It’s one thing to meet the future King and Queen, it is another thing entirely to meet a true Australian legend; one who has contributed so greatly to the nation’s cultural fabric.
That was not the highlight, though. The highlight was that my husband and I met Ken Done. Done is, in my humble opinion, a true Australian legend, an artist who has contributed so greatly to the nation’s cultural fabric that he probably should have been knighted by now. I am writing this reclining on a Ken Done cushion. He is much underestimated as an artist, I believe. His practice falls into the long tradition of landscape painting in Australia, from Lloyd Rees to Fred Williams and the late great John Olsen.
It was a seminal meeting for me and I was reminded of it by a brilliant new exhibition at Bendigo Art Gallery, presented in partnership with the National Gallery of Victoria. Australiana: Designing a Nation brings together some 200 artists (and yes, Ken Done is one) and charts the evolution of Australiana – that special, identifiable characteristic we all know and intuitively recognise. It’s a truly expansive show across visual and decorative arts, photography, illustration, furniture, jewellery, moving image and fashion, that includes some historical treasures such as Tom Roberts’s Shearing the Rams (1890), Frederick McCubbin’s Lost (1886) and Russell Drysdale’s Moody’s Pub (1941) drawn from the National Gallery of Victoria’s collection, alongside works from The Australiana Fund and the Rennie Ellis Photographic Archive.
Tom Roberts’ Shearing The Rams (1890) is on display now at Bendigo Art Gallery as part of the Australiana: Designing a Nation exhibition. Picture: Predrag Cancar/NGV.
The Australiana Fund fundraises to acquire a national collection of historic artworks that are displayed in the official residences of the governor-general and the prime minister. The late Rennie Ellis was a celebrated social photographer whose extensive back catalogue captured the era in which he lived: the freedom of the 1960s, the hedonism of the 1970s and the excess of the 1980s. His work well describes something of Australian style. This is an exhibition that will stir nostalgia as it celebrates aspects of our history we sometimes like to pretend didn’t happen – the kitsch moments and the more harrowing and confronting bits, too.
Girramay/Yidinji/Kuku Yalanji artist Tony Albert has been collecting “Aboriginalia” kitsch for years to make his sculptural installations. He turns the tasteless souvenirs, ashtrays and other knick-knacks once found in households across the nation into work that addresses the impact of colonialism. As a sweet antidote, artist Kenny Pittock has made 100 hand-sculpted and painted ceramic ice-creams representing frozen Australian classics from across the decades. Think Bubble O’Bill and Golden Gaytime. Memories!
This exhibition is the visual equivalent of a sticky, jammy lamington. Deeply satisfying.
Loading embed…