Exhibition Catalogues

A series of small scale exhibitions designed to give an in depth analysis of either
a single artist, a group of artists working with a common thematic interest or a
production company. Artists are primarily selected for their reference to the State
Art Collection and Western Australian art practice.

Mari Funaki, works 1992 - 2009

Author: Robert Cook

(2009)

ISBN: 978-0-9806268-0-3

Mari Funaki is one of Australia's leading jewellers. This exhibition celebrates
her considerable achievements between 1992 and the present day. Her first
major show in a state gallery, it includes nearly fifty works and will be the first
time Perth audiences have seen her work in such depth. Many of these were
new works produced especially for the exhibition.

David Walker: Anatomy of the object

Authors: Lucy Harper, Robert Cook

(2009)

ISBN: 978-0-9806268-1-0

David Walker is one of Western Australia’s most accomplished and

influential designers and crafts people. David Walker: Anatomy of the object

reveals Walker’s profound fascination with the skeletal form as a vehicle

for spatial and structural explorations, and his abiding commitment to find a

form of expression born out of a sense of Australia. Works from the State

Art Collection, private lenders and public institutions, as well as the artist’s

personal collection, is included.

Yirrkala artists Everywhen

bark paintings from the State Art Collection

Author: Chad Creighton

ISBN: 978-0-9803266-9-7

(2009)

Presenting selected bark paintings, produced between the late 1950s and the 1980s,
this Artist in focus exhibition explores the art of Yolngu people from Yirrkala and
surrounding homelands in Northeast Arnhem Land, Northern Territory. These works
illustrate a significant period in Yolngu art history at the birth of the struggle for
Indigenous land rights. The exhibition includes pieces from the Louis Allen Collection
that were bought in 1988 by the Government of Western Australia.

Circle of friends

Authors: Robert Cook & Jenepher Duncan

ISBN: 978-0-9803266-5-9

(2008)

Circle of friends presents the work of two Melbourne-based artists David Rosetzky
and James Lynch. A DVD projection by Rosetzky, Nothing like this, 2007, explores
the nuances of friendship amongst a group of twenty-somethings over a holiday
weekend and No fear, a sound piece based on self-help tapes that involves subtle
interaction between the work and its viewers. James Lynch is represented with a
series of four short animations from 2003-2006 documenting his friends' dreams
that have included him and explores our subconscious connections and friendship
fantasies.

Frank Hinder: a study in dynamic symmetry

Author: Lucy Harper

ISBN: 978-0-9803266-6-6

(2008)

The exhibition is a study of Frank Hinder's works on paper, a compelling group of
works that bring to the fore material rarely seen by the public. The studies provide a
window onto the working method of an artist, and the charms of an original sketch
where ideas for major works are born. Hinder made a significant contribution to the

development of modern art in Australia, and here we glimpse the structures and
preoccupations that fuelled his ideas throughout a long and productive artistic career.

Brutal, Tender, Human, Animal

Roger Ballen Photography

Author: Robert Cook

(2007)

ISBN: 978-0-9803266-3-5

Over almost thirty years, Roger Ballen has produced some of the most compelling
and thought-provoking images in contemporary photography. His work is

unflinching confronting and always deeply moving. With its roots in the photo

documentary tradition, Ballen's approach has expanded to become an unforgettable

vision of the human condition.

Radical Elegance

Yohji Yamamoto Garments in Australian Collections

Author: Jenepher Duncan

(2007)

The first solo exhibition of women's clothing by the renowned Japanese couturier,
Yohji Yamamoto in Australia The exhibition traces the changing aesthetic interests

and themes of his work over a twenty-year period. Featuring over forty garment

ensembles, it draws on Australian private collections and the public collections of

the National Gallery of Australia, the National Gallery of Victoria and the
Powerhouse Museum.

Download a PDF copy of the free exhibition guide

Rodney Glick & Lynnette Voevodin 24Hr Panoramas

Authors: Gary Dufour & Robert Cook

ISBN: 0-9758098-9-X

(2006)

The unique approach of Rodney Glick and Lynnette Voevodin in creating their
DVD video panoramas places an intense focus on nuance and detail, which
challenges common assumptions about the Australian landscape. The '24Hr
Panoramas' reveal the unexpected, the chance discoveries, with supreme technical
skill to provide a new way to see outback WA.

Download a PDF copy of the exhibition guide

Kate Daw The Space Between                                                              

Author: Jenepher Duncan

ISBN: 0-975-8098-5-7

(2006)                                                                                                                                      

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Kate Daw's exhibition of ceramic sculpture, typed text paintings and silkscreen

prints embraces a highly personalised and feminised aesthetic. A further concern

in her work is how narrative functions in contemporary art, in particular the

relation of narrative to its objects through a fragmentary series of encounters.

