Art Friday: Visiting the art gallery (Part 2)



Art Friday: Visiting the art gallery 

Contemporary Indigenous art

Last week I wrote about the importances of taking children to the art gallery (LINK). Another reason to visit art galleries is to look at art from our Indigenous population. In Australia most people have very little contact with Australian Aborigines and when asked about Indigenous art they also have a stereotypical idea — paintings like the ones above. However, the South Australian Art Gallery (where I went to in January) have a modern collection that is very different to these more traditional "dot" paintings and I was very impressed by them. 

They aren't to everyone's taste and perhaps "too" modern for some, but these were my favourites.  

George Tjungurrayi - Western Australia. Untitled painting.
Ray James Tjangala and the painting is called "Snake Dreaming at Karilwarra"
Tony Albert, Alair Pambegan and the installation is called "Frontier wars: Bonefish story place"


I love this room - the walls were dark and the lighting dim which really set off the art work and make each piece stand out. The room was very calm and peaceful which is perfect for look at art. 

These skirts (which are suspended, hanging in mid air as if by magic) were a big favourite of mine - they are called "The Namatjira Collection" and are watercolours painted in the tradition of a famous Australian Indigenous artist — Albert Namatjira — and have been painted by his ancestors. They have a rather old world charm to them and reminded me a little of those old fashion lampshades. you found in homes from wester-year. This is a lovely exhibition to walk through as they move slight ever so slightly in the breeze.




The glass sculpture (about) is large and impressive. It is called "Thunder Raining Poison" and is a five metre high "cloud" of 2000 hand-blown glass yams.  It is suspended from the ceiling and one walks around it with great care. The artist who created this work is Yvonne Scarce. 

It is about the atomic bombs that were released at Maralinga in South Australia in the 1950's and 60s, jointly by Australia and the United Kingdom. The bombs not only poisoned the landscape, but turned sand (from the desert) in glass. The indigenous people of the area were unable to return to their native lands (Kokatha and Nukunu people). 

The radioactive landscape from the bombs turned an opaque shade of green that also colours some of the hand-blown yams, which Scarce has made.








Comments

  1. Love some of your photography. In particular - the glass up close. Very clear.

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    1. I am so glad you took me to see the art gallery, it was a lovely visit.

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  2. Beautiful art that I may never have known about if you hadn't posted photos here. Wonderful photography. I agree with the previous comment about the photo of the glass. I have never seen anything like the suspended skirt-like paintings, amazing.

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  3. I'm not a fan of most of that art... but I thought the skirts were quite interesting and even pretty, and the glass is interesting too (I never understood the fascination with using nuclear power... we KNOW it is a terrible thing, so why do people insist on continuing its use???).

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    1. I like modern art, but know that you aren't as keen on it - its good that we have different and same tastes one some things!!!!

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