Black elastic, two umbrellas, a mint leaf and wheels
The Monash University Museum of Art (MUMA) collection is diverse and inspiring, including everything from Howard Arkley to Tracey Moffat, Arthur Boyd to Mike Parr, Emily Floyd and Patricia Piccinini.
MUMA Director, Max Delany, said that the collection, made up of more than 1800 pieces, is a testament to the museum’s commitment to becoming an international centre of excellence in the research, collection, promotion and presentation of contemporary visual art.
“The collection continues to represent new artistic tendencies as they develop. MUMA is committed to promoting innovation and excellence in contemporary Australian art and I believe this is reflected not only through the collection but the space within which it is displayed,” Mr Delany said.
One of MUMA’s three current exhibitions Black elastic, two umbrellas, a mint leaf and wheels showcases selected works from the collection that experiment with medium and meaning.
With works from Elizabeth Gower, Paul Saint, Diena Georgetti, Matt Hinkley, John Nixon and many more, the exhibition encourages conversations about form between and across media, as well as recognising the persistence of abstraction in Australian art from the 1950s through to the present day.
Exhibition curator, Rosemary Forde, highlighted the exhibition’s focus on modernism.
“Incorporating elements of decoration and design, as well as dynamics of scale, the exhibition displays an interest in the domestication of modernism,” Ms Forde said.
“The architecture of MUMA lends itself to such an exhibition. The use of timber, the windows looking out onto the garden and the scale of the space, all hint at the domestic.”
The Monash University Collection has operated by a mandate to collect artworks by Australian artists since 1961, but a handful of notable exceptions have made their way into the compilation of works. They include a ceramic jug by Picasso and etchings by Rembrandt. The Picasso is included in Black elastic... alongside contemporary ceramics by Australians Linda Marrinon and Brendan Huntley.
The exhibition title was derived from the materials used in certain works: black elastic is a component of the painting Untilied - White by Paul Partos; Umbrellascope by James Lynch has been created from two rotating umbrellas; James Deutsher’s piece Sonny and Isabelle (prologue: Rita) is adorned by a mint leaf; and Geoffrey Kleem’s modular sculptures, Untitled sit upon castor wheels.
“This seemed like an appropriate way to name the exhibition because it is the physical qualities of the pieces which provide the coherence, rather than a conceptual theme,” Ms Forde said.
Forde continued by saying that she hopes the title will encourage people to look closely at how the artworks are made and to consider the materials chosen by the artists.
Black elastic, two umbrellas, a mint leaf and wheels closes the MUMA 2011 season, the gallery's inaugural year at the Caulfield campus.
MUMA’s final exhibitions for 2011 are open until Saturday 17 December.
For further information please visit the MUMA website.