Daw places her own practice in the context of historical precedent in both fiction

and art.

Ricky Swallow The Past Sure Is Tense

Author: Jenepher Duncan

ISBN: 0-975-8098-6-5

(2006)

Swallow grounds his work in personal memory and meticulous craftsmanship. He
bridges the divide between everyday iconography and monumentality, popular

culture and art historical traditions. The early sculptures, mostly replicated

machines from his teenage years, resonate as remnants of outdated technologies

and as symbols of the passage of time. Swallow's works, however varied their

content and media, revolve around the themes of evolution, mortality and the

mutability of all things.

Brent Harris Swamp Op

Author: Robert Cook

ISBN: 0-975-8098-2-2

(2006)

'Swamp Op' combines evenly pitched opposites. Pulling these poles into their
'Swamp Op' unity is the work of Brent Harris, an artist whose obliquely figurative
prints, paintings and drawings spin around an endless mutation of forms that give
pictorial voice to layers of personal, sexual, existential and biological trauma we
experience as humans. All of which unfolds within a keen awareness of the inevitable
point of death which awaits us.

Download a PDF copy of the exhibition guide

Under God's Hammer

William Blake versus David Shrigley

Author: Robert Cook

ISBN: 0-975-8098-8-1

(2006)

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This unique pairing of historical and contemporary illustrations inspired by the

famously ambiguous Old testament text offers a fascinating look at the machinations
of faith and the power of artistic vision in relation to the world of the early

nineteenth century and our own times. The distinct styles and world views of

these artists produce two remarkable takes on the significance of the Old
Testament story, whose interpretation remains puzzling and manifold.

Wall Power

Author: Jenepher Duncan

(2005)

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'Wall Power' brings together seven artists using diverse materials, techniques

and processes to expand the picture plane of the wall into their structural and
conceptual base, using the wall as an intrinsic medium for the creation of art

works, not just their display. While there is no overarching theme in this

exhibition, there are certain optical, procedural and conceptual correspondences

between the works, creating a dynamic dialogue around such elements as

geometry, pattern, structure, colour, decoration and material.

Wembley Ware

Excitingly Different

Authors: Andrew Nicholls & Melissa Harpley

(2005)

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During the 1950s Australia's largest range of commercial ceramics was the

wembly ware line of 'fancyware' produced in western Australia by HL Brisbane

and Wunderlich Ltd. selling nationally and in New Zealand between 1946 and

1961, Wembley Ware invigorated a market dominated by plain, mercenary

wartime ceramics. The ornate designs and lustrous glazes reflected the buoyancy

of post-war Australian society, and resulted in some of the most unique examples

of ceramic Australiana ever commercially produced.

Special Exhibitions

on sale

Abstract Earth: a view from above

Author: Richard Woldendorp

2008

ISBN: 978-1-9213613-1-9

Richard Woldendorp is one of Australia"s leading photographers. For more

than 40 years he has documented the country"s unique landscape from the sky

as a pioneer of aerial photography. Intrigued by the uniqueness of the Australian

landscape, Dutch born Richard Woldendorp became a landscape photographer

with a strong interest in aerial photography, which he feels captures the vastness

of the outback best.

This latest book of photography by Richard Woldendorp spans the last
27 years of his working life. It features 86 of the aerial Australian landscapes

for which Richard is justifiably famous.

Western Australian Indigenous Art Awards 2009

Authors: Clotilde Bullen, Stefano Carboni, Brenda Croft, Carly Lane,
              Keith Munro, Judith Ryan

ISBN: 978-0-9806268-2-7

(2009)

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The Western Australian Indigenous Art Awards is national awards

celebrating the achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists.

Launched in 2008, the awards aspire to showcase a representative group of

works by each of the Indigenous contemporary artists selected as finalists

for the awards. The model for the awards is unique within Australia. The

awards acknowledge achievement in three categories: the Western Australian

Indigenous Art Award of $50,000, the Western Australian Artist Award

of $10,000 and a People's Choice Award of $5,000.

In 2009, the exhibition showcases outstanding works by 15 Indigenous

artists from across the nation and one artists’ group who were selected as

the finalists. The artist represented include Ricardo Idagi, Tony Albert,

Lorraine Connelly-Northey, Timothy Cook, Nick Cumpston, Wakartu

Cory Surprise, Spinifex Arts Project (Women's Collaborative), Dennis

Nona, Yinarupa Nangala, Brian McKinnon, Gali Yalkarriwuy Gurruwiwi,

Doreen Reid Nakamarra, Tiger Palpatja, Christopher Pease, Shane Pickett,

and Daniel Walbidi.

