Primavera Exhibition

A new art exhibition at Brisbane’s Queensland University of Technology (QUT) Art Museum explores the artistic and design-related “visual languages” of Australia’s most acclaimed up-and-coming young artists in a bid to showcase the breadth of the nation’s contemporary art practice.

Primavera 2010, a collaborative effort between the QUT Art Museum and Sydney’s Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA), is the MCA’s annual exhibition.

It brings together the works of 7 artists 35 years and younger including Akira Akira, Julie Fragar, Agatha Gothe-Snape, Alasdair McLuckie, James Newitt, Jackson Slattery and Emma White.

 

Emma White, Copy, 2008, polymer clay, dimensions variable (object to scale), installation view, BREENSPACE, Sydney, 2009. Private collection. Image courtesy the artist and
BREENSPACE, Sydney © the artist
 

National Art School guest curator Katie Dyer says the artists provide a “criss-crossing” in-and-out of modes to find the best visual language for art expression and cites Akira Akira’s work as also effectively applying characteristics of design.

“[The artist’s] work borrows Modernist and Utopian concepts of design… [and is based around] the idea of objects circulating in the world,” Dyer says.

Akira Akira’s Spillberg sculptures, which give the impression of paint that never dries, are meticulously constructed in layers to create something that appears accidental and yet simultaneously poses a paradox.

Akira Akira, Spillberg (black) No.1 (detail) 2008 automotive paint on polyurethane, resin, and IKEA INGO table, 88 x 37 x 4 cm, approx. sculpture size; 120 x 75 x 73 cm, table size, installation view, Utopian Slumps, Melbourne, 2009 Image courtesy and © the artist Photography by Louis Porter
 

Alternatively, Sydney-based Agatha Gothe-Snape’s pieces draw on aspects of art, design and communication with an eclectic approach to art-making, spearheading the notion that modes of communication can and must take many forms; as evidenced in her interactive performances and Powerpoint presentations.

Agatha Gothe-Snape, Wrong Solo 1 and 2, 2010, image preparation for silk-screen print, Image courtesy and © the artist

According to Dyer, rather than being limited by a theme summarising movements or trends, the exhibition instead aims to concentrate on the artists’ individual array of disciplines.

“[The show] reflects a broad variety of styles and approaches while highlighting innovative work by emerging artists who are contributing to new interpretations of contemporary art practice.”

Primavera 2010, now until 3 April, is organised and toured by the MCA.

QUT Art Museum, 2 George Street, Brisbane.

QUT Art Museum
[email protected]
artmuseum.qut.edu.au