ANGEL HAIR: Contemporary Western Australian Art from the Kerry Stokes Collection
Christian de Vietri | Christopher Pease | Constantine Nicholas | Galliano Fardin | Harry Hummerston | James Angus
John Toohey | Julie Wilson-Foster
Lucille Martin | Matthew Hunt | Michael Singe | Michele Theunissen
Patrizia Tonello | Rina Franz | Susanna Castleden
Tarryn Gill & Pilar Mata Dupont
Curated by Kevin Robertson
Exhibition dates – Saturday 16 April / Sunday 8 May
For over three decades, The Kerry Stokes Collection has been collecting Western Australian contemporary art. This exhibition focuses on the new wave that began in the early to mid 1990’s and has gained considerable momentum up until the present.
Special event: Stretch Festival Saturday 7th of May and Sunday the 8th
Official opening 6.30pm Friday 15th of April
Exhibition dates – Saturday 16th April / Sunday 8th
Mandurah Performing Arts CentreStokes treasures on show at Mandurah
LYN DICIERO, The West Australian April 21, 2011, 9:45 am
"Gems from one of Australia's most significant private collections are making a rare appearance in Mandurah in the lead-up to the city's Stretch Festival next month.
The exhibition, Angel Hair: Contemporary Western Australian Art from the Kerry Stokes Collection, is a rare opportunity to glimpse inside the workings of fine philanthropy, offering a selection of works from the early 1990s until now, reflecting key changes in international art and its permeation through Perth art schools."
"The exhibition explores how artists in Perth embraced international trends, such as the new wave of British art led by artists such as Damien Hirst in the 1990s. It was a time of shift, when artists shed their focus on the personal, replacing it with work exploring social and environmental issues."
"The title Angel Hair refers to folklore describing a temporary cobweb-like substance said to be dispersed by passing UFOs. Like the works in the exhibition, conjuring intrigue from a foreign occurrence, the subtle gossamer of influence spread from afar settled on its subjects, not to disappear, but to give vent to future development.
Highlights include Julie Wilson-Foster's Over the Garden Wall II, 1998, a sculptural centrepiece revealing the surprising pearl lustre of cut, discarded plastic containers. Providing links to the region, Wilson-Foster, now based in the US, studied at Rockingham TAFE. Galliano Fardin, represented by two works in the exhibition, is based at Lake Clifton. Other WA artists represented include James Angus and Christian de Vietri, both now based in New York; the duo Tarryn Gill and Pilar Mata Dupont, Christopher Pease, Michael Singe and Patrizia Tonello.
The venue is just one of several locations for the Stretch Festival, which features 35 projects and more than 900 artists over the weekend of May 6-8.
Most of the works in Angel Hair were bought during the 15 years the late John Stringer managed the Kerry Stokes Collection."
