To kick things off with the revamped Art History Network, a selection of some of the current exhibitions at the national and state galleries around Australia. In this post, the Art Gallery of New South Wales, the National Gallery of Australia, the Queensland Art Gallery & Gallery of Modern Art, and the Museum & Art Gallery of the Northern Territories.
Art Gallery of New South Wales
Margel Hinder: Modern in Motion
Presented in collaboration with Heide Museum of Modern Art, this is the first retrospective of one of Australia’s most important modernist sculptors of the 20th century. The exhibition features a cross-section of Hinder’s dynamic sculpture from her five decade career and includes an immersive installation that reconstructs in lifescale several of her most significant works.
Until 2 May 2021: https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/exhibitions/margel-hinder/.
Pat Larter: Get Arted
The first solo exhibition in a public art museum of Australian artist Pat Larter (1936-96) reveals a collaborative, provocative, witty and joyful body of work that challenges conventions and stereotypes of female desire and sexuality. Spanning more than 20 years of Larter’s art practice, Pat Larter: Get Arted draws from her extensive archive that includes film, photographs, video of performance, mail art, collage and printmaking. The archive was gifted to the National Art Archive at the Art Gallery of New South Wales by Richard Larter in 1999.
Until 21 March 2021: https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/exhibitions/pat-larter/.
ARTEXPRESS 2021
The 37th annual ARTEXPRESS features 48 works in a rich variety of media selected from 8617 student works submitted for the 2020 HSC in Visual Arts, including works by students from government and non-government schools from across metropolitan and regional NSW. ARTEXPRESS began in Sydney in the late 1950s and has been exhibited at the Art Gallery of NSW since 1983. Accomplished artists who have previously been selected for exhibition prestigious include Ben Quilty (1992), David Griggs (1994), McLean Edwards (1990), Melissa Chiu (1990) and Jasper Knight (1996).
Until 5 April 2021: https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/exhibitions/artexpress-2021/.
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
Know My Name: Australian Women Artists 1900 to Now
Drawn from the National Gallery’s collection and loans from across Australia, this is the most comprehensive presentation of art by women assembled in this country to date. The exhibition brings together more than 350 works, including new commissions. Highlights include a commission by the Tjanpi Desert Weavers, a complete edition of Tracey Moffatt’s key series of photographs, Something more, and a major collaborative painting by the Ken Family Collaborative. The exhibition will be displayed in two parts, with part two opening in late July.
Part One until 4 July 2021: https://knowmyname.nga.gov.au/events/australian-women-artists-1900-now.
Joan Mitchell: Worlds of Colour
Born in Chicago, Joan Mitchell (1925-92) emerged in the early 1950s as a leading figure in the New York School of Abstract Expressionism. Drawn from the Kenneth Tyler Collection, this exhibition presents works during the final stages of Mitchell’s career, highlighting her exploration of colour, shape and space, inspired by the natural world.
Until 26 April 2021: https://knowmyname.nga.gov.au/events/joan-mitchell-worlds-colour/.
Queensland Art Gallery & Gallery of Modern Art
Get Up, Stand Up
Drawn from the gallery’s collection, this exhibition of works by Indigenous Queensland artists demonstrates the makers’ engagement with cultural, familial, historical and political movements, their assertion of sovereignty and desire for political and social equality. A significant group of works reflect these ongoing familial experiences of involuntary movement off Country, away from family and onto the missions and reserves that provided both sanctuary and oppression.
Until 28 August 2021: https://www.qagoma.qld.gov.au/whats-on/exhibitions/get-up,-stand-up.
Unfinished Business: The Art of Gordon Bennett
This is the first large-scale exhibition of the work of Gordeon Bennett (1955-2014), one of Australia’s most influential contemporary artists, and features 200 works, ranging from installation and sculptural assemblage to painting, drawing, video and ceramics. Working closely with the artist’s estate, the exhibition gives a new sense of Bennett’s aims, ideals and objectives, offering insights through a focus on the serial nature of his practice.
Until 21 March 2021: https://www.qagoma.qld.gov.au/whats-on/exhibitions/unfinished-business-the-art-of-gordon-bennett.
Museum & Art Gallery, Northern Territory
Fresh: Connecting Old & New Art
Fresh brings together new and historical acquisitions from MAGNT’s Aboriginal, Australian and South East Asian art collections. The fascinating threads that weave these collections together provide audiences with a rare opportunity to explore and engage with a number of the Northern Territory’s artistic treasures.
Until 27 June 2021: https://www.magnt.net.au/fresh.
