UQ Art Museum will showcase selected artworks acquired for The University of Queensland Art Collection in the last two years.
UQ Art Museum Director Dr Campbell Gray said of the 309 works acquired in two years by purchase, gift and bequest, 169 were gifts, many through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program.
“NEW 2013: Selected recent acquisitions demonstrates the significant activity of generous and civic-minded donors, who see the impact that the University’s Art Museum and Collection can have on generations of students and other visitors,” Dr Gray said.
The exhibition opens on 10 August.
As a special highlight, one gallery space has been devoted to celebrate donors to the Collection, with works in this gallery to be rotated three times during the exhibition.
Six students, drawn from a variety of disciplines – architecture, art history, languages, ecology, and museum studies – worked with the exhibition curator, Art Museum Associate Director (Curatorial) Michele Helmrich, to select and arrange works for this gallery space in thematic groupings.
The three rotations are Colours of Country (10 August – 22 September); Dreamscapes (24 September – 3 November); and Assuming the Feminine (5 November – 15 December).
“The students were given an opportunity to consider the meanings underpinning the artworks, and then bring those works together to cohere visually and thematically,” Ms Helmrich said.
NEW 2013: Selected recent acquisitions reflects the University’s policy to acquire works by Australian artists who respond to the contemporary moment, with a focus on artists’ self portraits, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists, and artists who were born in and/or based in Queensland.
Jon Molvig’s 1963 portrait of fellow Queensland artist Joy Roggenkamp, a work exhibited in the 1963 Archibald Prize, will be a special feature of ‘Assuming the Feminine’.
The Alumni Friends of The University of Queensland Inc. and donor Mrs Veronika Butta assisted in the acquisition of Joy Roggenkamp, while Roggenkamp’s widower Mr Ross McCowan gave two studies Molvig made for the portrait and the dress worn by Roggenkamp.
The exhibition includes outstanding works by artists such as eX de Medici and Fiona Hall; self portraits by Adam Cullen, Cherine Fahd, Laith McGregor and TextaQueen; minimal-conceptual works by Ian Burn and Nigel Lendon; video works by Eric Bridgeman, Anne Ferran and Sam Smith; an animation by Gordon Hookey; photographs by Bill Henson, Deborah Paauwe, Michael Riley and Robyn Stacey; prints and drawings by Noel McKenna; paintings by Indigenous artists Ngalpingka Simms from the Spinifex Arts Project and Hector Burton from the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands, both South Australia; and works by such respected Queensland artists as Davida Allen, Joe Furlonger, Miles Hall, Rosella Namok, Margaret Olley, Scott Redford, Bruce Reynolds, Arryn Snowball, Jenny Watson and Judy Watson.
The publication, NEWv3: Selected recent acquisitions 2012–2013, accompanies the exhibition and include’s a complete list of works acquired and essays on selected works.
The exhibition continues to 15 December.
UQ Art Museum is open daily, 10.00 am – 4.00 pm; parking free on weekends. Further information and access to UQ Art Collection Online: http://www.artmuseum.uq.edu.au/.
PUBLIC PROGRAM
Friday 16 August 5.00 pm – 6.00 pm
‘The Art of Collecting’
Before the opening, please join us for a lively discussion on the art of building a collection, be it small scale, high-end, or following an alternate model.
Chaired by Michele Helmrich with Mal Enright, Morris Low and Jane Wilson.
MEDIA IMAGES Download images for news and review here
MEDIA: Michele Helmrich, Associate Director (Curatorial), UQ Art Museum, 61 7 3346 8759, 0418 754 983, m.helmrich@uq.edu.au; Sebastian Moody (Contact for images – Monday to Thursday only), Digital Communications Officer, UQ Art Museum, 61 7 3346 8761, 0419 789 006, s.moody@uq.edu.au
