Queensland Art Gallery Annual Report 2001-02

COLLECTION One of the Gallery's primary goals is the development, management and conservation of the State Collection to the highest art museum standards, for the benefit and enjoyment of present and future users. Senior Gallery staff, led by the Director, completed a revision of the Gallery's acquisition policy to refine and consolidate the future directions and scope of the Collection, particularly for the Queensland Gallery of Modern Art. Gallery staff involved in the development and care of the Collection participated in discussion groups concerning the implications of a two-site institution for the Collection. Over the past 12 months, the new acquisitions policy has been successfully implemented, guiding curatorial staff to identify works of art which will strengthen the Collection. The year has seen the Gallery acquire some 210 significant art objects. Key curatorial staff appointments have also consolidated the importance of areas such as Indigenous Australian art and Pacific art in the Collection profile. ASIAN ART Over the last decade the Gallery has achieved international recognition as a leader in exhibiting. documenting and researching art of Asia and the Pacific. The Kenneth and Yasuko Myer Collection of Contemporary Asian Art reflects this important focus with ever– increasing breadth and sophistication. The major work acquired during 2001-02 was TV cello 2000 by Nam June Paik, a senior artist who has played a pioneering role in the development of video, new media and multimedia art. Paik's work is characterised by his use of eclectic combinations of material including sound, found objects, text and the moving image. TV cello draws full circle Paik's representation in the Gallery by connecting his 1960s performance works !represented in the Collection through documentary photographs gifted by Franceso Conzl. with his video assemblages and video works. TV cello will be unveiled as part of the Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art 2002. AUSTRALIAN ART A successful public appeal through the Queensland Art Gallery Foundation enabled the Gallery to purchase an important work by Australian modernist Grace Cossington Smith 20 11892-1984). Church interior c.1941-42 is one of Grace Cossington Smith's most significant achievements, incorporating her major stylistic approaches and interests. The painting encapsulates the artist's concern with the colour and the spiritual quality that she found in the world around her. Its acquisition by the Gallery has enabled the public to view this important work for the first time in 30 years, having been held in private collections since around 1970. Substantial bodies of work by various artists were also acquired for the Australian Collection during the year. These included 15 watercolours by Queensland Indigenous artist Joe Rootsey; 34 weavings by Indigenous artists from Maningrida in Arn hem Land ; a major group of works by Tim Johnson; and a photographic suite, Up in the sky 1997 by Tracey Moffatt. A significant group of contemporary works by senior Queensland artists was also acquired, strengthening the representation of these artists in the Collection. The group includes recent paintings by Richard Bell, Leonard Brown and Scott Redford; a suite of ceramic vessels by Gwyn Hanssen Pigott; and a major installation by Judith Wright donated in memory of the late Brisbane art dealer Michael Millburn. The representation of regional Indigenous artists from Queensland was also greatly enhanced, with the acquisition of works including a feathered woven vessel by Shirley Macnamara. a ceramic vessel by the senior potter Thancoupie, an important dance mask by Torres Strait Islander artist Ed rick Tabuai, and several works by Aurukun sculptor Craig Koomeeta. In addition, the first works in a group of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander prints were acquired. Planning for acquisitions for the next financial year is underway, with a special focus on works relevant to a proposed publication on major works produced since 1965 in the Australian Collection. INTERNATIONAL ART During 2001-02 the chief acquisitions made included a gift of three ·paper pulp· paintings by distinguished Australian expatriate artist Denise Green. The three works, Black faced bandar 2, Jasper and Kathi 6 - created during a residency at the Sarabhai Studio, Ahmedabad, India during 1986-87 - mark an interesting discovery of the properties innate to both her materials and practice. A portfolio by leading German conceptual artist Rosemarie Trockel was also acquired. Entitled Singend kehrte ich heim {I returned home singing] 1999, the work was influenced by the writing and life of Chilean poet Pablo Neruda 11904-731, whose works reflected the political struggles during and after the Spanish Civil War. Trockel's response to Neruda's body of work juxtaposes screen prints of video stills, drawings and other imagery which conjures up feelings about 'home·. South African artist William Kentridge, whose socio-political work is attracting considerable attention, is now represented in the Collection by a major hand-coloured etching, Atlas procession 112000. DISPLAYING THE COLLECTION Collection-based displays formed a strong component of the Gallery's exhibition program during 2001-02. 'Tree of Life', which was presented for the 2001 festive season, looked at the image of the tree as central to the mythologies of many cultures. The exhibition presented a selection of contemporary works from the Collection by artists who had used the tree as a point of departure for exploring issues of humanity, birth and growth. The exhibition also featured a 'wishing tree· activity, which involved an invitation to visitors to add their own wishes for the coming year to the silhouette of a tree on the Gallery wall. Over time many thousands of wishes in different languages, many for peace and goodwill, were added to the tree on special strips of Japanese paper. 'Mother and Child' explored its classic theme through a selection of works from the Queensland Art Gallery's Australian, international and Asian art collections. Ukiyo-e prints, paintings by seventeenth-century Italian masters and photographs by contemporary Australian artists were some of the forms through which the maternal bond was revealed in this display. Important developments in contemporary Australian craft were showcased in the Collection display 'Function and Non-Function in Contemporary Craft', presented from March 2002. The display contrasted the traditional and useful aspects of craft objects with the ways that contemporary practitioners meditate on or play with the forms and purposes of the objects. Works by Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australian practitioners were included. The Pacific art display gallery featured Michael Parekowhai's 'Ten Guitars· installation,