Word: MCA Collection
04 Dec 2017 - 18 Feb 2018
Joan Ross, The claiming of things (still), 2012
single-channel digital video animation, colour, sound, Museum of Contemporary Art, donated through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program by the artist, 2015
image courtesy the artist and Museum of Contemporary Art Australia
© the artist
single-channel digital video animation, colour, sound, Museum of Contemporary Art, donated through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program by the artist, 2015
image courtesy the artist and Museum of Contemporary Art Australia
© the artist
Robert MacPherson, MAYFAIR: 2 SIGNS, 2 PAINTINGS, (HONK!! IF YOU’VE FOUND JESUS) (HONK!! IF YOU’VE SEEN ELVIS) (detail), 1992-99
Dulux weather shield acrylic on masonite, Museum of Contemporary Art, donated through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program by Michael and Jill Hawker, 2016
image courtesy the artist and Museum of Contemporary Art Australia
© the artist, photograph: Jessica Maurer
Dulux weather shield acrylic on masonite, Museum of Contemporary Art, donated through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program by Michael and Jill Hawker, 2016
image courtesy the artist and Museum of Contemporary Art Australia
© the artist, photograph: Jessica Maurer
Raquel Ormella, Poster Reduction, 2005-08
installation view, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Sydney
electronic whiteboard, temporary and permanent fibre-tipped markers, thermal paper, photocopied paper, Museum of Contemporary Art, purchased with funds provided by the Coe and Mordant families, 2008
image courtesy the artist and Museum of Contemporary Art
© the artist
installation view, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Sydney
electronic whiteboard, temporary and permanent fibre-tipped markers, thermal paper, photocopied paper, Museum of Contemporary Art, purchased with funds provided by the Coe and Mordant families, 2008
image courtesy the artist and Museum of Contemporary Art
© the artist
Raquel Ormella, Poster Reduction (detail), 2005-08
installation view, In the Balance: Art for a Changing World, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Sydney, 2010
electronic whiteboard, temporary and permanent fibre-tipped markers, thermal paper, photocopied paper, Museum of Contemporary Art, purchased with funds provided by the Coe and Mordant families, 2008
image courtesy the artist and Milani Gallery, Brisbane
© the artist
installation view, In the Balance: Art for a Changing World, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Sydney, 2010
electronic whiteboard, temporary and permanent fibre-tipped markers, thermal paper, photocopied paper, Museum of Contemporary Art, purchased with funds provided by the Coe and Mordant families, 2008
image courtesy the artist and Milani Gallery, Brisbane
© the artist
Marie McMahon, You are on Aboriginal land, 1984
photo screenprint, Museum of Contemporary Art, gift of Professor Terry Smith
2007, image courtesy the artist and Museum of Contemporary Art Australia
© the artist/Licensed by Viscopy 2017
photo screenprint, Museum of Contemporary Art, gift of Professor Terry Smith
2007, image courtesy the artist and Museum of Contemporary Art Australia
© the artist/Licensed by Viscopy 2017
WORD: MCA COLLECTION
4 December 2017 – 18 February 2018
Co-curated by Natasha Bullock, Anna Davis, Rachel Kent
Word: MCA Collection and Jon Campbell: MCA Collection showcase works from the Museum’s Collection that engage with language and text. Presented across the Level 1 South and North galleries, these works encompass painting, printmaking, sculpture, installation and video.
A large suite of political posters introduces the South galleries, featuring prints from artists and poster collectives around Australia that address land ownership and Indigenous rights, gender and equality, and uranium mining and anti-nuclear protest. Largely created during the 1970s and 80s, they set the scene for debates that continue today; and they represent one of the most direct ways in which ordinary peoples’ voices can be heard across the political spectrum.
Also featured in the South galleries are paintings by Robert MacPherson and Richard Bell, an installation by Raquel Ormella, and Joan Ross’s animated video The claiming of things (2012), which explores European colonisation of the Australian landscape. Drawing upon colonial painting, collage and urban graffiti, Ross’s video plays with a range of visual languages. The act of colonisation is expressed through graffiti ‘tagging’ onto a rock face by a European woman in nineteenth century costume, and a bright yellow picket fence that cuts through the land.
Words and word play are central to Jon Campbell’s towering installation Stacks On (2010) in the North gallery. Comprising stacked, illuminated Perspex boxes and suspended fabric banners, Campbell’s colourful work employs Australian vernacular – common sayings and aphorisms – in its realisation. Informal ‘pub talk’, slogans and slang appear on the light boxes and banners, recalling Australian suburbia, adolescence, sports culture and the independent music scene. Some phrases refer to the artist’s own youth and experiences, including a surfing road trip with mates; others are more general, suggesting roadside signs, pub menus and bits of conversation, overheard.
Alongside the presentation of this installation, the MCA has commissioned Campbell to create a major wall painting on the four walls of the Level 1 North Gallery. The MCA’s – and the artist’s – largest ever wall painting, Absolutely Disgusting will stretch frieze-like around the entire gallery, measuring 2.5 × 65 metres.
4 December 2017 – 18 February 2018
Co-curated by Natasha Bullock, Anna Davis, Rachel Kent
Word: MCA Collection and Jon Campbell: MCA Collection showcase works from the Museum’s Collection that engage with language and text. Presented across the Level 1 South and North galleries, these works encompass painting, printmaking, sculpture, installation and video.
A large suite of political posters introduces the South galleries, featuring prints from artists and poster collectives around Australia that address land ownership and Indigenous rights, gender and equality, and uranium mining and anti-nuclear protest. Largely created during the 1970s and 80s, they set the scene for debates that continue today; and they represent one of the most direct ways in which ordinary peoples’ voices can be heard across the political spectrum.
Also featured in the South galleries are paintings by Robert MacPherson and Richard Bell, an installation by Raquel Ormella, and Joan Ross’s animated video The claiming of things (2012), which explores European colonisation of the Australian landscape. Drawing upon colonial painting, collage and urban graffiti, Ross’s video plays with a range of visual languages. The act of colonisation is expressed through graffiti ‘tagging’ onto a rock face by a European woman in nineteenth century costume, and a bright yellow picket fence that cuts through the land.
Words and word play are central to Jon Campbell’s towering installation Stacks On (2010) in the North gallery. Comprising stacked, illuminated Perspex boxes and suspended fabric banners, Campbell’s colourful work employs Australian vernacular – common sayings and aphorisms – in its realisation. Informal ‘pub talk’, slogans and slang appear on the light boxes and banners, recalling Australian suburbia, adolescence, sports culture and the independent music scene. Some phrases refer to the artist’s own youth and experiences, including a surfing road trip with mates; others are more general, suggesting roadside signs, pub menus and bits of conversation, overheard.
Alongside the presentation of this installation, the MCA has commissioned Campbell to create a major wall painting on the four walls of the Level 1 North Gallery. The MCA’s – and the artist’s – largest ever wall painting, Absolutely Disgusting will stretch frieze-like around the entire gallery, measuring 2.5 × 65 metres.