Glowing, funky, cool and iconic, Modern Currents features works from the TarraWarra Museum of Art’s collection of abstract painting and sculpture, providing a context for the exploration of form, colour, line and system in the concurrent exhibition, Hilarie Mais.
Ranging from 1963 to 2012, the exhibition includes works that can be loosely grouped into geometric, pattern, colour field and conceptual abstraction. Many of the artists appeared in the landmark The Field exhibition, held at the National Gallery of Victoria in 1968, including Michael Johnson, Clement Meadmore, John Peart and Sydney Ball – an exhibition that ushered in a new avant-garde era in Australian painting.
Modern Currents demonstrates that the modernist spirit of abstraction is a current that persists throughout the decades of Australian art. The exhibition includes works by Howard Arkley, David Aspden, Yvonne Audette, Sydney Ball, Ralph Balson, Lesley Dumbrell, Rosalie Gascoigne, Melinda Harper, Robert Hunter, Robert Jacks, Michael Johnson, Inge King, Robert Klippel, Clement Meadmore, John Nixon, Robert Owen, John Peart, Trevor Vickers and William Wright.
“Modern Currents showcases the strength of post-painterly abstraction in our collection, and in particular our holdings of works from the important period of 1968 – 1970,” said Victoria Lynn, TWMA Director. “The Hilarie Mais exhibition provides the opportunity to look at our collection of abstract art from the perspective of her unique explorations of the grid and its shadow”.
Modern Currents
TarraWarra Museum of Art, 311 Healesville-Yarra Glen Road, Healesville
Exhibition: 24 February – 29 April 2018
Entry fees apply
For more information, visit: www.twma.com.au for details.
Image: Michael Johnson, Halo 1968. acrylic on shaped canvas, 122 x 137.2 x 13.8 cm. TarraWarra Museum of Art collection. Gift of Eva and Marc Besen AO 2001