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Already bored by the summer uni break? Pop in to the Art Gallery of NSW
By Vic Saule
Combine the lavish lounge rooms of 45 art collectors from around the world, who share a passion for contemporary art and this is what you might get: After a worldwide treasure hunt, Captain Jack Sparrow would be impressed by what the Art Gallery of New South Wales has managed to hunt down. The largest collection of pop-art in Australian history. Pop to Popism; an exhibition of “the most comprehensive survey of pop art to be seen in Australia” will feature over 200 pop-art works borrowed from 49 independent and private collections around the world. According to the Director of AGNSW, Dr Michael Brand: "the exhibition will present Australian pop artists alongside their international peers…and extends beyond the period of classic pop art into the eighties, giving audiences an insight into pop-arts enduring legacy." Pop-art is a contemporary art movement inspired by comics and the cartoons that exploded onto the art scene during the early 1960s in America and the UK. Considered a reaction to the emergence of the television, pop-art remained prevalent until the late 1980s. The exhibition will feature famous artworks by the likes of Andy Warhol, Roy Litchenstein and Australian artist Brett Whitely. AGNSW Head Curator Wayne Tunnicliffe spent over two and a half years tracking down his “wishlist” of artworks for the exhibition. This involved “asking nicely, curatorially twisting arms, shedding tears,” Tunnicliffe told the Sydney Morning Herald. According to Tunnicliffe, flying an untitled 2.8 metre by 3.8 metre artwork by American Barbara Kruger on a plane to Sydney was the biggest challenge. Pop to Popism opens this weekend on the 1st of November, and will continue until March next year. Lectures and workshops on pop-art will be held throughout the exhibition: http://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/exhibitions/pop-to-popism/related-events/ |
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