Cairns Regional Gallery re-opened its doors last at the end of April after a refurbishment to the building. To celebrate the Gallery offered its visitor and local community the unique opportunity to discover – or rediscover – the Gallery, at no charge, throughout the week of 26 April to 4 May, 2013.
During Free Community Week, the Gallery is launching an array of major new exhibitions and is reopening its fully refurbished Shop – stocked with exciting new merchandise.
A large program of exhibitions and events were launched throughout the opening celebrations, each of which continue through to various dates in May and June. Below is a round up of what’s on offer for those visiting the gallery.
Ben Quilty: After Afghanistan, which comes to Cairns from the Australian War Memorial, features paintings and drawings by Archibald Prize winner Ben Quilty, who travelled to Afghanistan as an Australian official war artist in 2011. Quilty has said of the experience, ‘Afghanistan … exposes the basics of humanity right there in your face: matters of life and death, the biggest themes an artist could ever imagine. I hope that when people walk into this exhibition they will get more of a sense of what it is like to be in Afghanistan. Not what it looks like, but what it feels like’.
Roland Nancarrow: The Shape of Light is an exhibition of dynamic and exuberantly colourful works that reflect the artist’s fascination with the fall of light on natural forms in gardens and forest landscapes. Roland Nancarrow lives and works in Cairns.
If Pain Persists: Linde Ivimey Sculpture, curated by the University of Queensland Art Museum, is an extraordinary exhibition of sculptural pieces made from materials ranging from bone, hair, wax and teeth to fabric and gemstones. Sydney-based Linde Ivimey is a major figure in contemporary Australian art, and If Pain Persists has been described by John McDonald, art critic for the Sydney Morning Herald, as ‘breathtaking in its inventiveness’.
The Wandering: Moving Images from the MCA Collection looks at current developments in digital video imagery, as represented by a selection of groundbreaking artworks from Sydney’s Museum of Contemporary Art Australia.
Daniel Wallwork: Featherweight presents recent works by Daniel Wallwork, whose striking sculptural forms are drawn from nature but are created using media generally associated with the automotive industry – fibreglass, urethane foam and automotive spray paint. Featherweight is a series of lush, large-scale feathers – high gloss, sleek, and dazzling in their bold, uncompromising colour.
Foyer Cabinet Exhibition:
Joel Sam: Clocks is a group of beautiful handmade clocks by Indigenous artist Joel Sam. These stunning pieces evoke the intimacy of family, a theme of great importance to Sam. Joel Sam: Clocks is the first of the Gallery’s new Foyer Cabinet Exhibitions, which present a changing display of works by major Far North Queensland artists, craftspeople and designers; all works are available for sale through the Gallery Shop.
Welcome back Cairns Regional Gallery!
Images:
1. Ben Quilty, Troy Park, after Afghanistan, 2012, oil on linen, 190 x 140cm
2. Roland Nancarrow, Back Garden 1 (detail), 2013, acrylic on canvas
3. Linde Ivimey, Ebrius, 2012, mixed-media, 98 x 52 x 28cm
4. Patricia Piccinini, Sandman, 2002, single-channel digital video, sound, 4:06 minutes, Museum of Contemporary Art purchased wit funds provided by the Coe and Mordant families, 2007, image courtesy and copyright the artist.
5. Daniel Wallwork, Black Cockatoo, 2010, urethane foam, fiberglass, 2 pack paint
