There’s a moment in the middle of a gathering, not before it nor after, when everyone is still at the table. The plates are full of food, the glasses are topped up with wine, friends making eye contact as they speak and no one is in a rush to move.

To Share sits inside that moment. This series of tablescapes looks closely at what a table holds while people are still around it. Full plates, full glasses, bread within reach, everything arranged and rearranged into something worth looking at twice.

The palette is warm and vibrant, mostly reds and pinks with touches of yellow and blue, holding onto the feeling of a room full of people. Pattern does a lot of the work throughout: chairs repeating around a table, glasses catching the light, a hand of cards mid ‘Resistance’ game, striped tablecloths running through the frame. The repetition too is not just decorative but used to slow down on something simple until it earns a second look.

This is Alexa Kalo’s first solo exhibition, built on the idea that the everyday table surrounded by people you love is the importance we find ourselves searching for in this life.

Alexa Kalo is a painter whose work centres on still life and mealtime scenes, using colour and pattern to explore the atmosphere and quiet energy of everyday spaces.

Alexa was a recipient of the 2025 Tyger New Ground Award at the ANU School of Art graduate show. New work from this exciting emerging artist was shown by Tyger Gallery at Affordable Art Fairs in Brisbane and Melbourne.

Her practice reinterprets the still life tradition through an intuitive, expressive approach. Pattern plays an important role in her work, acting as both structure and rhythm, guiding the eye and connecting objects across the composition. Influenced by artists such as Lucy Culliton, Alexa is interested in how repetition, arrangement and colour can shift the way familiar objects are felt and experienced.

Rather than focusing on precise representation, her paintings are driven by sensation – how tone, balance and contrast can create a particular mood. Through this process, she transforms simple domestic moments into works that feel both harmonious and alive, holding a gentle tension between stillness and movement.

The Tyger New Ground Award was created in 2025 as a way for Tyger Gallery to support emerging artists at the beginning of their exhibiting careers. Selected from the ANU School of Art & Design graduate exhibition, the award recognises artists whose work feels ready to step beyond art school and into a wider public conversation.

Rather than being a prize that ends on the night, New Ground is about building a relationship. The award includes a solo show at Tyger, along with ongoing support, conversation and opportunities to show work to new audiences. For Alexa Kalo, that has included exhibiting with Tyger at Affordable Art Fair Brisbane and Affordable Art Fair Melbourne in 2026.

To Share is the outcome of that award: Alexa’s first solo show, and a beautiful next step for an artist whose work has already found a strong connection with Tyger audiences. We’re proud to have backed Alexa from the beginning, and very pleased to now present this new body of work at the gallery.

To Share opens at Tyger on Saturday 12 September, with an opening celebration from 3pm.

Come along to see the work in the gallery, meet Alexa, have a drink with us, and help celebrate her first solo exhibition.Everyone is welcome.

The show continues until 28 September and can be viewed during Tyger’s regular opening hours: Saturday to Monday, 10am–2pm.