The National Art School (NAS) has announced a major exhibition to open Wednesday 15 August to Saturday 27 October at the NAS Gallery. Featuring work exclusively from established alumni artists, ‘National Art: Part One’ features over 160 works from 50 Australian artists, created from 1947 to the present.
Artists to be exhibited include Charles Blackman, Fiona Hall, Fiona Lowry, Susan Norrie, John Olsen, Robert Owen, Joan Ross, Julie Rrap, Gary Shead, Tim Storrier and Ken Unsworth, to name a few.
Fiona Lowry, gliding over all, 2012, acrylic on canvas, 183 x 123cm. Gift of Alex Orellana, 2018
Deborah Beck, the NAS Archivist and Collections Manager has expressed that ‘It is gratifying to see how may of the inclusions [in the exhibition] are by alumni of the 1970s, 80s and 90s, a period which, up until now, was so under-represented in the collection’ It is true that the art world has always demonstrated favoritism towards the young and new. While it is in the nature of art to do so, the occasional retrospective exhibition – especially that more rare form that casts our gaze back on an institutions rich history rather than an artist or movement, is always warmly welcomed as a refreshing break in the stream of new and contemporary ideas.
With no limitations to medium, subject matter or time, this exhibition is a celebration of the diversity that NAS has cultivated in Australian culture and art for over 150 years and still continues to cultivate today.
