I saw the last iteration of this, in Darwin. An amazing show. I'll
try to get to this one.
Mark
At 11:52 AM 9/23/2009, you wrote:
>I was lucky enough to attend the opening of this exhibition and to
>hear Gordon Hookey
>talk about his paintings. The friend who alerted me to this
>possibility commented that the
>Australian work dominated the exhibitions of Washington DC artists
>on the first floor, and
>I felt no need to argue with him. Barry
>
>AUSSIE TRIENNIAL, SEARED BY THE PAST
>By Jessica Dawson
>Special to The Washington Post
>Friday, September 11, 2009
>
>Yes, the show fits the mold of nearly every bi-, tri- and
>quadrennial out there. Sure,
>emerging artists edge up against choice selections by art-world
>elders. That is, after all,
>the norm.
>
>Despite this, "Australian Indigenous Art Triennial: Culture
>Warriors" is one of the most
>revolutionary exhibitions of its ilk. Though the show acts as the
>most civil of diplomats, it
>also subverts expectations; more important, its very existence
>acknowledges a country's
>history of state-mandated racism.
>
>Both here in America -- in an abbreviated version that opened
>Tuesday at the Katzen Arts
>Center, the show's only U.S. venue -- and during the its two-year
>Australian tour that
>began in 2007, "Culture Warriors" enacts artistic diplomacy of the
>highest order. Its
>ambassadorial aim comes out of the remarkable circumstances of its
>conception: It is the
>very first survey of contemporary Aboriginal art.
>
>Organized by Brenda Croft, senior curator of Aboriginal and Torres
>Strait islander art at
>the National Gallery of Australia, the show collects 90 works by 31
>artists who count Oz's
>earliest residents in their family tree. (In previous Australian
>incarnations, the show
>included nearly twice as many artworks; the artist roster remained the same.)
>
>Continued at (you may have to sign in):
>
>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-
>dyn/content/article/2009/09/10/AR2009091003957.html
>
>
>Barry Alpert
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