Hazelhurst regional Gallery, Gymea
29 March – 11 May 2008
Left: Catalogue cover: © Daniel Boyd 'We Call Them Pirates Out Here', 2006Acrylic on canvas, 226 x 275 cm
Courtesy the artist and Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney
This excellent show has slipped under Sydney's radar somewhat, possibly because it is at the Hazelhurst Regional Gallery in Sutherland, and therefore way too far 'South of Cleveland Street' for many. We must declare that LF is somewhat partisan, being admirers of the show's creator, Anthony 'Ace' Bourke, and friends with the catalogue's designers. Among many other distinguished projects, Bourke co-curated the remarkable EORA: Mapping Aboriginal Sydney at the NSW State Library in 2006, another important exhibition that seemed to slip below the radar, possibly because Sydney was in the throes of its Biennale at the time.
See LF's post of June 2006: http://leflaneurblog.blogspot.com/2006/06/sydneyvoices-from-zone-eora-at-slnsw.html
Left: © Guan Wei 'Echo', 2005Synthetic polymer paint on canvas, 42 panels: 273 x 722 cm (overall)
Courtesy the artist and Queensland Art Gallery
Back to LITS (Lines in the Sand) then. What made this exhibition so unusual was the juxtaposition of the dry colonial record (faithful and in many ways very humane) of those remarkable Enlightenment gentlemen who were Australia's early administrators, with a multitude of contemporary artists, many of them Indigenous, whose work in some way comments on/interrogates/confronts that record. Hence, at the simplest level, Daniel Boyd and Dianne Jones' interpretations of famous depictions of Captain James Cook, Gordon Bennett's 'Possession Island', Clinton Nain's 're-enactment' of a colonial newspaper article, and Guan Wei's majestic multi-panel work 'Echo'.
If this were all there was, it would still be very interesting, but Bourke has woven a far richer tapestry of references, usually eschewing the obvious, and including contemporary and historical work and artefacts that do justice to a complex history and a multi-layered, nuanced cultural present. There was exciting site-specific new work from Joan Ross (the fur lady) and Jonathan Jones, video by Tracey Moffatt and Michael Riley, political comment from the mysterious boat-people.org, sitting alongside Philip Gidley King's original diary, bark painting by Paddy Fordham and ephemera from the Botany Bay National park (Kurnell) collection.
In this way the show managed to be of equal interest to true-blue Shire conservatives (The Sutherland Shire's corporate emblem depicts Cook) and to contemporary art hipsters, with each hopefully coming away with a little more understanding.
Finally, a small spruik for the Hazelhurst Regional Gallery: the team of Michael Rolfe (Director) and Daniel Mudie Cunningham (Exhibitions Co-ordinator) deserves credit for consistently programming a varied and unpredictable range of shows, resulting in a lively and buzzing arts centre, the more remarkable for its location in the 'Deep South'.
Seeyalayda
1 comment:
onya David!
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