Most people have a private space with which they identify and to which they return after engaging in their public lives. We often have a more personal sense of ourselves when we are alone or with loved ones that is different to how we are when activated by shared environments.
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And while we have these experiences of our interiors in common, it is rare for anyone to take those private moments and render them into paintings or drawings which are then shared.
The major new exhibition at Orange Regional Gallery [ORG], ‘Interiors’, which opens on April 7, is as relevant today as it was for those early Australian modernists in the early part of the 20th century. It is an ORG exhibition which brings together the intimate responses of 18 modern and contemporary artists to interior spaces such as their homes, studios and sheds.
It has been wonderful to collaborate with curator Gavin Wilson. As visitors will see, he has curated a fine exhibition around an accessible theme, but one which offers surprising variation and depth. The exhibition includes intimate works by well-known modernist painters such as Grace Cossington Smith, Francis Lymburner, Margaret Olley and Brett Whiteley.
A number of practicing artists have contributed works, giving the theme an ongoing vitality and contemporary aspect. These artists include Cressida Campbell, Peter Godwin, Janet Haslett, Peter Kingston, Euan Macleod, Robert Malherbe, Genevieve Carroll, Rodney Pople, Rosemary Valadon and John R Walker.
This exhibition would also not have been possible without the valued support of numerous private collectors, commercial and public galleries who have been generous in lending key works from their collections.
The Gordon Darling Foundation has generously supported the production of the exhibition catalogue, which includes an excellent essay on the subject and high quality images of all the works. This support from the Gordon Darling Foundation is helping to ensure that the exhibition and Gavin’s research will continue to make a significant contribution to the theme of ‘Interiors’ in Australian Art into the future.
‘Interiors’ runs from April 7 to June 24. The will be officially opened at 6pm on Friday, April 13 by Michael Rolfe, CEO of Museums and Galleries NSW.
