Asia Pacific Triennial brings 30 years of contemporary art to Mackay

The works are part of the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art’s (QAGOMA) touring exhibition “Asia Pacific Contemporary: Three Decades of APT”, which will open in the Main Gallery, Artspace Mackay on December 2.

It will run until February 5, 2023.

QAGOMA director Chris Saines said Asia Pacific Contemporary: Three Decades of APT featured works of art commissioned or collected from APT1 (1993) through to APT9 (2018-19).

“We are thrilled to have the opportunity to tour this exciting exhibition profiling key moments from the Gallery’s flagship exhibition series, which has contributed so much to our audience’s engagement with and understanding of contemporary art and culture in the region,” Mr Saines said.

“This diverse travelling exhibition highlights internationally significant works by leading artists dating from the 1980s to the present day,” he said.

Asia Pacific Contemporary: Three Decades of APT includes works by Heri Dono (Indonesia), Lee Wen (Singapore), Tracey Moffatt (Australia/United States), Lorraine Connelly-Northey (Waradgerie people, Australia) and Michel Tuffery (Aotearoa New Zealand).

Reuben Keehan, curator, Contemporary Asian Art, QAGOMA, said the exhibition included works in a diversity of media including painting, sculpture, works on paper, video and performance.

“It reflects APT’s embrace of contemporary art in all its forms, ranging from the ceremonial to the conceptual, and the deeply personal to the resolutely social,” Mr Keehan said.

“These vibrant and innovative works encompass diverse customary practices and cultural encounters, and illustrate extraordinary social change over almost thirty years.”

Mayor Greg Williamson said also opening in Artspace Mackay on December 2 was an exhibition by local illustrator Ryan Vella.

“Ryan has been creating graphic style illustrations for more than two decades and gained national recognition in 2004 when he illustrated John Birmingham’s ‘He Died with a Felafel in his Hand’,” Mayor Williamson said.

“It’s tremendous to see a local artist gaining a following nationally, and it’s sensational to be able to showcase his works with an exhibition in his hometown,” he said.

Drawing on recent work, this exhibition, Underground Spandex, showcases Vella’s intricate line drawings of comic characters in graphic, narrative scenes.

Also opening at Artspace Mackay is Focus on the Collection: Formed and Niloufar Lovegrove: Too Little, Too Much.

Head to Artspace Mackay for more information.

For more information on Asia Pacific Contemporary: Three Decades of APT visit the QAGOMA website.