Download: PDF copy of the exhibition catalogue

THING beware the material world

Author: Robert Cook

ISBN: 978-0-9806268-0-3

(2009)

THING beware the material world. Much more than an exhibition of furniture,

lighting, sculpture, textiles and photography, it celebrates the human impulse to

shape and re-shape the matter that makes our worlds. In presenting an array of

distinct and dynamic work across such media, it is intended to be a platform for

thought and discussion about the meaning of making as it impacts on our

encounters with design and craft in particular, and objects in general. The works

are made from a range of processes including hi-tech machining, creative recycling

and delicate handcrafting.

Year 12 Perspectives 2008

Author: Clotilde Bullen

(2009)

ISBN: 978-0-9803266-8-0

Year 12 Perspectives is a celebration of the talents and creativity of our

next generation of artists. It showcases and recognises the magnificent

achievements of 2008's Year 12 TEE Art and Art and Design students from

across Western Australia.

The exhibition included 56 works which were selected from across the state,

and in a continuing commitment to cross-cultural engagement, 17 works

from young artists in Japan also feature in the exhibition, through the generous

support of the International Foundation for Arts and Culture. These works

include elegant calligraphic scrolls and diverse mixed media works.

Western Australian Indigenous Art Awards 2008

Authors: Gary Dufour, Carly Lane, Susan Lowish, Ian McLean, Djon Mundine

& Tiwi Design

ISBN: 978-0-9803266-7-3

(2008)

The Western Australian Indigenous Art Awards are a new national awards

celebrating the achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists.

Launched in 2008, the awards aspire to showcase a representative group of works

by each of the Indigenous contemporary artists selected as finalists for the

awards. The model for the awards is unique in Australia, each of the selected

artists being asked to work closely with the curatorial staff of the Art Gallery

of WA in selecting a group of works produced over the preceding two years.

The awards acknowledge achievement in three categories: the Western Australian

Indigenous Art Award of $50,000, the Western Australian Artist Award of

$10,000 and a People's Choice Award of $5,000.

Raised By Wolves

Authors: Robert Cook, Jenepher Duncan, Clotilde Bullen & Melissa Harpley

(2007)

Raised by Wolves is a visual invitation to consider different configurations of

the human family and their personal, social and political implications. A richly

immersive experience composed of photographs, drawings, video projections,

sculptures and paintings, the exhibition features twenty-six international and

Australian artists from several generations. The selected works depict moments

of family celebration and unity, social and peer groupings as alternative families,

the effects of family breakdown, and the geopolitical dynamics that have tended

at times to celebrate families.

Western Desert Satellites

Author: Clotilde Bullen

ISBN: 0-9758098-4-9

(2006)

This stunning collection of works spans almost forty years, and emphasises the

connections between country, community and story. Western Desert stories are

linked with one another and spread in specific ways across a large area of land.

Artworks from this region are a reflection of geographical location, communal

and familial networks and grounded spirituality. There are commonalities of

narrative but an enormous diversity in the expression of those stories, which

presents a challenge as well as a visual adventure to the viewer.

Norman Lindsay: Drawn to Women

The Complete Published Etchings

Author: Melissa Harpley

(2006)

Norman Lindsay was one of Australia's most important artists. He was very

prolific both as an artist and as a writer, but he is also significant for changing

forever the understanding of what it meant to be an artist in Australia. Lindsay

was a complex figure: admired for the extraordinary skill as a draughtsman that

he revealed in his drawings and etchings, enjoyed for the humour in his writing

and at the same time reviled for his deliberate attacks on the public morality of

middle-class Australia.

Edge of Desire:

Recent Art in India

Author: Chaitanya Sambrani

(2005)

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Edge of Desire: Recent Art in India focuses on contemporary Indian art running

from 1993 - 2003, a period marked by enormous social, cultural, and economic

change that counted political violence and rapid economic growth brought about

by liberalization and foreign investment among the most significant. This decade

has seen the undermining of certitudes and aspirations fundamental to the struggle

for self-determination and the establishment of a secular, socialist democracy. This

period has also seen a growth in India's international prominence. These factors

have inevitably influenced major changes in visual culture.

No longer available.

