SASHA GRISHIN AM FAHA
  • Home
  • Academic
    • Academic profile
    • Teaching and outreach
  • Publications
    • Books
    • Articles and essays
    • Art criticism and polemics
    • Online publications
    • Catalogue essays
    • Lectures and conference papers
    • Canberra Times
  • Media
    • Video
    • Podcasts
    • Media Comment and Reviews
  • Curatorship
    • Curatorial
    • Exhibitions opened
    • Exhibitions judged
  • Blog
  • Grishin's Bookshelf
  • News
  • Contact

Grishin's Art Blog (GAB)

Picture

GAB 48 (Grishin’s Art Blog 48)

17/12/2019

2 Comments

 

What should Australian publicly funded art galleries and museums show?

Picture
Tseng Kwong Chi, Grace Jones body painted by Keith Haring, New York, 1985 © Keith Haring Foundation
 
There are three certainties in life when it’s summertime in Australia: bushfires, the cricket and blockbuster exhibitions at the major Australian publicly funded art galleries and museums.
 
The shortlist for this summer includes Keith Haring | Jean-Michel Basquiat: Crossing Lines at the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne, Japan Supernatural at the Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney, Matisse and Picasso at the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra and Water at the Queensland Art Gallery/Gallery of Modern Art in Brisbane.
 
In the best blockbuster fashion, these are all exhibitions with an international focus and reliant on high-profile international loans. Of all Australian galleries, it is only the National Gallery of Victoria that belongs to the international big-time league, boasting almost 3 million visitors a year, and it is included in the top twenty most-visited art museums in the world. The runner-up is the Sydney gallery with 1.3 million people visiting its building in the Domain.
 

Picture
 
Melbourne’s dominance means that in its international blockbuster exhibitions, it can mount shows that would hold their own on any international stage, whether it be the Tate in London, the Beaubourg in Paris or the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
 
This is certainly true of its current Haring/Basquiat show. Having seen a number of exhibitions devoted to these artists, in the depth of its loans and the boldness of the installation, the Melbourne show is outstanding and compares well with any parallel exhibitions. In many ways, the show is defiant, provocative and the gallery does not feel obliged to hang the fig leaf to conceal any part of its agenda.
 
The same cannot be said of others in the current crop of exhibitions, which are undoubtedly studded with individual gems, but at best will tour to the National Gallery of Singapore. This is not a criticism, but a statement of fact – most of the state galleries simply lack the budget and the pull to compete with the adults in the room.
 

Picture
Matisse and Picasso, installation detail, National Gallery of Australia
 
Setting aside the example of Melbourne, my main question is – should the state art galleries and museums be mounting exhibitions where they will always be second best or should they only mount exhibitions that will be the best in the world?
 
There is an imperative placed on most public art galleries to be part of cultural tourism, bring revenue into the local economy and to mount glittering shows of exotic novelties that should amuse the crowds.
 

Picture
Haring/Basquiat installation view, National Gallery of Victoria
 
I am not really sold on this idea. If taxpayers’ dollars fund these institutions, should they not be considered as educational and cultural institutions whose charter should clearly state that they should mount exhibitions that are of great national or state significance. In most instances, these would be exhibitions that could not be staged at this level of excellence anywhere else in the world. This would mean major exhibitions on all aspects of Australian art, including Indigenous art, Oceanic art, Australasian art, Pacific Rim art and some aspects of Asian art, especially that of southeast Asian art.
 

Picture
Keith Haring being arrested for subway graffiti, still from the Haring/Basquiat exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria © Keith Haring Foundation
 
I already anticipate howls of disagreement – elitist, provincial and narrow-minded. The tourist sector (that is always struggling in any media release) would strongly disagree as would the revenue-hungry local government. Diplomatic and aspiring art gallery directors will in conciliatory tones say, “surely we can do both – popularist blockbusters and scholarly focused exhibitions of Australian art and art of our region”.
 
Sadly, in most instances it is difficult to do both – it is a case of carefully juggling limited resources (financial and curatorial), limited space and limited publicity dollars. For us to do what I would like to happen, we would require a substantial increase in funding for our public art spaces and yet we are living in a political climate where the Liberal and National Coalition federal government has abolished any ministry with the name ‘arts’ in it. What hope is there for the arts to flourish and grow in this climate?
 
At the same time as the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra launched its credible, beautifully presented but slightly low on substance Matisse and Picasso show, it opened a most amazing exhibition devoted to the art of Hugh Ramsay. It is a definitive exhibition that explores an extraordinary Australian artist who, despite dying at 28, achieved so much and competed with the best in the world.
 

Picture
Hugh Ramsay, Two girls in white, 1904 also known as The sisters, oil on canvas on hardboard, 125.7 x 144.8 cm, Purchased 1921, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney Photo: Ray Woodbury, AGNSW
 
The NGA needs to be applauded for this superb exhibition (with no admission charges) and the good scholarly monographic catalogue, yet I am certain that the publicity budget for this exhibition is only a fraction of that devoted to its blockbuster counterpart. Sadly, many in the art world will remain unaware of the significance of the Ramsay exhibition – or even its existence.
 
Likewise in Sydney, beyond the hype associated with the spooky Japanese, Quilty is the major Australian show that should warrant the focus of attention from the art community. While opinion on the merits of Ben Quilty may be divided, this is certainly a major exhibition for this very high-profile Australian artist.
 
There are scores of Australian artists (especially women artists) and artists from our region that are desperately in need of major serious exhibitions. Many of these are very exciting artists, considerably more interesting than their over-promoted cousins overseas, and it should be the role of our public art institutions to educate the public in their appreciation.
 
Yes, this may be a utopian dream that one day we may catch up with what is happening in many art galleries around the world, but dream we must, especially when the local product is frequently superior to the relatively minor trinkets imported from abroad at great cost.
 

Picture
Hugh Ramsay, Portrait of the artist standing before easel, 1901-1902, oil on canvas, 128 x 86.4 cm, Bequest of the executors on behalf of Miss E.D. Ramsay, 1943 National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
2 Comments

    GRISHIN'S ART BLOG

    Sasha  Grishin  AM, FAHA is the author of more than 25 books on art, including Australian Art: A History, and has served as the art critic for The Canberra Times for forty years. He is an Emeritus Professor  at the Australian National University, Canberra; Guest Curator at the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne; and Honorary Principal Fellow, Faculty of Arts, at the University of Melbourne.

    Archives

    December 2022
    August 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    December 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    February 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

    Keep up-to-date with Sasha Grishin's blog with the RSS feed.
    RSS offers ease of access and ensures your privacy, as you do not need to subscribe with an email address.
    Click here to download a free feed reader

Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Home
  • Academic
    • Academic profile
    • Teaching and outreach
  • Publications
    • Books
    • Articles and essays
    • Art criticism and polemics
    • Online publications
    • Catalogue essays
    • Lectures and conference papers
    • Canberra Times
  • Media
    • Video
    • Podcasts
    • Media Comment and Reviews
  • Curatorship
    • Curatorial
    • Exhibitions opened
    • Exhibitions judged
  • Blog
  • Grishin's Bookshelf
  • News
  • Contact