2009 exhibition program

In 2009, the gallery celebrates its tenth anniversary with twelve compelling exhibitions by local and interstate artists.

Several exhibitions in the program have been conceptualised and coordinated by the gallery curator and guest curators.

Links between past and present are stressed through a number of these exhibitions, especially Mute Relics and Bedevilled Creatures, Australian Art in the Making and the Noel Counihan anniversary show. Other exhibitions have been selected for inclusion through our annual ‘call for proposals’ process.

Trouble in Toyland

16 January – 8 February 2009, opens Thursday 15 January

Trouble in Toyland explores the surreal and uncanny world of toys, highlighting their seductive, sinister and anthropomorphic qualities. While many of the works can be described as ‘playful’, they also interrogate ideas of kitsch and cuteness.

Artists: Martine Corompt, Michael Doolan, Anna Hoyle, Christopher Langton and Van Sowerwine. Curated by Edwina Bartlem.

Keiko Murakami: Kizuguchi

16 January – 8 February 2009, opens Thursday 15 January

Kizuguchi is a Japanese word meaning ‘wound or cut to the body’. Keiko Murakami’s exhibition consists of paintings, etching and lino prints that capture the essence of kizuguchi as both a physical and psychological wound. Her portraits of young female figures have the appearance of dolls and aliens, often staring directly at the viewer.

Women’s Salon 2009: Stories of Hope

20 February – 15 March 2009, opens Thursday 19 February

The Women’s Salon is an annual contemporary art exhibition showcasing the artistic practice of women living or working in the Moreland area.

Women’s Salon 2009: Stories of Hope sought to explore the positive ideas, stories and things that sustain us and give us hope, even in the darkest times. The exhibition featured artworks in a range of media including painting, works on paper, sculpture, installation, photography and new media art.

Gulag

27 March - 19 April 2009, opens Thursday 26 March

With a history spanning more than fifteen years, The Gulag Studios (situated in Brunswick East) have provided a creative living and working environment for a wide variety of artists during the course of its existence.

Curated by Dr Sheridan Palmer, Gulag examined the establishment, history and evolution of this thriving studio complex through the works of its members. The exhibition provided an insight into the art, processes and dynamic interactions emanating from this environment.

Artists include: Karen Casey, David Harley, Tyra Hutchens, Samaan Fieck (with Eric Demetriou and ‘Gulag Projects’), Sam Fisher, Martin King, Anthony Pelchen, David Ralph, Damian Smith, John Waller, Gary Willis.

Mute Relics and Bedevilled Creatures – Constructing an Antipodean Curio Cabinet

1 - 31 May 2009, opens Thursday 30 April

Curated in celebration of Reconciliation Week 2009, Mute Relics and Bedevilled Creatures featured the work of Indigenous and non-Indigenous artists who re-interpret the concept of the curio (curiosity) cabinet and histories of museum collection and display practices. The exhibition questioned the ‘muteness’ of these displays and the idea of memory in objects. An important sub-text of this project is the historical practice of collecting and displaying Indigenous artefacts and remains in curio cabinets and natural history museums.

Artists include: Julie Gough, Denise Higgins, Sam Leach, Brian McKinnon, Charlie O, Uncle Herb Patten, Kate Rohde, Gary Smith and Sharon West.

Curated by Sharon West, Edwina Bartlem and Brian McKinnon.

Sally McInerney: The Lost Track of Time 2: windows & other reflections

12 June – 5 July 2009, opens Thursday 11 June

In her series The Lost Track of Time 2: windows & other reflections, Sally McInerney uses photography as a way of seeing and reflecting on the parallel worlds that crop up without notice in everyday life.

Drew Pettifer: You are the Light

12 June – 5 July 2009, opens Thursday 11 June

Drew Pettifer’s confessional photography records and reflects on private moments in the life of the artist. This immersive series explores themes of intimacy, youth and the domestic and the ambiguities that surround these amorphous categories.

Surveying the Field

Friday 17 July - Sunday 16 August 2009, opens Thursday 16 July

Surveying the Field is an exhibition showcasing artworks by seven leading contemporary, Australian artists who either live or work in the arts in the City of Moreland. Artists include: Alison Bennett (photography), Angela Cavalieri (printmaking & mixed media), Sam Jinks (sculpture), Sam Leach (painting), Owen Leong (video), Wilma Tabacco (painting) and Dan Wollmering (sculpture). Curated by Edwina Bartlem.

Australian Art in the Making

This exhibition has been postponed until further notice.

An exhibition tracing those changes in pictorial arts from the First Fleet to early twentieth century, in works by British engravers, Governor Hunter, convicts, Darwin’s friend Conrad Martens, the extraordinary S. T. Gill, Eugene von Guèrard, Elizabeth and John Gould, Nicholas Chevalier, Louis Buvelot, Syd Long, plagiarists, illustrators of The Bulletin and Picturesque Atlas of Australasia—and many more.” (Robert Smith, Exhibition Curator).

Walk: a NETS Victoria touring exhibition

28 August – 27 September 2009, opens Thursday 27 August

In March 2006, eight artists embarked on a three-week journey on the Great South West Walk in Victoria from the Cobbobonee Forest and the Glenelg River, to the ocean and estuaries of Discovery Bay.

From this experience comes Walk, an exhibition highlighting the sense of moving through the landscape rather than following a road or boundary, allowing the artists to experience a sense of immersion and stillness inside the landscape. This exhibition invites the viewer to discover this fragile environment through a diverse range of contemporary art, craft, sound and video art.

Artists: Peter Corbett, Vicki Couzens, Nicky Hepburn, Brian Laurence, Jan Learmonth, Carmel Wallace, Ilka White and John Wolseley.

Curated by Martina Copley.

The Counihan Connection: Noel Counihan and Contemporary Artists

9 October – 8 November 2009, opens Thursday 8 October

Counihan Gallery In Brunswick’s 10th Anniversary Exhibition

To celebrate the Counihan Gallery In Brunswick’s 10th anniversary, selected contemporary artists have been invited to create new art works in response to the themes and style of works by the gallery’s namesake, Noel Counihan. The responsive new works will be exhibited along-side original Counihan works to emphasise continuities and ruptures between past and present, while acknowledging the significant contribution that Noel Counihan made to Australian art and human rights.

Artists include: Chris Bond, Angela Cavalieri, George Gittoes, William Kelly, Kristin McFarlane, Georgia Metaxas and Satta Van Daal.

Curated by Edwina Bartlem.

Mandy Gunn: re-source

20 November – 20 December 2009, opens Thursday 19 November

In keeping with the pattern of Mandy Gunn’s work over the past fourteen years, re-source focuses on art works constructed from found materials, principally paper. The materials are sourced from the left overs of everyday consumerism, the sort of products which usually find their way into bins, often wrapping or packaging, tickets, envelopes and printed materials.

Leanne Cole: I want, therefore I need

20 November – 20 December 2009, opens Thursday 19 November

I want, therefore I need examines the culture of consumerism within our society and the excessive need to continually fill our homes with consumerist items. A series of perspex houses containing ceramic objects cast from household refuse, will explore our rampant consumerism and its effect on our living spaces.

Acknowlegements

The Gulag exhibition is supported by Moreland City Council through the Community Development Grant program and Arts Victoria.
Mute Relics and Bedevilled Creatures is supported by Arts Victoria through a Project Development grant.
Walk is supported by Visions of Australia, an Australian Government program supporting touring exhibitions by providing funding assistance for the development and touring of Australian cultural material across Australia.