Vew from the chair: Speeches of Richard WL Austin

His words will certainly make you want to see the exhibition. Whether you will like what you see is another matter and, therefore, I should like to append a short coda to the Minister's concerto. This is essentially an exhibition of images inspired by imagination, and many people find imagination a disconcerting travelling companion, especially when it is as vibrant, and often as phallic, as it is in this exhibition. Imagination has been a fundamental part of the human condition since time immemorial-long before Homer turned men into swine and Ovid turned them into frogs. Coming closer to our time and place, in the very year-1778-when Captain Cook was discovering the Hawaiian Islands, Dr Johnson in Scotland was telling his companion and future biographer, James Boswell: 'Were it not for imagination, Sir, a man would be as happy in the arms of a chambermaid as in those of a duchess'. In this exhibition, it is sometimes hard to tell which is which, and who is what. The surrealists have allowed imagination to carry them to new heights of improbability. Lovers sitting on a rock become fish with legs; rocks talk to flowers; the head of a Catalan peasant subsumes the whole universe; and, in what has been called the greatest of all surrealist images, the painting by Rene Magritte entitled Rape, a woman's physiognomy has been fashioned from a very different part of her anatomy-full frontal has been transformed into full facial in one simple move. A correspondent, who had seen a photograph of this painting in the National Gallery's advertisement for the exhibition in Canberra, found this move one too many for him. 'I now know', he wrote, 'what surrealism is, and wonder who in their right mind would want to see the rest of the exhibition'. So I suggest that you go in there, not only in your right mind, but with an open and unprejudiced mind. Let the works speak for themselves. One thing is certain, to each one of you they will convey a different message. 19 Speech to open 'Harold Parker: Sculptor', &June 1993 NOTE: THIS EXHIBITION, SHOWN FROM 9 JUNE TO 29 AUGUST, WAS SPONSORED BY THE BANK OF QUEENSLAND LIMITED. THE EXHIBITION SHOWED THE WORK OF ONE OF QUEENSLAND'S FINEST SCULPTORS AND ONE OF AUSTRALIA'S FINEST CARVERS IN MARBLE. It is a special, and for me unusual, pleasure to be opening this exhibition of works by Harold Parker. As most of you would know, my role as Chairman of Trustees is usually that of introducer or thanker, introducing those who are about to open an exhibition, or thanking those who have just done so. In these circumstances, one tends to dwell on the virtues of the opener, however minimal, and to pass over those of the artist, however maximal they may be. I welcome the opportunity to speak about the artist for a change. 85