Queensland Art Gallery Annual Report 2003-04

13 COLLECTION One of the Queensland Art Gallery's key goals is the development, management and conservation of the Collection to the highest art museum standards for the benefit and enjoyment of present and future audiences. In 2003–04 the Gallery acquired some 233 art works. ASIAN AND PACIFIC ART Acquisition highlights for contemporary Asian art during 2003–04 included the painting From point 1979 by esteemed artist, writer and philosopher Lee U-fan. Lee U-fan is one of a group of artists from East Asia whose work over the past 30 years has attracted enduring international acclaim. The Gallery was fortunate to receive a gift by Malaysian artist Simryn Gill of her work Pooja/Loot 1992. Consisting of 58 novel-sized early twentieth- century books which have been beautifully carved to create various shrine- shaped pockets or crevices, this acquisition brings the number of significant works now in the Collection by the artist to four. Another key female artist from the South Asia region is Aisha Khalid, a Pakistani artist working in the miniature tradition. The miniature is a strong collecting focus for the Gallery and six paintings by Khalid were acquired during the year. An important acquisition for the historical Asian art collection was an album of woodblock prints by Japanese artist Yoshifuji Utagawa (1828–87) which was gifted by Barbara Reye through the Queensland Art Gallery Foundation. The prints illustrate a complex narrative and depict the battles of the Tokugawa and Genji clans — burning castles, flotillas of bannered ships, and lavishly dressed and armed samurai. The Gallery also acquired two Neolithic jars, gifted through the Foundation by Wellington and Virginia Yee. The boldly patterned and lightly burnished earthenwares associated with the Yangshao culture are among the most striking of Chinese Neolithic ceramics. Michael Parekowhai is recognised as a significant Maori artist and his sculptural work Acts II 1994 is an important new addition to the Gallery's growing Pacific collection. Another addition to this collection was the painting Kulukakina (after experiencing something miraculous, withdraw) 2004 by Niuean-born artist John Pule, one of the first Pacific Island artists with an international profile. During the year the Gallery also acquired its first 35mm film. The 15-minute black-and-white film O Tamaiti 1996 was written and directed by Samoan artist Sima Urale, and portrays a very human story of the difficulties faced by a Polynesian family who has migrated to New Zealand. INTERNATIONAL ART Five key acquisitions for the Gallery's international art collection signalled directions in collecting for the new Queensland Gallery of Modern Art. The acquisition of Californian artist Edward Ruscha's Vine intersects four other streets 2003 and Double tail 2003 by Mexican artist Gabriel Orozco were major highlights for the Gallery. Ruscha's oeuvre has influenced many generations of artists, and his work can be seen within the context of the ongoing dialogue involving text, image and film. Orozco's sculpture Double tail is an ambiguous, suspended form of polyurethane foam, and an important new addition to the Gallery's Collection. While primarily known for his monumental ceramic sculptures from the last two decades, artist Jun Kaneko's more recent work in large-scale glass has attracted wide acclaim. From this body of work the Gallery acquired Clear, blue, yellow and red slabs 2001, constructed from four two-metre high panels of kiln-formed glass. South African artist William Kentridge first gained widespread recognition in 1997 when he was included in 'Documenta X' in Kassel, Germany. Kentridge's unique palette of hand-drawn and filmic elements is deftly illustrated in his video installation Zeno writing 2002 acquired by the Gallery in 2004. Austrian-born artist Erwin Wurm's video work One minute sculptures 1997, from his celebrated and widely exhibited series of the same name, explores the notion of momentary sculpture: sculptures composed equally of physical and temporal elements. AUSTRALIAN ART Two important works by Australian printmakers working in the Japanese woodblock tradition were acquired. Violet Teague and Geraldine Rede's first edition children's story Night fall in the ti-tree 1905 is one of the earliest examples of the Japonisme style in Australian printmaking and is credited with inspiring later modernist artists. Similarly, Margaret Preston's Black swans, Wallis Lake, NSW 1923 is characteristic of her monochrome work, and one of the strongest examples of the artist's striking sense of patterning. Several significant works by Indigenous Australian artists were acquired in 2003–04. Minnie Pwerle's Awelye Atnwengerrp (Women's ceremony from the Atnwengerrp) 2000 derives its energy and expressive brushwork from the ceremonial body designs of the Utopia community (the traditional lands of the Anmatyerre and Alyawarre people). Arnhem Land artists recently represented in the Gallery's Collection include Larrtjanga Ganambarr and John Bulunbulun. Ganambarr is known for his bark paintings — such as Balirlira and the Macassans c.1958 — executed in a style characteristic of the region in the late 1950s and early 1960s, and which use multiple figures to convey episodic narratives. Lorrkon (Hollow log) 2003, by Bulunbulun, is also a traditional bark painting, describing the mysteries of creation time through the depiction of ritual song cycles, themes relating to clan lands, and images of country. The Gallery also acquired Ken Thaiday Sr's Symbol of the Torres Strait 2003. This work uses traditional and non-traditional materials — plywood, feathers, plastic tubing, black bamboo and synthetic polymer paint — to express connections to his culture, particularly the art of dance. Significant works by Adam Cullen and Brett Whiteley were acquired for the contemporary collection. Cullen's Gaol sex 1999 is based on underworld figure and convicted criminal Mark Brandon 'Chopper' Read. It uses the conventions of portraiture to examine the dark side of Australian popular culture, while Whiteley's Calcutta 1966 conveys a sense of the extremes of poverty and beauty in India as experienced by the artist.