Brent Harris – Surrender & Catch

This exhibition explores the work of contemporary Australian artist Brent Harris. Moving between figuration and abstraction, Harris deploys both humour and the grotesque to examine psychological subject matter and visualise his complex and contradictory feelings.

Indeed, the exhibition title refers to Harris’ interest in sociologist Kurt H. Wolff’s notion of ‘surrender and catch’ as a process for self-analysis and as a method of working.

Surrender & Catch showcases Art Gallery of South Australia’s significant collection of Harris’ work, including the important gift of works by James Mollison AO and Vincent Langford. Augmented by works from the TarraWarra Museum of Art collection and loans from public and private collections, it charts a journey from The Stations (1989), Harris’ first major series exploring the death of his friends to AIDS, to his return to the subject in 2021.