Metropolitan-based art galleries offer enthusiasts a plethora of contemporary, and retrospective, exhibitions. Throughout the year, at any given time, the city galleries present ‘must see’ events and vie for the attention of art gallery visitors. Then of course, there is the blockbuster event to lure the more casual gallery attendee. Alongside the publically funded and the glitz of the public spaces, commercial galleries and Artist Run Initiative (ARI) spaces nurture the careers of local and emerging artists – presenting a vast array of exhibitions, visual experiences and intellectual debate.
Whatever the exhibition, in whatever the context, these galleries aim to extend our perceptions of art and cultural identity. There has long been the perception that a cultural identity emerges from a city centre, but Australia’s regional precincts have long played a significant role in our society – and it is pleasing to note this extends beyond agriculture and mining into the artistic realm. Leading this charge beyond the city limits are the Regional Art Spaces, who in recent years have revolutionized their modus operandi and community engagement, thus strengthening their voices to offer exhibition programs of the highest standard.
Over recent years, the individual regional galleries have been cleverly pooling their resources – curatorial, technological and financial – thus offering up more exhibitions and touring public programs extensively throughout the country. Noted examples are the collaboration between Melbourne’s Gertrude Contemporary and the Perth Institute of Contemporary Art with their jointly hosted exhibition ‘First Amongst Equals’, featured in this very issue (pp. 36-37); and ‘Jeffrey Smart: Master of Stillness’ presented by both the Samstag Museum in Adelaide and TarraWarra Museum of Art in regional Victoria.
This summer the regional galleries are out to entice, strutting their stuff and providing a diverse and engaging array of exhibitions. Whichever direction you’re travelling, scroll through the regional pages of this edition and your art senses will be delighted to be sure!
Illustrated is an image from the exhibition ‘Not the Way Home’ at the New England Regional Art Museum, Armidale – until February 3, 2013.
Margaret Ackland, Horizon Line, 2011-12, oil on linen, 60 x 90cm
Courtesy the artist and Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne
