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detail A Person Looks At A Work Of Art/ someone looks at something... LOGOS / HA HA 1989

Artwork detail A Person Looks At A Work Of Art/ someone looks at something... LOGOS / HA HA this artwork made of A Person Looks At A Work Of Art/ someone looks at something... CULTURAL CONSUMPTION PRODUCTION Oil on canvas with plastic-coated wires, created in 1989-01-01
Accession No.
1998.099a-c
Date Created
1989
Gallery location
Not on public display
Department
Contemporary Australian Art
Dimensions A
Three panels: 244.5 x 511.4cm (overall); left panel: 138 x 209.9cm; centre panel: 138 x 101.8cm; right panel: 138 x 199.7cm; wires: 106.5cm (length)
Media Category
Painting
Secondary Media Category
oil
Medium
A Person Looks At A Work Of Art/
someone looks at something...
CULTURAL CONSUMPTION PRODUCTION
Oil on canvas with plastic-coated wires
Place Created
Daylesford
Credit Line
Purchased 1998. Queensland Art Gallery Foundation Grant

Conceptual artist Peter Tyndall explores the relationship between a work of art and its viewers. This painting depicts a picture within a picture. It contains black lines arranged to mimic the appearance of a white canvas suspended by hanging wires – a repetition of the same installation arrangement that Tyndall choses for the painting itself.

Tyndall’s extended title has been assigned to all his artworks made since 1974 and describes the physical and conceptual acts a viewer engages in when looking at his paintings and at art in general. Incorporating the word ‘LOGOS’, Tyndall refers to the Ancient Greek term for the 'Word’ and its religious connotations of divine reason and received wisdom. Pairing it with ‘HA HA’, he highlights the visual joke of the painting depicting a painting and finds humour in deconstructing the ‘sacred’ process of viewing an artwork in a museum. 
 

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© Peter Tyndall

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Stories featuring this object

Richard Bell's (Kamilaroi/Kooma/Jiman/Gurang Gurang people / Australia QLD b.1953) Bell's Theorem (Trikky Dikky and friends) 2005, installed for 'Something Borrowed', GOMA, July 2025 / Synthetic polymer paint on canvas / The James C. Sourris AM Collection. Gift of James C. Sourris through the Queensland Art Gallery Foundation 2007. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program / © Richard Bell / Photograph: J Ruckli, QAGOMA
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Exhibitions featuring this object

Richard Bell's (Kamilaroi/Kooma/Jiman/Gurang Gurang people / Australia QLD b.1953) Bell's Theorem (Trikky Dikky and friends) 2005, installed for 'Something Borrowed', GOMA, July 2025 / Synthetic polymer paint on canvas / The James C. Sourris AM Collection. Gift of James C. Sourris through the Queensland Art Gallery Foundation 2007. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program / © Richard Bell / Photograph: J Ruckli, QAGOMA

'Something Borrowed: Appropriation in Australian Art'

Jul 2025 - Jan 2026

Jackie Kurltjunyintja Giles / Pintubi/Ngaanyatjarra people / WA Australia 1937–2010 / Valiant 2007 / Synthetic polymer paint on metal / Purchased 2008. The Queensland Government's Gallery of Modern Art Acquisitions Fund / © Jackie Kurltjunyintja Giles / Photograph: N Harth, QAGOMA

'Value Added'

Jun 2025 - Feb 2026

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Images of artworks on this website may be used for research, study and other related exceptions as defined by section 40 of the Copyright Act 1968 (as amended) without applying for specific permission. All other uses of the content of this site (where applicable).  Refer these requests to reproductions. For more information, see copyright and reproductions on the QAGOMA website.