LIST OF WORKS: ‘Living Patterns’
Living Patterns: Contemporary Australian Abstraction
Installation view of ‘Living Patterns’, with Helen Johnson’s Women’s work 1912 (detail) 2017 visible at left, QAG, October 2023 / © The artists / Photograph: C Callistemon, QAGOMA
‘Living Patterns’ asserts an expansive definition of abstraction in Australian art. While these works may originate from different artistic lineages, they are united here in their use of reduction, obfuscation and codification.
Reducing art to its most basic components — and excluding figurative content — was one of the most prominent approaches to abstract art when it took hold in North America, Europe and Australia from the 1950s. While Australian art history dates back 65 000 years, the 1970s saw a movement of Aboriginal artists from communities such as Papunya using dots and lines as a pattern technique on canvas and board. The wide circulation of these paintings led to an enhanced understanding of how artworks that might look non‑representational can be full of encoded cultural knowledge.
This exhibition celebrates these varied approaches, bringing together recent artworks with abstract characteristics by Australian artists. Below, explore the works of art included in ‘Living Patterns’; the first list shows works in the QAGOMA Collection, and the second details works on loan to the Gallery from both public and private collections.
As part of the accompanying cinema program ‘Colour Box: Abstract Cinema’ screening at GOMA, short films by artist Kent Morris will screen in the QAG Lecture Theatre on Sundays from 10.30am to 4.00pm.
Explore the works in ‘Living Patterns’
Installation view of ‘Living Patterns’, featuring works by (l–r) Paul Bai, Timothy Cook, Tyza Hart and Jonny Niesche, Watermall, QAG, October 2023 / © The artists / Photograph: C Callistemon, QAGOMA
Feature image: Daniel Boyd / Kudjla/Gangalu people b.1982 / Untitled (HNDFWMIAFN) (detail) 2017 / Oil, charcoal and archival glue on polyester / Commissioned 2017 with funds from Belinda and Darren Elderton through the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art Foundation / Collection: QAGOMA / © Daniel Boyd
