Painting amongst other things

‘Painting amongst other things’ is a group exhibition examining the ways in which contemporary painting might be encountered within an expanded field. Bringing together works by Robert Rauschenberg, Richard Tuttle, Raquel Ormella, Lynda Benglis, Ti Parks, Merlin James, Peter Alwast, Natasha Kidd and Karl Wiebke, among others, the presentation juxtaposes significant historical precedents and contemporary works, showing how artists have continually reappraised the boundaries of their art by means of an engagement with ‘the real’.

Co-curated by Peter Alwast, Oscar Capezio, Anthony Oates, Raquel Ormella and Su Yilmaz, the show presents artworks that broaden and critique the classical definition of painting. Artists redefine the structures of painting and explore its relationship with sculpture and installation. They challenge and break down the four-squareness of painterly autonomy by exploring new media and processes, invoking strategies of collaboration and repurposing objects and found materials – reassessing painting’s physicality and spatialising its elements.

From paintings that move beyond the picture plane; to works that employ novel technical, mechanical, or digital methods to reappraise authenticity; to artists who utilise materials and motifs intended to destabilise the aesthetic canon – the works are provocative and deconstructive. Ultimately, they suggest that painting, or the artist, or art itself, cannot be fixed; that inspiration and change must be discovered through a kind of brinkmanship, in what we don’t yet understand and may not be quite ready to accept.

EXHIBITION
Painting Amongst Other Things
9 August – 7 October 2018
Drill Hall Gallery, ANU, Canberra