in Titirangi, outside Auckland, and depict the fourteen stations of Jesus carrying the cross to the crucifixion, drawing from his own family’s church.
Wrath (after Francisco Goya), 2023, synthetic polymer paint on brass and copper, 100 × 100cm
Private collection, Adelaide
Photograph: Andrew Curtis
© the artist
Courtesy the artist and Geelong Gallery, Victoria
For the series Seven Deadly Sins, 2023, Lewer used copper and brass to paint representations of sloth, wrath, greed, envy, gluttony, pride, and lust in the style of Francisco Goya, Édouard Manet, Jan van Eyck, John Brack, Philip Guston, and Colin McCahon. As he painted these works, Lewer’s own image was reflected in the metal’s surface. Equally, the viewer might glimpse themselves, suggesting how religion threads through the everyday – even unconsciously.
Sloth (after Philip Guston), 2023, synthetic polymer paint on brass and copper, 100 × 100cm
Private collection, Adelaide
Photograph: Andrew Curtis
© the artist
Courtesy the artist and Geelong Gallery, Victoria
“Because I’m a visual person, I tend to process the world through images and symbols, it’s the only way I know how to contemplate my own beliefs and faith,” says Lewer. “I’ve always been fascinated by the stories and rituals used in religion to convey principles or lessons. There’s something in that structure, the repetition, the symbolism, that offers a way to reflect on how we live, how we treat others, and what it means to be kind in a complex world.”
A discrete sense of humour disrupts the tension that religion can bring. Manet’s Olympia, 1863 is rendered into an obese figure for Greed, 2023 while Goya’s grotesque forms are flattened into Lewer’s distinctive two-dimensional blob-like bodies, flailing about to a cartoon effect. “I think people put themselves into different situations,” says Lewer. “Like, say, the gluttony one. It’s quite grotesque, but quite humorous in a way, and we’ve no doubt been this person at some stage.”
Lust (after Colin McCahon), 2023, synthetic polymer paint on brass and copper,100 × 100cm
Collection of James Darling and Lesley Forwood
Photograph: Andrew Curtis
© the artist
Courtesy the artist and Geelong Gallery, Victoria
In the series Confessions, 2024, the artist became the priest in a participatory project, offering a cathartic moment for gallerygoers at the NGV Triennial 2023. He turned these “confessions” into artworks, painted on the pegboard from confessional boxes. The result is 106 panels with statements like, “I Just dont Get art” or “I really Hate Collingwood”, painted in white or black on spotted surfaces with black, white, yellow and brown backgrounds. They offer a breath-out moment in the exhibition, to laugh and find relief.
Joining these works, the gallery presents a newly commissioned series inspired by the Last Judgement, following Lewer’s near-death experience surfing at Raglan Beach, where he almost drowned. “I saw flashes of my carpet, the trampoline, Toffee the cat, wallpaper, and I saw family members,” he recalls. “Everything was flashing very fast within my subconscious. I was so exhausted that it was quite peaceful to drown. And then we got rescued.” Lewer channels similar visions, important places and loved ones in his life into a six-panel work that echoes the visual language of art history and religious symbolism.
Gluttony (after Edouard Manet), 2023, synthetic polymer paint on brass and copper, 100 × 100cm
Collection of Peter and Vic Hope
Photograph: Andrew Curtis
© the artist
Courtesy the artist and Geelong Gallery, Victoria
I Only Talk to God When I Want Something reveals the continuity across Lewer’s practice – from Stations of the Cross, created almost twenty years ago, to his new Last Judgement commission. Instead of preaching, they arise from an honest autobiographical narrative, grounded in the everyday. But similarly, Lewer’s oeuvre also positions him within art history, using a visual language of confession, compassion, and ritual to reveal the moral and emotional undercurrents of contemporary life.
Emma-Kate Wilson is an art and design writer and editor based on Gumbaynggirr Country (Bellingen, New South Wales).
Geelong Gallery
15 November 2025 to 1 March 2026
Victoria
Originally published in print – Art Almanac, December 2025 / January 2026 issue, pp. 26–29
