A further selection of some of the current exhibitions at the national and state galleries around Australia. In this post, the National Gallery of Victoria, the Art Gallery of South Australia, the Tasmanian Museum & Art Gallery, and the Art Gallery of Western Australia.
National Gallery of Victoria
NGV Triennial
Perhaps the most ambitious of current exhibitions and certainly the largest, the 2020 NGV Triennial features 86 works and projects by more than 100 artists, designers and collectives from over 30 countries. Artists includ Aïda Muluneh (Ethiopia) Alicja Kwade (Germany), Cerith Wyn Evans (Wales), Dhambit Mununggurr (Australia), Faye Toogood (England), Fred Wilson (USA), Hannah Brontë (Australia), Jeff Koons (USA), Joi. T Arcand (Canada), JR (France), Kengo Kuma (Japan), Liam Young (Australia), Misaki Kawai (Japan), Patricia Urquiola (Spain), Porky Hefer (South Africa) and Refik Anadol (Turkey), with more than 30 major new world-premiere works especially commissioned by the NGV for this exhibition.
Until 18 April 2021: https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/exhibition/triennial-2020/.
Spectrum: An Exploration of Colour
Drawn from across the NGC collection, from antiquity to the present, this exhibition explores the history and artistic use of twelve different colours. Each of the exhibition’s showcases explores a single colour, illustrating the history of that colour, from its exotic origins and trade, to its manufacture and symbolism across time, space and cultures.
Unitl 29 August 2021: https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/exhibition/spectrum/.
Tiwi
Celebrating the unique art and culture of the Tiwi people of Melville and Bathurst Islands, this exhibition at the NGV Australia (Federation Square) comprises 153 works from the NGV collection, supplemented by 130 loans of rare historical objects and contemporary works drawn from Australian public and private collections. A major highlight is the display featuring the NGV’s extensive collection of pukumani tutini (poles), which are installed to suggest a forest setting. Occupying a space devoted to the theme of bereavement, these monumental ironwood sculptures – painted with Tiwi ochres – are customarily created for pukumani (mourning) ceremonies. The selection features tutini created between 1912 and 2019 and includes the works of master carvers Declan Apuatimi, Mani Luki, Tommy Mungatopi, Paddy Freddy Puruntatameri, Pedro Wonaeamirri, Leon Puruntatameri, Pius Tipungwuti and Mario Walarmerpui.
Until 8 March 2021: https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/exhibition/tiwi/.
Art Gallery of South Australia
Samurai
This exhibition features over 100 works of art from AGSA’s Japanese collection that illustrate the pervasive influence of the Samurai in Japan from the 14th to 21st centuries. The expansive display of textiles, lacquer, ceramics, metalware, screens, scrolls, prints and swords – some of which are on display for the first time – highlights the Samuarai’s patronage of art and culture. Highlights include the 17th-century Samurai armour with breastplate depicting Fudō-myōō, which was acquired in 2016.
Until 28 March 2021: https://www.agsa.sa.gov.au/whats-on/exhibitions/samurai/.
Clarice Beckett: The Present Moment
A comprehensive retrospective of one of Australia’s most enigmatic and admired modernist painters, this exhibition includes nearly 130 works drawn from national public and private collections. Clarice Beckett is today celebrated for her ethereal, atmospheric landscape paintings but after her early death in 1935 her work vanished from art history for the next thirty-five years before being rescued by Dr Rosalind Hollinrake. Hollinrake salvaged 369 of the artist’s neglected canvases from a remote, open-sided shed in rural Victoria. Hollinrake’s subsequent research and promotion led to Beckett’s recognition as a major force in Australian modernism. The Present Moment includes many of the salvaged paintings and presents Beckett as a visionary mystic who saw nature as all powerful and as an artist driven by spiritual impulses rather than worldly success.
Until 16 May 2021: https://www.agsa.sa.gov.au/whats-on/exhibitions/clarice-beckett-present-moment/.
Chromatopia
An exploration of how and why artists use colour, featuring recently acquired works by international and Australian contemporary artists, including Virginia Cuppaidge, Jitish Kallat, Tracey Moffatt and Gareth Sansom.
Until 26 April 2021: https://www.agsa.sa.gov.au/whats-on/exhibitions/chromatopia/.
Tasmanian Museum & Art Gallery
Discovering the Flora of Wind Song: Botanical Art and Science
Wind Song is a 220 hectare former farming property, situated at Little Swanport on Tasmania’s East Coast. A 42 hectare parcel of the property is protected as a private reserve and was recently gifted to the traditional owners through the Aboriginal Land Council of Tasmania. The area holds a deep connection for Tasmanian Aboriginal people and was used as a site of habitation and as a corridor for travelling. Twelve botanical artists from the group Botaniko accompanied TMAG’s botanists on their inaugural Expedition of Discovery at Wind Song on Tasmania’s East Coast in November 2017, to discover and document the plants of the area. The Botaniko artists drew inspiration from the plants of Wind Song, and the works on show in this exhibition depict a selection of the 190 species of vascular plants and 170 lichens observed from the property.
Until 28 February 2021: https://www.tmag.tas.gov.au/whats_on/exhibitions/current_upcoming/info/discovering_the_flora_of_wind_song_botanical_art_and_science.
Frank Hurley Photography Awards
Presented by the Mawson’s Huts Foundation, the Frank Hurley Photography Awards seek out the best in modern adventure and nature photography from around the world. Entries come from more than 25 countries, in 5 categories, judged by some of the world’s leading photographers. The exhibition displays finalists and winners of the awards, including the winner of the first prize, an all-inclusive Antarctic expedition with sponsors Chimu Adventures. Visitors to the Bond Store Basement can cast their vote for the People’s Choice Award, which will be announced as the exhibition closes.
Until 28 February 2021: https://www.tmag.tas.gov.au/whats_on/exhibitions/current_upcoming/info/frank_hurley_photography_awards.
Art Gallery of Western Australia
sorry I was/am too much
This exhibition pairs works by Western Australian contemporary artist Carla Adams with one of Australia’s most foremost modernist artists, Albert Tucker. It includes Adams’ paintings, textiles, ceramics and mixed-media objects, drawings and visual diaries that emerge from her experiences in the online dating world. These are juxtaposed against a selection of Tucker’s drawings and paintings from the State Art Collection, produced between 1943 and 1989.
Until 15 March 2021: https://artgallery.wa.gov.au/whats-on/exhibitions/carla-adams-and-albert-tucker-sorry-i-was-am-too-much.
BODIED
An internationally diverse group of artists are brought together around the theme of the body. BODIED brings together video by Gordon Bennett (AU), Cheryl Donegan (US), Wong Ping (HK), Jani Ruscica (FI), and Kawita Vatanajyankur (AU/TH); and an artist book by Alin Huma (AU/RO/JP) and Cheiko Kawaguchi (JP). The human body is twisted into strange new forms, is pushed around, is looked at and desired, as each artist explores how our physical forms are shaped by the social worlds around us.
Until 1 March 2021: https://artgallery.wa.gov.au/whats-on/exhibitions/bodied.
Leaving LA
Tee Ken Ng is a Perth-based artist, filmmaker and designer with a global reach and reputation. This exhibition focuses on his recent animated music video for Tim Minchin’s song ‘Leaving LA’. Presented as an installation of the swirling hand-made zoetropes that bring Minchin’s song to visual life, it reveals the unique and exquisite charm, art and craft of Ng’s animation practice.
Until 22 March 2021: https://artgallery.wa.gov.au/whats-on/exhibitions/leaving-la-tee-ken-ng-and-tim-minchin.
