New Acquisitions

The State Art Collection supports the Gallery mission to increase the knowledge and appreciation of the arts of Australia, the Indian Ocean Rim and beyond for the enjoyment and cultural, artistic, educational and intellectual enrichment of the people of Western Australia and of its visitors. The Gallery aspires to develop the finest public art collection of Western Australian art in the State.

Read our Acquisition Policy 2009-2013

2011 Acquisitions 2010 Acquisitions
Below is a selection of 2011 Gallery Acquisitions

SinÉ MacPherson Born 1952 Siné MacPherson has had a long interest in visual information systems and how they are recorded, particularly natural phenomena such as the weather, the colour of birds and plants as well as words used to describe colours. Her paintings are referenced from art history, literature, the dictionary and physical science texts. These inform her excursions into an expressive abstraction that articulates a visual vocabulary compatible with found text descriptions. More information about Siné MacPherson		Siné MacPherson Rainbow 1, 2011 from Rainbow series, oil and enamel on canvas, 100 x 100cm, State Art Collection, Art Gallery of Western Australia. Purchased through the TomorrowFund, Art Gallery of Western Australia Foundation, 2011

Daisy Rossi Born 1879, Australia Died 1974 Daisy Rossi trained in Australia and initially worked mostly as a portrait painter in Perth. Income from these commissions enabled her to travel and study overseas, and on her return to Australia in 1911 she turned to the painting of impressionistic landscape sketches and studies of local wildflowers. more information about Daisy Rossi		Daisy Rossi not titled [view of boats on the Swan River], not dated, oil on card, 19.5 x 29.7 cm, State Art Collection, Art Gallery of Western Australia, Gift of The Estate of Barbara and Margaret Evans, 2011

Candice Breitz Born 1972, South Africa Candice Breitz in filmic and photographic works over the past decade has responded to our apparently culturally insatiable appetite for details from the lives of others. more information about Candice Breitz		Candice Breitz Factum McNamara (from the series Factum) 2009, State Art Collection, Art Gallery of Western Australia, Purchased through the TomorrowFund, Art Gallery of Western Australia Foundation, 2011, © the artist, Installation view: White Cube Hoxton Square, London, 12 February - 20 March 2010, Photo: Todd-White Art Photography, Courtesy White Cube

Carl Plate Born 1909, Australia Died 1977 Carl Plate studied and travelled in Australia and London in the 1930s and developed an appreciation of modern art as a result. On his return to Sydney in 1940 Plate became a firm advocate for modernism through his work both as an artist and as the owner of the highly influential Notanda Gallery and bookshop. more information about Carl Plate		Carl Plate Untitled [surreal landscape] 1944, State Art Collection, Art Gallery of Western Australia, Gift of Sue and Ian Bernadt, 2011

Annie Louise Andrews Born 1881, died 1972, Great Britain Little is known about the life and art practice of Annie Andrews. Yet the little we do know about her and the maturity of the pencil sketches contained within her sketchbook reveals an artist with graphic experience and technical proficiency. more information about Annie Andrews		Annie Louise Andrews not titled [sketchbook containing 24 pencil sketches] 1919-1920 (detail), State Art Collection, Art Gallery of Western Australia, gift of Helen Birch, 2011

Ethel Spowers Born 1890, died 1947, Australia This is the first work by Ethel Spowers to enter the State Art Collection, boosting the representation of modernist female artists, and in particular printmakers, in the Collection. More widely, it serves to illustrate important developments in printmaking practice in this country. more information about Ethel Spowers		Ethel Spowers Swings 1932, State Art Collection, Art Gallery of Western Australia, Purchased through the Sir Claude Hotchin Art Foundation - Art Gallery of Western Australia Foundation, 2011

Paul Caporn Born 1969, Australia Caporn builds his recent sculptural objects from received systems of common material only to let them fail, thereby deconstructing their meaning and their role in contemporary life. In this work, children’s interlocking playground rubber mats are reworked into the structure of a scissor-lift which, unable to sustain its own weight, has collapsed. more information about Paul Caporn		Paul Caporn Insupportable 2011 (installation view), State Art Collection, Art Gallery of Western Australia, Purchased through the TomorrowFund, Art Gallery of Western Australia Foundation, 2011

Rebecca Dagnall Born 1972, Australia Dagnall’s work is not softly sentimental though. In fact, it’s her balance dark and light that makes her images so vital. more information about Rebecca Dagnall		Rebecca Dagnall Paradise 5, State Art Collection, Art Gallery of Western Australia, Purchased through the TomorrowFund, Art Gallery of Western Australia Foundation, 2011

Jan Billycan Born c.1930 Kirriwirri Language: Yulparija Jan Billycan’s series of paintings, depicting the Country around her birth-site, Kirriwirri, exhibit her natural ability to create canvases defined by highly active and textured surfaces. more information about Jan Billycan		Jan Billycan Kirriwirri 2011, State Art Collection, Art Gallery of Western Australia Purchased through The Leah Jane Cohen Bequest - Art Gallery of Western Australia Foundation, 2011

Jeremy Lepisto Born 1974, Fort Belvoir, Virginia, United States of America Jeremy Lepisto is a glass artist with considerable experience working in technical capacities in Bullseye and other glass companies. more information about Jeremy Lepisto		Jeremy Lepisto All the stories (from the Crate series) 2010, State Art Collection, Art Gallery of Western Australia, Purchased through the TomorrowFund, Art Gallery of Western Australia Foundation, 2011

Penelope Forlano Born 1973, Western Australia Penelope Forlano is a young Western Australian designer. The Terrain side table is the first of her works to enter the Collection. more information about Penelope Forlano		Penelope Forlano Terrain side table 2010, Purchased through the Peter Fogarty Design Fund, Art Gallery of Western Australia Foundation, 2011

Timothy Cook Born: 1958, Milikapiti, Melville Island Language: Tiwi Timothy Cook is an established artist working from Milikapiti (Snake Bay) on Melville Island in the Northern Territory. more information about Timothy Cook		Timothy Cook Kulama 2011, State Art Collection, Art Gallery of Western Australia Purchased through the TomorrowFund, Art Gallery of Western Australia, Foundation, 2011, Image © Timothy Cook, courtesy of Jilamara Arts & Crafts and Seva Frangos Art

Mirdidingkingathi Juwarnda Sally Gabori Born: c.1924 Language: Kayardild Mirdidingkingathi Juwarnda Sally Gabori is an established contemporary Kayardild artist who currently lives and works on Mornington Island, in the southern Gulf of Carpenteria, Queensland. more information about Sally Gabori		Mirdidingkingathi Juwarnda Sally Gabori Thundi 2010, State Art Collection, Art Gallery of Western Australia, Purchased through the TomorrowFund and The Leah Jane Cohen Bequest, Art Gallery of Western Australia Foundation, 2011

Jon Goulder Born 1970, Bowral, New South Wales Goulder’s respectful and sensitive use of natural materials resides within a context of Australian object design that works with, not against, the demands of its media. more information about John Goulder		John Goulder Oh la la dining chair 1, 2, 3, 5 2009, State Art Collection, Art Gallery of Western Australia, Purchased through the TomorrowFund, Art Gallery of Western Australia Foundation, 2011