Queensland Art Gallery Annual Report 1991-92

PUBLIC PROGRAMS Held aloft by custom EXH I B I T IONS included 'Reference Points: A New Perspective', made safety slings, David The Gallery continued to stage exhibitions of (displaying recent acquisitions), 'Places and Wilson's steel sculpture Queensland-based, national and international art, Spiritual ities '3 Print Cycles from the Collection', Hope sleeping, grand disguise, 4.4 tonnes and with emphasis given to those initiated by the 'The Readymade Boomerang Print Portfolio', 4.7 metres high, is Gallery. Exhibitions continued to be designed and 'Decorated Clay' and a display of the glass lowered into position presented in both educational and aesthetic collection. Frank Sherrin: A Queensland Plein on its plinth in the watermall. contexts to ensure the public's enjoyment and Airist' was supplemented by external works, in David Wilson gives the appreciation of works on display. particular from the artist's daughter, June Sherrin. finishing touches to the Of the twenty exhibitions presented during Four smaller focus exhibitions were presented, surface of the sculpture. the year, fifteen were initiated by the Gallery, five including Foundation gifts to the Collection; were of international content, eight of national twenty-eight works on war themes, co-inciding content, seven originated from the Collection with Anzac Day; Netherlandish works from the , ficant Collection and works donated through the and four had an exclusive or signi Queensland content. Gallery Society. 'Correspondences. . . ' displayed , 1 f i l l Rotation of works on display from the the work of the artists invited to participate in the V - Collection, the development of small thematic Gallery's Andrew & Lilian Pedersen Memorial shows, and the use of didactic material continued. Prizes for Drawing & Small Sculpture 1991. 4 Over 300 works on paper were rotated and Winners were announced at the official opening - • . ' , : ! . . several galleries displaying Australian works of the exhibition in November. , i were rehung Helen Lillecrap Fuller A Visual Diary, 1979-91 ', ,.. Collection works which provided a challenge a survey exhibition tracing the artistic to install included the large collaborative painting development of this Brisbane artist, was Tympon 1977 (in the Gallery foyer) and the hanging organised by the Queensland University of 7. sculpture Pterodactyl car 1985 by Alison Clouston Technology and subsequently toured to (in gallery 3) David Wilson's Hope sleeping grand Queensland regional galleries disguise 1989 specifically designed for display in the Major international exhibitions presented were watermall provedthemostcomplicatedtodate 'Toulouse-Lautrec...' and The Secret Treasures The sculpture stands 4.7 metres high and weighs of Russia Both involved preparation of 4.4 tonnes Meticulous planning was required for indemnity, layout and design The former was + t h i s major engineering project which involved the highlight of the exhibitions program for I j ' \ Building and Services staff, structural and 1991-92 and its design received widespread f 1 g consultant engineers crane operators and rigging acclaim from both the general public and teams. As the load-bearing capacity of the museum professionals. Other international Gallery's structural foundations were insufficient exhibitions came from Japan and America. for the combined weight of the sculpture and The design of 'Secret Treasures of Russia...', plinth, the thousands of litres of water and the both in the Art Gallery of New South Wales and crane which lifted the sculpture into position, the the Queensland A r t Gallery, incorporated the watermall had to be drained and the foundations use of the latter's exhibition cabinets, which (in the Gallery carpark) reinforced using 100 were refurbished for this use. In consultation with steel props. the contract designers for the Art Gallery of New Several exhibitions were drawn solely from South Wales, the Sydney display was adapted for the Collection, whilst others were complemented presentation of the exhibition at the Queensland by loans from various sources. The former Art Gallery. 42