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T H E C O L L E C T I O N
2 0 1 3 R E V I E W
PAC I F I C ART
Papua New Guinean artist Simon Gende is known
for his insightful and often humorous commentary
on international events and icons. Working with
saturated colour and stylised or silhouetted figures,
Gende lifts subjects as diverse as Papua-based
Australian kiaps, the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade
Center in New York and the story of Diana, Princess
of Wales, and presents them in an alternative,
PNG‑infused universe. The painting
Leadership tussle
in Australia: Rudd v Gillard
, acquired with the support
of Michael Sidney Myer, documents the Australian
Labor Party’s leadership battle of 2010 that resulted
in then Prime Minister Kevin Rudd losing the support
of his party and resigning.
Simon Gende
|
Leadership tussle
inAustralia:RuddvGillard
2012 |
Synthetic polymer paint on cloth |
101 x 125cm | The Kenneth and Yasuko
Myer Collection of Contemporary
Asian Art. Purchased 2013 with funds
from Michael Sidney Myer through the
Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of
Modern Art Foundation
Augmenting the Gallery’s growing collection of
Baining masks, which recently appeared in ‘Paperskin:
Barkcloth across the Pacific’ (2009) and ‘The 7th Asia
Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art’ (2012), is a
work created for a ceremony welcoming Australian
tour operator Geoff Murphy and his family to the
Baining area in the early 1990s and recently gifted to
the Gallery. A distinctive feature of the mask is the
inclusion of the Australian coat of arms, copied from
a 50-cent coin, located on its forehead.
Unknown, Baining people,
New Britain
|
Kavatmask
c.1994 |
Barkcloth with natural pigments,
felt pen and split cane | 112 x 70 x
86cm | Gift of Carole and Natacha
Murphy in memory of Geoff Murphy
through the Queensland Art Gallery |
Gallery of Modern Art Foundation
2013. Donated through the Australian
Government’s Cultural Gifts Program
