Currently on display until 4 March 2018, the Monash Gallery of Art presents a major survey of the work of John Gollings in The history of the built world.
John Gollings is Australia’s pre-eminent, and most prolific, photographer of the built environment. For the past 50 years he has been synthesising his parallel interests in photography and architecture to explore the cultural construction of social spaces.
From sacred rock art sites and ancient temples, to suburban dream homes, iconic monuments and architectural interventions, Gollings’ catalogue of images provides a remarkable visual history of how humans have chosen to inhabit their world. The history of the built world is the first major survey of his photographic practice and offers a much anticipated opportunity to appreciate the full breadth of his unique vision.
With academic training in the history of architecture, and a professional grounding in photographic practice, Gollings documents and dramatises architecture with an informed artistic flair. Constantly innovating with photographic technologies, and investigating new architectural subjects with a restless enthusiasm, his connoisseurship of the built world is unparalleled.
“Gollings’s photographic practice is driven by a deep enthusiasm and interest in the built environment,” says MGA Senior Curator, Stephen Zagala. “He loves architecture and he uses photography to share his passion, bringing constructed spaces to life and drawing viewers into sensual encounters with architectural form.”
John Gollings: The history of the built world
Monash Gallery of Art, 860 Ferntree Gully Road, Wheelers Hill
Exhibition continues to 4 March 2018
free entry
For more information, visit: www.mga.org.au for details.
Image: John Gollings, Sturges House / Frank Lloyd Wright, pigment ink-jet print. (detail) – courtesy of the artist