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Windows on Australian Art: Focus Inspire/Expire

Editorial Review

Editorial Review

15 December '07-20 July '08
This free exhibition features works from the collection of the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory. The exhibition is largely characterised by its diversity, including works from Australian artists over the last 200 years, and spanning media from sculpture and oil painting to multimedia.

The exhibition has been divided into four distinct categories: escape, vista, muse and endeavour. First is 'escape', with works from artists such as Jacki Fleet. All of these works somehow evoke the notion of fleeing from normal life, as is particularly evident in Edwin Tanner's large pale blue oil on canvas, entitled Deans' Swifts Laputa #2, which for me inspired fantasies of a drifting journey in a hot-air balloon.

The 'vistas' collection of landscapes ranges from the traditional, such as Eugene Von Guerard's 1883 View of Naples, an extraordinarily detailed panorama of the city and bay from above; to the abstract landscape work of Tim Guthrie, an artist who briefly lived in Central Australia in the '70s.

Next is 'muse' and, as the title hints, this section features paintings of the female form, with pieces by modernist painter Cecil John Brack, surrealist Charles Blackman and a stunning still life from Brian James Dunlop.

Finally is the 'endeavour' collection, which focuses on works depicting leisure activities, rural themes and Indigenous Australians.

Ingrid Sanders (15 December viewing)