Queensland Art Gallery Presscuttings Book 10 : Record of press coverage, March 1982 - May 1984

. .... , . . . .. ./ I ·.• .... "' . ··· ·· ··· - I J ' Does your gallery have a name for a particular type or art? We'd probably be regarded as an establishment gallery represen– ting well-established artists, and selling to a fairly establishment clientele. We represent most, or all of the Antipodean painters, Boyd , Blackman . . and then the later figurative ones, Whiteley, Starrier, Daws . . . people like that. What is your favourite medium, personally or as a gallery-ist. It would be politic to say any medium that's well-handled. I guess I personally lean towards oils a little, pictures you can look at the surface ... Any \\-ords of wisdom or warn– ing for anyone thinking of starting up a gallery? Well, I'm glad I'm not starting up now. When I opened this place it was in the middle of the 1974 recession, but we started with some very strong shows. The most difficult thing is stock, really. Most people want to be paid for their pictures, they're not prepared to leave them on consign– ment; so you have to have quite a lot of money to acquire a good stock that people will want to come and see. A very easy trap to fall into would be to depend solely on ex– hibitions. Immediately the show finishes, it's not your money, only a percentage of it is. This is where a lot of galleries seem to get into trouble - a large one collapsed just recently in Sydney. Just under-stocked and under-financed, really. Is a gallery an art in itself? I'm glad you asked that quP.s· tion, so I didn't have to be so pretentious as to imply it myseif. Put it this way, is conducting an interview an art in itself? Beyond a shadow of a doubt. Well, there you have it. And thank you, Philip Bacon. Now for the Commercial. What shows have you planned to coin• cide with the new gallery opening? A very well-known Brisbane painter, Gordon Shepherdson. A year or two ago, Gordon had one of the few retrospective exhibitions organised in an artist's life, at the Qld . University Art Museum Gallery. He used to work in an abattoir. and hi s early pictures, for which he 's quite renowned ; were large TWELVE .Gordon Shepherdson: One of the few living Queensland artists in the Vic. Gallery Lawrence Daws: Happy to be living in Queensland. Roy Cooke: One of Queem,lond's favourite i.onli. paintings of bullocks being slaughtered the correlation between life and death. A later development on that theme has been his interest in the sea and fishing. Another part of life and death, life coming from the sea .. . It's called The Swimmer, this series, and it's his usual mixed im· ages of bullocks and nudes, who are now in marvellous murky dep• ths with fish peeping out from the most unlikely places. He's made this exhibition specially to coincide with the open– ing of the gallery. They're large works on paper. Huge. Enamels onpaper. The new gallery already has some, but they'll probably buy something else, they usually do. He would probably be the most highly regarded contemporary Queensland artist. He's repre– sented in all of the state galleries, the National Gallery in Canberra, even the Victorian Gallery which is usually very reticent about buy– ing livin11 Queensland artists. Hmm. Have you ever thought of shooting an artist to improve his value? (Laughs) No. After Shepherdson, What? The next exhibition after that is Ray Crooke, who is famous for his paintings of the far north and the islands. Thursday Island, Fiji, and Tahiti. That's a major exhibition, planned for the end of July. Ray Crooke is one of Queensland's famous sons, also. And .. Lawrence Daws. Just as an aside, Daws is one of quite a few artists who live elsewhere, who've come to Queensi'and and become Queensland artists. They're all part of making the art scene more viable here in Queensland. Daws was born in Adelaide, lived and worked. mostly in London, (Ind now Jives here. .Most of his recent work is based on the Queensland landscape .. . the Glasshouse Mountains . . . There's a large definitive book coming out on Daws at the end of the year, and we're having the ex– hibition to coincide with the book. • That will be November, and the exhibition is based on the canefields around Beerwah and the Glasshouse Mountains. Queensland is not only coming of age as a p 1 nce/or art, but also as a subject of art. ARTS NEWS \ ,