CURRENT EXHIBITION : HARALD VIKE SPIRIT OF THE MAN

Harald Vike - Spirit of the Man

14 October 2018 -  3 February 2019

'...the sun is my undoing' Harald Vike, 1983

Vike spent many years attempting to capture the brilliance of the Australian light in paint. From the time Vike moved from Norway to Perth in 1927 until he died in 1987 he was a dedicated and driven self - taught artist. He had a love for Perth, the first major city he lived in, creating an impressive body of work during the 1930s and 1940s. Vike had a deep respect for nature and the environment, and was passionate about untamed landscapes as well as the cultivated aspects of a city. He had an interest in people, and had great ability in capturing the essence of people in quick sketches, detailed drawings and exaggerated caricatures. Vike's life and work is reflected in this exhibition, drawing from the Janet Holmes à Court Collection, the WA Museum, the Museum of Performing Arts, North Metropolitan TAFE Collection, the Andrew Ross Collection and the Phillip and Michele McNamara Collection. 

Image: Harald Vike Parliament House Gardens 1938, oil on canvas on board, 42 x 53 cm. Copyright and courtesy the estate of the artist.

PREVIOUS EXHIBITION : THE BORDER CROSSERS

The Border Crossers - Clyde McGill

10 June - 7 October 2018

What are the borderlands? Who determines them and why? Who may cross? Who may not? Who does deliberately cross the borders? Where are they from? Why are they leaving? What are their hopes? What is their journey? What do they bring with them? Are they welcomed or turned back? Do they just disappear? Who cares? Who doesn’t?

In 2007 Clyde McGill began looking at borderlands as they relate to people who come by boat. He focussed first on the fate of a young Indonesian fisherman who tragically died on a boat detained in Darwin Harbour. This exhibition contains his story within a much broader narrative of the refugee who comes by boat. Clyde will be in residence on the studio floor in the gallery from 1 July - 22 July.

Image: Clyde McGill The Border Crosser (Except), 2011, mixed media on unstretched linen, 220 x 320 cm

PREVIOUS EXHIBITION: REMOVING THE TRACES

Removing the Traces

11 February - 3 June 2018

Aspects of abstraction from the Janet Holmes à Court Collection.

This exhibition presents intriguing aspects of south-west landscape from the Janet Holmes à Court Collection. The works demonstrate varying degrees and methods of abstraction e.g. ultra-simplification, gestural and expressive brushwork, flattening of the picture surface and saturated colour, whilst maintaining the formal principles of line, form, shape, value, movement and composition. The real subjects recede and the aesthetics become the dominant factors. The purpose of this exhibition is to share some significant and captivating abstract works from the collection, works representing the essence of land, forest and water alongside demonstrations of longstanding Aboriginal presence.

Image: Howard Taylor Landscape Emblem, 1984, oil on panel, 102 x144 cm. Copyright Howard H. Taylor Estate represnted by Galerie Dusseldorf. 

PREVIOUS EXHIBITION: SCRATCHING THE SURFACE DOWN SOUTH

Scratching the Surface Down South

8 October 2017 - 28 January 2018

Scratching the Surface Down South brings two thirds of the works currently showing at the Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery at UWA to the Holmes à Court Gallery at Vasse Felix for the enjoyment of Margaret River locals and visitors to the area.

The works trace how one of the most acclaimed private collections of Australian art was built – from 1968 when Janet and Robert Holmes à Court purchased their first works from the Darlington Arts & Crafts Gallery in the Perth Hills, until today.

Available also will be MUSE: A Journey through an Art Collection, written by Janet Holmes à Court and published by UWA Publishing.

The book and exhibition are tangible expressions of Janet Holmes à Court’s extensive passion for the arts. Of the 143 works in the book there will be approximately 50 in the exhibition, an even smaller scratch on the surface of the collection than that in the exhibition at Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery. Enough still to provide a snapshot of place, people, history, culture and concerns – a small window into the heart and mind of the collector.

Image: Rachel Coad, Janet Holmes à Court, 2015, oil and pencil on linen, 200 x 285 cm. Janet Holmes à Court Collection. Image copyright & courtesy the artist.

PREVIOUS EXHIBITION: OBJECTILLOGICA - A MODERN WUNDERKAMMER

Objectillogica - a modern wunderkammer

21 May - 1 October 2017

Objectillogica - a modern wunderkammer echoes past cabinets of curiosities, exploring well-travelled themes of life, death and the discovery of the natural world. Yet it is a distinctively modern Australian cabinet of curiosities, far from the European roots of this tradition.
 
Featuring 99 works from the Janet Holmes à Court Collection including works by: Hans Arkeveld, Peter Ellis, Donald Friend, George Garawun, Andrew Hayim, Anne Hawkes, Emily Kngwarreye, Theo Koning, Victor Majzner, Clare McFarlane, Danie Mellor, Perdita Phillips, Louie Pwerle and many others.

PREVIOUS EXHIBITION: SUMMER 2017

A TASTE OF SUMMER

25 September 2016 - 29 January 2017

In association with artCollectiveWA

This exhibition shows selected contemporary and historical works from the Collection that reflect the heat, the cool, and the activities of the Australian Summer.

Artists include : Rene Collot D'Herbois, Herbert William Gibbs, Jesse Hilder, Tony Jones, Sandra Leveson-Meares, Wally Mandaark, John Oldham, John Olsen, Lorna Prendiville, Lloyd Rees, Keera Slavin, Archibald Bertram Webb, Duncan McGregor Whyte.

We have also invited four artCollectiveWA artists to participate - Penny Coss, Jo Darbyshire, Jeremy Kirwan-Ward and Joanna Lamb.