Since earthquakes obliterated Christchurch
Art Gallery’s ability to operate normally, it has been very busy taking itself
in new ways to the city and the country via outreach and the web. It’s been an
impressive effort but it must have been depressing for them not to be able to
continue with the large scale, big production value shows they were becoming
known by. Given that, how did the large exhibition of Shane Cotton’s work
curated by Christchurch’s indefatigable Justin Paton avoid becoming another
casualty of the disaster and instead open this weekend? Through collegial
cooperation, that’s how.
Brisbane’s IMA gallery has always been a
strong supporter of New Zealand artists thanks to its director Robert Leonard.
He got to Brisbane via head curating jobs at the Auckland Art Gallery and the
Dunedin Public Art Gallery and has never lost his commitment to the art of his
own country. Since he took over in 2005 Brisbane has had a pretty good taste of
what’s on offer from NZ.
By agreeing to partner up with the
Christchurch Art Gallery on Shane Cotton’s The hanging sky and launch it from
the IMA, Leonard has not only made it available to Brisbane but has also
ensured that with the grunt work done it will be shown in NZ too. Perhaps this
Australian gesture will serve as a prompt to some of our own art museums. A
partnership with Christchurch would be pretty helpful given their continuing
lack of a building and a few exhibition posters with the line ‘in association
with the Christchurch Art Gallery’ would be good for all of us.
You can see a sample of Shane Cotton’s
paintings for the Christchurch Art Gallery/IMA exhibition here and some
beautiful shots taken during the installation here.
Image: Australians loving Shane Cotton at
the IMA opening in Brisbane