St Petersburg 1900

Author: Alan Dodge

ISBN: 0-9750168-9-X

(2005)

Seldom in history do the stars line up to form a field of creative energy that

marks a great period of cultural output. As Russia greeted the twentieth century, the

juxtaposition of the old imperial system in St Petersburg and the dizzying array of

new ideas burst onto the scene. Coupled with social and political unrest and the dying

days of elegance and extravagance in the imperial capital, St Petersburg and all Russia

became a hotbed of creativity.

Mix Tape 15 WA Artists

Authors: Tara Brabazon, Robert Cook, Jenepher Duncan & Edmund Tadros

(2005)

'mix tape' captures aspects of Western Australian art as it is configured today. It

features a mix of artists from young to senior, working over many media and

artistic attitudes. Conceived, as the title suggests, in a way akin to the mix tapes

that we send to people, that we share music on, it is an idiosyncratic blend, not

intended to be comprehensive survey. Rather it conveys the sense of intimacy and

adventure found in a mix tape. It captures a sense of surprise in seeing a range of

artists' work you would not have expected to see together in the same space.

Sunshine and Shadow: AB Webb and the poetics of place
Author: Janda Gooding

ISBN: 0-9750168-6-5

(2004)

The beauty of river scenes, paperbarks, reeds and sands at Crawley or Dalkieth,

faint wooded points of land jutting into the river as well as stronger scenes of

Karri trunks, and granite boulders and open plains in the south-west feature in this

catalogue. A beautiful collection of both watercolours and prints, by a leading West

Australian artist.

Howard Taylor, Phenomena
Authors: Gary Dufour & Russell Storer

ISBN: 0-9750168-2-2

(2003)

A comprehensive review and commentary on the work of Western Australian

artist Howard Taylor. Includes transcripts of interviews with the artist and over

120 colour plates of work produced from   1950 - 2001.

South West Central

Indigenous art from south Western Australia 1833 - 2002

Authors: Brenda L. Croft, Gurindji/Mudpurra communities, Northern Territory

& Janda Gooding

ISBN: 0-9750168-0-6

(2003)

Embracing a period of nearly two centuries, South West Central, includes a

reproduction of an 1833 ink drawing by Gyallipurt and twenty-first-century

digital re-takes on colonial representations by Dianne Jones. In between is a

myriad of outstanding visual expressions by Nyoongar artists that reveal their

relationships to their communities and traditional lands. Most painfully, they

recall the forcing of people from their traditional lands into fringe camps, the

destruction of their traditional practices and their being rendered invisible in

their own country.

Traces of Genius

Drawings from the Amsterdam Historisch Museum

Authors: Jeroen E Jurjens & Norbert E Middelkoop

(2003)

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In the Spring of 2000 an exhibition to showcase the highlights of the Amsterdam

Historical Museum's collection of old-master drawings was being prepared, their

high quality led to talks about bringing a selection of the treasures to Perth. It was

a natural fit with both past history and future directions, for the Art Gallery of

WA has a longstanding commitment to contemporary drawing practice. The

personal selection of drawings made by Dr Simon H Levie, former Director of

the Amsterdam Historical Museum and the Rijksmuseum,  from the rich drawing

collection means that, for the first time, audiences outside The Netherlands can

enjoy the quality and diversity of this fine collection.

No longer available.

StripTEASE Max Pam

Author: Robert Cook

ISBN: 0-7309-3630-9

(2002)

StripTEASE offers an in-depth look at the work of Perth-based photographer

Max Pam. Covering over thirty years of practice, this exhibition showcases Pam's

black and white photographs from the 1970s to the 1990s alongside his more

recent, sumptuous colour pictures. His subject-matter embraces a large chunk of

the world, yet, as his work is far better known outside Australia, it is important

that this exhibition was created to be seen within his own country.

With this, all of Pam's work, whether made at home or on the road, lives on in

the imagination, activating the synapses, and eroticising our involvement with

the world. For Max Pam as for those who find themselves caught up in the lure

of his photography, the striptease will never be over......

Home

Art Gallery of Western Australia

Authors: Trevor Smith, Thomas Mulcaire & Gary Dufour

ISBN: 0-7309-3627-9

(2000)

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Realising that dialogue can only emerge out of shared interests and concerns,

'home' expands upon the uncertainties of belonging precisely at a time when

these concepts are being reformulated by the persistent pressures of ethnicity,

race, nationalism, and globalism. The exhibition develops from the social,

artistic and historical particularities of South Africa and Western Australia. It

attempts to destroy the disjunctions of distance and open up a trans-regional

conversation between artists. Particular artists, works and practices are woven

into dialogues, conversations and exchanges sustained beyond notions of

territories and borders.

