Summer has arrived, and with it, a new season at the Gippsland Art Gallery.
Officially opened on Friday, December 9, the centrepiece of the latest season is Cosmos, an exhibition which seeks to tap into the cosmic energy that surrounds and connects all living beings.
The curation consists of artworks stored in the Gallery’s collection, as well as loaned pieces, such as Lee Darroch’s Spiral of Life – a floor installation consisting of sand, pebbles, shells and other natural marine objects.
As Gallery director Simon Gregg explained to the Gippsland Times, Ms Darroch’s work is making a return, following her solo exhibition last year.
“It was a huge show running through two galleries, over six weeks,” Mr Gregg said.
“About 50 people got to see it, because after the second day, we had to go into lockdown; and that was kind of devastating, because she spent two years working on that show.
“So I said to her at the time, ‘Let’s start restaging parts of it afterwards’.”
The Gallery is also hosting several smaller exhibitions over Summer, curated to complement Cosmos and each other.
“We’ve got the Wild Dogs of Gippsland exhibition… which is six artists all with very big ideas and these kind of big, noisy artworks, which is fantastic; but then you walk into Kevin Lincoln’s show, which is about the quietest exhibition we’ve ever had – very minimal, very stripped-back, stark landscapes of Gippsland,” Mr Gregg said.
All photos: Tom Parry
He anticipates that Jan Learmonth’s Findings, an installation of 100 tiny objects located in the gallery’s main room, will draw the most interest among attendees.
“That was a lockdown project for her – she lives down at Inverloch, just behind the beach, and everything in these 100 pieces she found just on her property or on the beach, and she just assembled them and made little creatures.
“It has really captured the imagination of everybody that’s come in, and that’s the one that people are spending longest with, so I think that’ll be the most popular. ”
Other artists whose work is being exhibited include Jessica Page, and gallery-favourite Annemieke Mein.
The latest round of exhibitions comes following a successful Spring season for Mr Gregg and his team, which included the biennial John Leslie Art Prize.
“We had about 12 thousand people attend the John Leslie; well-over 100 people every day.
“Two years ago when we did it, we had to go into lockdown a week after it started; to be able to do it again this year without any restrictions at all was just fantastic.
“The opening night, I think there was about 300 people here, and we had artists flying here from all around Australia.
“Just to be able to have a big art party like that again, which we haven’t done for such a long time, was great.
“I think the exhibition itself was terrific… everybody has told me that the quality of art was the best they’d ever seen.”
Greg Wood took out the major prize for his artwork entitled V34 Reimagining, while Frank Mesaric won Best Gippsland Work for Velore Rd, Kilmany.
People’s Choice was awarded to Tractor in the Hills, painted by Peter Baylor.
