About the artist

Kristan “KJ” Oud is a second-generation artist who has exhibited in over 70 selected exhibitions with the Victorian Artists Society. Prior to establishing his own gallery, he presented eight solo exhibitions from 2015 onwards. In 2020 he was awarded the title of VAS signatory from the crown.

In 2020, Oud turned his focus to the evolving landscape of Melbourne, producing a significant body of work drawn from the beaches of Port Phillip Bay. The resulting exhibition was met with strong critical and public response, leading to an invitation to exhibit within the architecturally significant space at 495 Collins Street. The following year, he presented three exhibitions in New York and one in Paris, marking the beginning of his international exhibition trajectory.

During 2020, Oud commenced a documentary-led series examining Melbourne’s transformation from the world’s most liveable city to one of the most locked-down cities globally during the COVID-19 pandemic. Developed through a sustained daily practice over 365 days, the work constitutes a visual archive of a defining historic moment, offering a record of lived experience rendered through ink on paper drawings.

Oud is currently developing an ongoing documentary in art spanning the roaring twenties- 2020–2030, examining global transformation through the lens of human experience during the rise of artificial intelligence. Central to this work are enduring cultural and social structures—art, music, sport, food, and community—positioned as expressions of the human soul against the rapid changes of AI and the robot revolution. In this context, his practice aligns with historical precedents such as Van Gogh and Monet, who documented the transition from farms to the industrial revolution in 19th-century Paris, now reframed through the contemporary shift into the digital and AI age.