The Waiting Room

Artbank Cherine FAHD The Chosen, Redman 2003-04 detailDrawing from its extensive collection of Australian contemporary art, Artbank presents its latest exhibition, The Waiting Room – collected works that are often encountered in waiting rooms, at Artbank Sydney from 12 May 2016.

“Waiting can be unpleasant and gruelling, a forced pause in our busy lives,” says Artbank’s Head Curator Dr Daniel Mudie Cunningham. “The works selected for The Waiting Room reflect on time, memory and a desire to draw attention to the way we understand and perform this taken-for-granted facet of everyday life.”

“A familiar experience, the act of waiting is tinged with melancholy, regret, longing and unrequited desire. Waiting amplifies the embodied character of time, magnifying the ticking clock, the ‘melt of time’, bearing down on our collective mortality.”

These themes are explored in the collected artworks and borne out in three of the exhibition’s featured works: The Chosen, Redman (2003-4) by Cherine Fahd; The Artists’ Wife (1978) by Prue La Mott and Sound is Vibration, Colour is Light, Friends are Everything (2008) by Nell.

Through these and other Artbank artworks, The Waiting Room explores ideas around time, love, success, frustration, impatience and unfulfillment, as well as the popular stereotype of the artist awaiting their ‘muse’, accentuating the importance of waiting in relation to the production and reception of art.

For over 35 years, Artbank has been at the forefront of the Australian contemporary art sector. Established in 1980 as a federal government support program, Artbank provides direct support to Australian contemporary artists through the acquisition of their work and promotes the value of Australian contemporary art to the broader public.

Artbank funds its operations through a unique leasing programme; working with individuals, companies, governments and embassies in over seventy countries across the globe. With approximately 10,000 works by over 3,000 artists, Artbank holds one of the largest collections of Australian contemporary art in the world, which includes some of the best examples of Indigenous and non-Indigenous artwork produced over the past four decades.

As the largest collector of Australian art in the country, Artbank’s support for artists is often applied early in their careers, with further acquisitions made at regular intervals to form an extensive and constantly evolving collection of Australian contemporary art.

The Waiting Room
Artbank Sydney, 222 Young Street, Waterloo
Exhibition: 12 May – 6 August 2016

For more information, visit: www.artbank.gov.au for details.

Image: Cherine Fahd, The Chosen, Redman 2003-04 (detail) – courtesy of Artbank