Minister Launches New National Australian Art Triennial

MEDIA ALERT

Attention: Arts Editors and Writers
13 November 2008

MINISTER LAUNCHES NEW NATIONAL AUSTRALIAN ART TRIENNIAL



WHAT: Media Preview of `Contemporary Australia: Optimism' -- the first in Queensland Art Gallery's new
national triennial series of contemporary Australian art exhibitions.

Writer John Birmingham will present his take on `Optimism'

WHERE: Gallery of Modern Art (GoMA), Stanley Place, South Bank

WHEN: 10.30am-1.00pm Friday, November 14, 2008

WHO: Rod Welford, Minister for the Arts
Tony Ellwood, Director, Queensland Art Gallery
Exhibiting artists, ranging in age from mid twenties to mid eighties, who express `Optimism' in their
practice


The exhibition includes more than 250 works in a diversity of media including painting, sculpture,
drawing, photography, installation, video and video installation, film, animation, performance, music and
comedy.


PICTURE OPPORTUNITIES:

10 metre tall Gold Coast and LA-inspired neon sign outside GoMA by Queensland artist Scott Redford.

Massive scale wall painting by well-loved cartoonist Michael Leunig.

Brightly coloured stag-like Vespa sculptures by artist Patricia Piccinini.

A forest of white fur `trees' inspired by a visit to Holocaust concentration camps by artist Kathy Temin.

Life-size sculptures of street performers by artist Christian de Vietri.

Photographs of glamorous Hollywood-style surf life savers by Tarryn Gill and Pilar Mata Dupont.

Stencil-style paintings of Kevin Rudd, Paris Hilton and Barack Obama by Jamin.

An art work created from the floor of an entire Queensland house installed up the wall of GoMA's Long
Gallery.

Stencil painting of famous faces including Ned Kelly by Melbourne artist Regan Tamanui.

Children working on a range of activities in the Gallery's Children's Art Centre. These activities are
inspired by ideas in artists' work featured in `Contemporary Australia: Optimism', and include the making
of miniature houses and fluorescent constructions.


Media contact: Amelia Gundelach (07) 3840 7162 / 0404 994 985 / [email protected]
Parking: Drop-off Stanley Place, South Bank. Parking is available in the Queensland Art Gallery Car Park,
enter via Cultural Centre Tunnel.