Rethink: Selected works from the Collection by young artists
13 April – 22 April 2012
Untitled 2010/2011
mixed media and collage on paper 82.5 x 56.0 cm
Collection of The University of Queensland, purchased 2011
Photo: Carl Warner
Reproduced courtesy of the artist and Tolarno Galleries, Melbourne
Rethink highlights two Australian artists, Eric Bridgeman and Brendan Huntley, who create characters and objects that are playful yet confronting.
Bridgeman is informed by his Australian and Papua New Guinean heritage and his inability, when an adolescent, to fit into sporting culture. From his series ‘The Sport and Fair Play of Australian Rules’, Wilma Jr (‘Blacky’) 2009 is an extreme representation of familiar identities. This staged character mocks and destabilises stereotypes of gender, race and sexuality. Huntley works in different media, such as drawing, collage and ceramic sculpture, to create objects that are totemic but naïve. Their gaze invites the viewer to engage with their physical presence, evoking a personal response.
Both artists are young, but have already made an impact upon the Australian art scene. Bridgeman’s playful criticality and Huntley’s grunge aesthetic challenges us to rethink who we are, who we look up to and to what we aspire.
Curator: Nadia Razzhigaeva, UQ Art Museum Student Volunteer
Public Program
Tuesday 17 April 12.00pm –12.30pm
In conversation with exhibition curator Nadia Razzhigaeva and Sebastian Moody, Special Projects Officer.
The exhibition is held in conjunction with National Youth Week: Imagine, Create, Inspire, 13–22 April 2012