People, Places + Ideas: Celebrating Four Decades of the Monash University Collection
Dates:
8 October 2002 – 8 March 2003
Artists:
Howard Arkley, Vivienne Binns, John Brack, Janet Burchill, Ian Burn, Stephen Bush, Jon Campbell, Mutlu Çerkez, Kevin Connor, Aleks Danko, Juan Davila, Kate Daw, Sir George Russell Drysdale, Simryn Gill, Gail Hastings, Bill Henson, Dale Hickey, Robert Hunter, Tim Johnson, Mathew Jones, Peter Kennedy, Leah King-Smith, Geoff Kleem, Percy Leason, Fiona Macdonald, Tracey Moffatt, Callum Morton, Elizabeth Newman, Mike Parr, Ti Parks, Paul Partos, Peter Purves Smith, Jacky Redgate, Tom Roberts, Robert Rooney, Julie Rrap, Ricky Swallow, Richard Tipping, Peter Tyndall, Jenny Watson, Fred Williams, Anne Zahalka, Constanze Zikos
Curators:
Linda Michael and Jenepher Duncan
Location:
Monash University Museum of Art
Ground Floor, Building 55
Monash University, Clayton Campus
About the exhibition
People, Places + Ideas: Four Decades of Collecting celebrated the history of the Monash University Collection. According to the curator Jenepher Duncan, shortly after the launch of the new University in 1961, its first Vice-Chancellor, Louis Matheson (1912–2002), proposed that a modest sum be provided annually for the purchase of works of art, expressing a belief that ‘to establish a collection of contemporary Australian art which would be on public display in the university buildings, would be a valuable educational experience for our students.’ At the time of this exhibition, the Collection consisted of approximately 1200 works of art by 330 artists, its strong contemporary character distinguishing it from other public and university collections.
People, Places + Ideas was structured around three significant themes found within the Collection: portraiture, the city and suburbs, and conceptual and post-conceptual art. With inclusions spanning the period from 1960s to 2001, works ranged from official portraits by Fred Williams to examples of Juan Davila and Tracey Moffatt using themselves as models for their photographs; from Ian Burn’s rigorous conceptual presentations from the 1960s to the personal and emotionally laden texts of works by Kate Daw and Gail Hastings; from the suburban homes depicted by Howard Arkley and Anne Zahalka to Callum Morton’s odes to urban signage and architecture.
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Image: Ricky Swallow, The Stars Don't Shine Upon Us, We're in the Way of Their Light (Family Telescope) 2000, PVC pipe, epoxy putty, plastic, spray-paint, 154 x 80 x 70 cm (irreg.). Monash University Collection, Melbourne. Purchased 2000