Wood carving is an important ceremonial art in Aurukun, a town and coastal locality in western Cape York Peninsula, North Queensland. Major sets of carved icons used in public ceremonies in the 1950s and 60s have been collected and are now housed in Australia’s major museums. The renaissance of art in the community has centred…
South Korean artist Gimhongsok’s Canine Construction 2009 brings me a lot of joy. This is one of Gimhongsok’s proposals for public monuments, recognising that no-one ever seems to agree on public art. It’s cast from resin but looks like it’s made out of garbage bags. Sure, there’s an art world in-joke here, looking like a…
Over a period of six years from 2008, QAGOMA and New York-based Chinese artist Cai Guo- Qiang developed and realised the spectacular and meditative art installation Heritage 2013 — a beautiful, thought-provoking vision of our relationship with the earth and with each other. A highly collaborative undertaking, the artwork comprises 99 life-sized imitation animals from…
Continue reading » “Commissioning ‘Heritage’: An installation by Cai Guo-Qiang”
The major installation work Heritage (illustrated), a ‘last paradise’ inspired by Queensland’s North Stradbroke Island, moves visitors with the symbolism behind the work. On first encountering Cai Guo-Qiang’s 2013 installation, many visitors gasp in awe and surprise, a visceral response that is at once sensory and emotional. While many contemporary works of art evoke a…
Continue reading » “Cai Guo-Qiang ‘Heritage’ inspired by Queensland’s North Stradbroke Island”
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.