The conservator’s public image is most likely of someone cleaning an old painting with a cotton wool swab in a studio with classical music playing. However, art conservation — particularly contemporary art conservation — calls for an innovative and creative approach to the unique challenges presented by contemporary art display. Preparing fragile and complex art…
Continue reading » “Getting ready for bed: Contemporary art conservation”
We’re struck by the monumental scale and startling realism of Ron Mueck’s In bed 2005 (illustrated), then — almost voyeuristically — we are compelled to move closer to inspect the detailed texture of the figure’s hair, her translucent skin, and almost pulsing veins. Stepping back, her apprehensive facial expression and seemingly vulnerable state of being…
Continue reading » “Apprehensive & vulnerable: ‘In Bed’ by Ron Mueck”
Have you ever been to an exhibition at QAGOMA and walked away wanting to know more — for example — how did Qiu Zhijie create his enormous five-storey wall painting Map of Technological Ethics for ‘APT9’; alternatively, what did Ben Quilty use to create a series of site-specific, hand-drawn portraits of Margaret Olley — (teapots,…
Continue reading » “Go behind-the-scenes with our time-lapse videos”
Ron Mueck’s In bed depicts a middle-aged woman who has been carefully composed so that the position of her body and facial expression suggest a range of possible emotional states. Is she anxious or quietly reflective? While the viewer may at first be taken aback by the monumental scale of the work, this is ultimately…
Continue reading » “Ron Mueck’s ‘In bed’: Is she anxious or quietly reflective?”
We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the land on which the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art stands and recognise the creative contribution First Australians make to the art and culture of this country.