15 September 2005
The Great Tasmanian Wars, a stunning exhibition of works by Sydney-based artist James Morrison, is on show at the Switchback Gallery at Monash University's Gippsland campus until 13 October.
It is the first time the exhibition has been shown at an Australian regional gallery.
The Great Tasmanian Wars, presented by the Monash University Museum of Art (MUMA), features three works by Mr Morrison including an epic panorama titled 'The Great Tasmanian Wars' 2004 which comprises 55 panels each 30cm square. The painting is on loan from the TarraWarra Museum of Art in the Yarra Valley .
MUMA artistic director Mr Max Delany said the exhibition was selected for the Switchback Gallery because of Gippsland's strong relationship to colonial and landscape painting.
"Gippsland has a marvellous tradition of artists engaging with the landscape," Mr Delany said. "'The Great Tasmanian Wars' is a work of empirical observation and imagination, and one of the most exceptional and fascinating landscape paintings in Australia . It is a masterpiece among recent landscape painting and we are pleased to present it at Monash's Switchback Gallery."
'The Great Tasmanian Wars' 2004 is based on James Morrison's observations and imagination. Each panel features a highly colored and richly detailed figurative painting.
MUMA curator and collections manager Ms Geraldine Barlow said the work showed the world as it is, as it has been and as it might be.
"Morrison draws upon experience and invention to create the world of this work, the rich forests and feather-wearing locals of his childhood in Papua New Guinea, his experience as a florist in early adult life, as well as a playful pleasure in confabulation," Ms Barlow said.
The other two works featured in the exhibition are 'The Island' (2001), a painting from the Monash University Museum of Art Collection; and a narrative video in which the artist appears.
The Great Tasmanian Wars had its international debut at Dunedin Art Gallery in New Zealand last month, and has previously been shown in Sydney and Melbourne.
Exhibition notes
What:
The Great Tasmanian Wars
Where: Switchback Gallery, Gippsland Centre for Art & Design, Monash University, Churchill
When: Until 13 October. Opening hours: weekdays from 9am to 5pm.
Who: Telephone
+61 3 9902 6261 or visit http://www.artdes.m onash.edu.au/gippsland/switchback/
For further information, please contact Ms Geraldine Barlow on +61 3 9905 1632, or
Mr Mark McDean gallery coordinator on +61 3 9902 6565, or Ms Karen Stichtenoth, Media Communications on +61 3 9905 1253.
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