Contemporary
International Art
1 ZIlVINAS kEmPINAS
Zilvinas Kempinas is a leading figure in
contemporary Lithuanian art and represented
the country at the 53rd Venice Biennale in
2009. Kempinas is renowned for producing
beguiling and, at times, monumental works with
distinctly modest means. Since the early 2000s,
the defining material of his oeuvre has been
unspooled magnetic video tape, which the artist
recycles in surprising forms.
Columns
2006, acquired with the support of
Tim Fairfax,
AM
, is a group of tall, hollow cylinders
made from lengths of video tape that extend
from floor to ceiling. When the tape edge faces
out towards the viewer, the columns are barely
perceptible, creating a compelling visual effect.
Zilvinas kempinas
| Lithuania b.1969 |
Columns
2006 | Magnetic tape,
painted wood panels and nails | Dimensions variable | Purchased 2012
with funds from Tim Fairfax,
AM
, through the Queensland Art Gallery
Foundation
2 lARA FAVARETTO
Italian artist Lara Favaretto’s
Gummo IV
, recently
acquired for the Gallery’s Collection with the
generous assistance of Tim Fairfax,
AM
, makes
a familiar object — a carwash brush — both
strange and engaging.
Gummo IV
is characteristic of Favaretto’s oeuvre,
whereby found objects are removed from their
usual contexts. This displacement isolates the
object, emphasising its material and formal
qualities, making that which was once familiar
appear foreign and absurd. Favaretto animates
these objects in a way that strips them of their
intended function and imbues them with a sense
of fantasy and play.
lara Favaretto
| Italy b.1973 |
Gummo IV
2012 | Iron, car wash brushes
and electrical motors | 300 x 450 x 150cm | Purchased 2012 with
funds from Tim Fairfax,
AM
, through the Queensland Art Gallery
Foundation
3 GORDON mATTA-ClARk
Gordon Matta-Clark was renowned for his
architectural interventions and site-specific
performances, which question the function
and nature of architecture in society. His works
often involved carving sections from buildings
scheduled for demolition to open private spaces
to the public and reorient the viewer’s spatial
awareness.
Matta-Clark worked extensively in photography
and film to document his ephemeral projects.
Office Baroque
1977 records his last major
site-specific project, created in Antwerp,
Belgium. The film is also a study of the creative
process itself — in it, Matta-Clark’s commentary
illuminates both his working methodologies and
his concerns within the broader field of sculpture.
This work was acquired with the generous
support of Tim Fairfax,
AM
.
Gordon matta-Clark
| United States 1943–78 |
Office Baroque
1977 |
16mm film: 44 minutes, black and white and colour, mono, USA,
Flemish and English | Purchased 2012 with funds from Tim Fairfax,
AM
,
through the Queensland Art Gallery Foundation
4 hENRIQUE OlIVEIRA
Brazilian artist Henrique Oliveira uses salvaged
wood collected from the streets of São Paulo
to create large-scale, site-specific installations
that erupt, ooze or sprout from the structures
they inhabit.
The streets of São Paulo — where the artist
lives and works — are littered with plywood used
in the screening of construction sites. Oliveira
started collecting the material to use in his work.
Generally of low quality, plywood sheets begin
to warp and peel after a few months of exposure
to the elements.
Xilonoma Chamusquius 2
2012
was acquired with funds from Tim Fairfax,
AM
.
henrique Oliveira
| Brazil b.1973 |
Xilonoma Chamusquius 2
2012 |
Burnt plywood and pigments | 220 x 400 x 120cm (irreg.) | Purchased
2012 with funds from Tim Fairfax,
AM
, through the Queensland Art
Gallery Foundation
5 TImO NASSERI
Epistrophy VI
refers to
muqarnas
, the elaborate
sculptural forms used as a decorative device
in traditional Islamic and Persian architecture,
particularly the interiors of domed ceilings.
Muqarnas
resemble geometrically ordered
stalactites, and are so complex in their
arrangement that mathematicians were unable
to understand their composition until the early
1970s. Each form is based on only five basic
shapes. These shapes are endlessly repeated,
but, paradoxically, result in structures devoid
of repetition in the overall design. As such,
they may be said to contain an entire universe
of possible forms.
Nasseri employs the same mathematical
structure as traditional
muqarnas
, but his form
is embedded in the wall rather than in the ceiling.
Fabricated from highly-polished stainless steel,
Epistrophy VI
, acquired with the support of Tim
Fairfax,
AM
, reflects and fragments both the
image of the viewer and the surrounding space.
Timo Nasseri
| Germany b.1972 |
Epistrophy VI
2012 | Polished
stainless steel | 255 x 222 x 84cm | Purchased 2012 with funds from
Tim Fairfax,
AM
, through the Queensland Art Gallery Foundation
62
// REVEAl
/ REVIEW 2012
THECOLLECTION
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