Rothko’s field of dreams… in Ipswich? Yes, really!
A stunning painting by American abstract artist Mark Rothko is among several pedigree artworks on display at Ipswich Art Gallery, thanks to the National Gallery of Australia.
Is it gauche to always talk about art in terms of money?
The whole business seems devalued when Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan’s Comedian, a conceptual artwork comprising a banana stuck to a wall with duct tape, sold recently for US$6.24 million (AUD$9.65 million) at a Sotheby’s auction in New York.
If a banana can sell for that much, what is a Rothko worth? It’s not a trick question because we have a particular Rothko in mind, 1957 #20, which was recently valued at $116 million.
You’d like to have a look at it and see if you think it’s worth that much? Be our guest, because it’s on public display right now at Ipswich Art Gallery. Rothko in Ipswich? You bet.
There’s a David Hockney on the Gold Coast and a Monet at Tweed Regional Gallery, with other masterpieces also on loan or soon to be. This is all part of the Sharing the National Collection program from the National Gallery of Australia (NGA).
It’s nice to go to Canberra to see these works, but it’s also a treat that we don’t have to travel. Mark Rothko was an American abstract painter best known for his colour field paintings that depict irregular and painterly rectangular regions of colour, which he produced from 1949 to 1970.
You might like
His painting 1957 #20, which is now hanging in Ipswich, depicts three soft-edged rectangular forms, which appear to float over a field of deep maroon. The forms appear weightless and at times seem to hover above or behind the canvas itself. There is an intrinsic sense of luminosity created by the thin layers of paint.
Ipswich Art Gallery, which celebrates its 25th anniversary with a gala bash on December 7, will also feature other works on loan from the NGA – Agnes Martin, another exponent of international abstraction, and renowned former Ipswich ceramicist Gwyn Hanssen Pigott, who exhibited with Philip Bacon Galleries in Brisbane before her death in 2013.
While Rothko is renowned for his large-scale colour field paintings exploring the emotional and spiritual aspects of colour through expansive, immersive canvases, Martin is known for her minimalist and serene abstract paintings. These are characterised by grids, lines and subtle colour variations. Her work often evokes a sense of tranquility and introspection.
Gwyn Hanssen Pigott is regarded as one of the world’s greatest contemporary potters. Deeply influenced by the quiet still-life paintings of Giorgio Morandi, Hanssen Pigott leaves behind a body of exquisite still-life assemblages of refined, spare vessels in subtle colours and shapes.
The works from the NGA will be on display in Ipswich for two years. Alongside these loaned works is Arriving Slowly: Exploring the Abstract, an exhibition of contemporary abstract art curated in response to the works by Mark Rothko and Agnes Martin.
Arriving Slowly features an impressive array of artists including Lincoln Austin, Yuriyal Eric Bridgeman, Leonard Brown, Consuelo Cavaniglia, Lottie Consalvo, Margery Edwards, Ian Friend, Michael Georgetti, D. Harding, Robert Hunter, Paul Knight, Lindy Lee, Taree Mackenzie, Hilarie Mais, Ross Manning, Dawn Ng, Jonny Niesche, Rosslynd Piggott, Sandra Selig and Amber Wallis.
Subscribe for updates
This exhibition aims to create a dialogue between 20 contemporary Australian artists working across the expanded definition of abstraction, and working across mediums and modes of display. Included in this exhibition are works from the Ipswich Art Gallery collection.
Ipswich Mayor Teresa Harding officially launched the exhibitions, describing the loan from Canberra as “an amazing coup for Ipswich and the entire art community”.
“Rarely do you ever see artwork of this quality, value and significance made available to regional galleries,” Mayor Harding says.
“It is an incredible opportunity being offered to Ipswich and one we can all share for free. We are indebted to the National Gallery of Australia in allowing the works of respected American abstract expressionists Mark Rothko, and Agnes Martin as well as Ipswich’s own internationally renowned ceramic artist Gwyn Hanssen Pigott.
“In a career spanning more than 60 years, Gwyn Hanssen Pigott lived and worked in Ipswich. Ipswich Art Gallery has included some of her work in the collection in a display and more can be seen installed at the Law Courts in Ellenborough Street.”
Economic and cultural development committee chairperson, Cr Pye Augustine, says the loan is “a wonderful feather in the cap for Ipswich”.
“I am particularly pleased that it will also allow thousands of young Ipswich school children to view and learn about art and abstract expressionism, right here in their home city,” Augustine says.
The Sharing the National Collection initiative, funded under Australia’s National Cultural Policy – Revive, enables major works of art to be exhibited outside the nation’s capital. NGA director Nick Mitzevich says Australia’s national collection holds many significant works of art.
“We believe sharing art across Australia can be transformative for regional and suburban communities,” Mitzevich says.
Federal arts minister Tony Burke says the Sharing the National Collection program is already having a positive impact on regional galleries.
“We’ve seen participating galleries report a serious uptick in visitors as a result of being able to display locally significant pieces from the National Gallery,” Burke says. “At any one time 98 per cent of the National Gallery’s collection is in storage. Thanks to this program these pieces are travelling the distance, so you don’t have to – being seen and appreciated right across the country.”
Ipswich Art Gallery is open 10am to 5pm daily, except public holidays.