Dennis Spiteri’s ‘Hillcrest’ studio/gallery in the Highlands was opened in 2004. This striking building, set atop the tranquil rolling hills of central Victoria and looking over to the distant Tallarook Ranges, has become a popular cultural attraction in the region.

As a professional artist for forty-one years, Dennis has built his studio/gallery to produce and exhibit his work. The large scale of the building has been designed to fit around his large-scale abstract paintings. This marvellous venue has also been used for musical performances in conjunction with his exhibitions.

 Classical music informs most of his work. Each of the series of paintings he has produced have had particular pieces of music at their core - beginning with his Mass in 1972 (inspired by Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis), to his last finished series Nocturnes, in 2011 inspired by Chopin’s piano pieces.

 The advent of Classical music coming into his life and work made his path clear.  All the work he has done since has been an attempt towards a certain goal - not only to capture the essence of particular works of music through each individual painting, but also through making each painting as part of a series that when hung and seen together as a cohesive exhibition could be experienced like music, as different movements of a larger work.