Louise Bourgeois (France, USA, 1911–2010), Arched Figure, 1993, 2010 (cast), bronze, metal, fabric, 116.8 x 193 x 99.1 cm. Collection of the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney. © The Easton Foundation/VAGA, NY. Licensed by Viscopy, Sydney.
Anastasia Booth (Australia, 1988–), Teresa, 2016, copper, 200 x 270 x 30 cm. Collection of the artist, Brisbane. Reproduced courtesy of the artist.
Petrina Hicks (Australia, 1972–), Persephone, 2015, pigment print on paper, edition 2/8, 99.6 x 76 cm. Collection of The University of Queensland, purchased 2017. Reproduced courtesy of the artist and Michael Reid, Sydney.
Audrey Flack (USA, 1931–), Ecstasy of St. Teresa 2013, serigraph, 73.66 x 55.88 cm. Collection of the artist, New York. Reproduced courtesy of the artist.
Ecstasy, a heightened euphoric condition, has an ancient and honourable history, long before ravers hijacked the term. For curator and academic Andrea Bubenik, defining the term using visual art makes perfect sense, going beyond words – which may detract from the experience. “I think that’s where the visual arts play such an important role – music does too – in encapsulating and enabling ecstasy.”
This exhibition takes its starting point as Gian Lorenzo Bernini’s Ecstasy of Saint Teresa (1652), and its ability to convey the Baroque sensibility in art. “In the show I brought together older depictions of ecstasy with more recent works, and sought to bring religious ecstasy into dialogue with other ecstatic experiences such as the mythological. There are prints of ecstatic parties involving Bacchus – the Roman god of wine – flanked by contemporary Australian artists expressing themselves through dance.”
Their work is themed with contemporary Australians such as Chris Bennie and his dance video titled Mothership (2004), David Stephenson’s architectural images of European cathedrals, Bill Henson’s triptych from 1983-84 combining moody churches with a fallen youth, and Anastasia Booth’s copper sculpture titled Teresa (2016). Arched figure by Bourgeois, made in 1993, crystallizes a recent depiction of the ecstatic state, “a torso displayed on a single mattress with arms and head missing like a statue from antiquity. As Bubenik notes, instead, this precarious form highlights a naked and physical manifestation of emotional intensity”. This tightly curated exhibition traces a new and contemporary understanding of ecstasy, and develops a strenuous resonance with the now.
Ecstasy: Baroque and Beyond
The University of Queensland Art Museum
16 September – 20 February 2018
Elysha Rei’s exhibition Shirozato to Shinju (White Sugar and Pearls) at Umbrella Studio Contemporary Arts, Townsville QLD, explores the interconnected histories of the Japanese diaspora in Australia.
Described as “a space for reflection, remembrance, and the sharing of truth”, Kattidj Nagãr, now showing at John Curtin Gallery, is dedicated to the Aboriginal people who once resided at the Carrolup Settlement in Western Australia.
With an approach to artmaking drawn from the “fieldwork of life”, twin brothers and artistic collaborators Man&Wah, who are now showing at 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art, use plant migration to explore duality and movement.
Now showing at HOTA, Writers Revealed is an ambitious exhibition covering six centuries, presenting manuscripts, letters, illustrations and rare editions from many of the most influential authors in English literature.
With a current survey exhibition at Rockhampton Museum of Art chronicling 23 years of painting and photography, Julie Fragar talks about creative influences and what it’s like to observe a Supreme Court murder trial.
Taja Vaetoru’s debut solo exhibition Idol, now showing .M Contemporary, explores their Polynesian ancestry, questions of tradition and worship, and how to intersect the past with the present.
