Title

Dissenting voices.

Venues

Art Gallery of Western Australia. (20 August 2016 – 8 January 2017)

Date

(2016 – 2017)

Summary

Multi-artist exhibition. Located: Australia (WA). Paintings; Prints; Sculpture

Curator

Jenepher Duncan, Curator, Contemporary Australian Art, Art Gallery of Western Australia.

Country of context

Australia

Abstract

Dissenting Voices is an exhibition concerned with how artists respond to social issues, cultural concerns and political events. Their art also provides poignant commentary on the human condition. Selected from historical, Indigenous and contemporary artworks in the State Art Collection, the works in the show explore themes of socio-political engagement, personal and national identity politics and resistance to acts of authoritarian control and aggression. Many of the works, including installation, photography, sculpture, video and painting, are being shown for the first time together, along side a few new acquisitions, such as those by Raquel Ormella and Marco Fusinato. These artists’ works will offer insights to viewers about the nature of political art, its varied purpose and potential meaning, from dissent and disturbance to contestation and condemnation. Central to the exhibition are major works by Tony Coleing, Tom Nicholson, Leon Golub and Peter Kennedy as well as key paintings on loan from the Kerry Stokes Collection. Goya’s 19th century depictions of the horrors of the Napoleonic war contrast with Tony Coleing’s representations of recent wars from the Falklands to Afghanistan. As a contemporary history painter, Golub has defined the role of painting as ‘bearing witness’, creating work to articulate the point of mediation between power and resistance. On the other hand, Tom Nicholson’s banners are directly embedded in the action itself, having been marched through the streets of Berlin as a collective performance, while Mike Parr’s performative documentations offer his own body as the cathartic point of social commentary. [Gallery media].

Last Updated

24 Jul 2024