Art with Text: Contemporary Australian Artists

About the exhibition
Art with Text was an exhibition showcasing works by contemporary Australian artists who incorporated text into their visual art practices. Rather than attempting to provide a comprehensive survey, the exhibition focused on presenting a diverse range of artistic strategies that explored the relationship between word and image. Curator Merryn Gates emphasised the rarity of group exhibitions that bring together varied interpretations of the use of text in visual art—even though the practice itself is familiar to contemporary art audiences.

The featured artists were shown to engage with text in distinctive ways. For example, Peter Tyndall examines the viewer’s perception of the art object; Elizabeth Newman and Imants Tillers reflect on their roles within the art-making process and the broader art world; Lynne Boyd and Janet Burchill reference literary figures such as Jane Austen and Gertrude Stein; and Jenny Watson employs a diaristic approach.

The exhibition was presented in conjunction with Word as Image: 20th Century International Prints and Illustrated Books exhibition.

MUMA Online Exhibition Archive
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^{Image: Rosalie Gascoigne, Acacia 1989, sawn reflective road signs on plywood, 108 x 73.5 cm. Private collection}