Susan Norrie

Authors: Trevor Smith & Gary Dufour

ISBN: 0-7309-3624-4

(1998)

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Whether you turn to her paintings, installations or video projections, Susan

Norris' work is haunted by the human body. Figures surface in extravagantly

layered oil paint or float Ophelia-like beneath a video of a viscous oil slick.

Anthropomorphic animals become portraits of pathos and passion, greed and

gluttony. Powerful metaphors of concentration are embodied in historical figures.

The images and subjects in her recent videos and installations are allusive,

hovering just beyond the threshold of immediate or complete recognition. The

lavish surfaces offer glimpses of other times and particular histories. The space

created is for exploration, remembering and discovery.

Nature As Object

Craft and Design from Japan, Finland and Australia

Author: Robert Bell

(1998)

The outstanding material cultures of Japan, Finland and Australia are shaped

in response to their unique natural environments. 'Nature as Object' focuses on

the innovation and influence of contemporary craft artists and designers in

each of these countries. By tracing similarities of approach the exhibition brings

together objects from specific natural and cultural environments which transcend

the boundaries of locality.

The Golden Age of Dutch Art

Seventeenth Century Paintings From The Rijksmuseum And Australian Collections

Author: Norbert Middelkoop

(1997)

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The Dutch paintings seen in this exhibition date from the years between 1616

and 1697, a period which encompasses the Dutch arrival on Australian coasts.

The artists from the age of the Dutch explorers expressed not only the potential

of the world around them but also the artistic possibilities that lay in people and

their place in the world, as well as in the objects and the landscape around them.

In their manner of painting, these artists explored their individual potentials. At

the same time this seventeenth-century Dutch art also reveals the cohesion within

a small community. In their splendid works, the highly skilled painters of the

Golden Dutch Age record and recall for us major events and personalities.

No longer available.

Design Visions

Author: Robert Bell

(1992)

Design Visions is a collection of ideas which have been given a compelling reality

by 111 artists from thirteen countries, working in the areas of glass, metal

jewellery, ceramics, textiles and furniture. Grouped in various sections, these

dramatic and innovative objects reflect a changing vision of the world.

Douglas Chambers

A Survey

Author: Margaret Moore

(1991)

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The gamut of human emotions runs through Chambers' art because it is so

connected to his life. His iconography becomes a a key to unraveling narratives

as well as a key to a state of mind, with all the attendant vacillations of mood and

spirit. There is a melancholy and then there is also unbridled humour. There is

intimacy conveyed in his line drawings and his later studies of women range from

tender to the almost voyeuristic. Repeated appearances of certain motifs in various

works also help to construct meanings.

No longer available.

Perth International Crafts Trennial

Author: Robert Bell

(1989)

In both scale and focus the Perth International Crafts Triennial brings new vigour

to Australian0organised international exhibitions. It provides an illuminating

account of three selected media and also serves as a forum for dialogue between

four different continents. This Triennial demonstrates the Art Gallery of Western

Australia's commitment to contemporary practice as well as the expertise of its

staff. Robert Bell accepted the challenge to develop a concept and determine the

framework for an ambitious exhibition highlighting new directions in world craft

practice.

Monet & Japan

Author: Virginia Spate, David Bromfield, Gary Hickey & Akiki Mabuchi

ISBN: 0-642-54129-9 (pbk)

ISBN: 0-642-54135-3 (hbk)

(2001)  

Monet never traveled to Japan, but surrounded himself with a large collection of

Japanese woodblock prints. From as early as the 1870's, critics commented on the

influence these works were having on Monet's Impressionism.

Japanese art accompanied Monet throughout his life as an artist. Without it he

would not be the 'Monet' we know. It affected not only his style and subject

matter, but also the way he saw nature and how he conceived his relationship to

nature. Monet & Japan shows how Japanese prints and paintings helped to shape

Monet's art during six decades, influencing not only his style and subject matter,

but the very way he saw the world around him.

John Campbell 1855-1924

Author: Janice Baker

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Brochure highlighting the career of John Campbell, an artist and a signwriter who

was active in Western Australia c1892-1923. During this time he produced oil

paintings and watercolours of Perth buildings including houses, pubs, breweries

and churches as well as street scenes, railway stations, military camps and landscapes.

The Pre-Raphaelite Dream

Paintings and Drawings From the Tate Collection

Author: Robert Upstone

ISBN: 1-85437-521-0 (hbk)

ISBN: 1-85437-491-5 (hbk)

(2003)

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Drawn from Tate's outstanding holding, The Pre-Raphaelite Dream combines

iconic paintings with less well-known works by the major artists of the movement

to set the work of the Pre-Raphaelites in their aesthetic, social and historical context.

No longer available.