Orazio Gentileschi, Saint Francis supported by an angel Image courtesy Museo del Prado, Madrid.
Each year the major galleries spice up winter’s blues and summer’s haze with what we have come to label “The Blockbuster” – those big, muscly shows that are all marketing brawn and popular appeal.
There are three biennales to be held in Australia this year. The first is the Adelaide Biennale at the Art Gallery of South Australia (1 March to 11 May) coinciding with the Adelaide Arts Festival. With the theme Dark Heart, and curated in house for the first time in the biennale’s long history, it is promising to be a small but punchy exhibition.
Next is the 19th Biennale of Sydney with the theme You Imagine What You Desire (21 March – 9 June). 90 artists – 23 of those Australian – will be staged across five venues. It is without doubt one of the most anticipated exhibitions for 2014 with Juliana Engberg, Director of Australia Centre for contemporary Art (ACCA), holding the curatorial reigns.
Roni Horn is among the artists to come to Sydney for the Biennale in 2014
The third is the inaugural Dobell Australian Drawing Biennial, a reinvention of the former Dobell Prize at the Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW) pushing drawing to a new experimental range (21 November – 26 January 2015).
Talk of 2014 “spectaculars” can not pass without mention of Sydney International Art Series, which has brought artists like Yoko Ono, Francis Bacon, Anish Kapor, Picasso and Annie Leibovitz to our shores. They will again pull the big tickets in 2014 presenting America’s Chuck Close (20 November – 8 March 2015) at the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia (MCA), taking audiences on a journey from photography to printmaking, challenging contemporary portraiture.
American Chuck Close headlines at MCA in Sydney late 2014
The AGNSW’s top drawer exhibition is the antithesis of Close for 2014 is Afghanistan: Hidden treasures from the National Museum, Kabul (7 March – 1 June). Exploring objects from the Silk Road, that infamous route where adventurers and traders such as Genghis Khan and Marc Polo linked the ancient worlds of Central Asia, India and China, Iran and Greece, this exhibition will bring more than 230 “treasures” to Sydney as part of a national tour. Following AGNSW Perth audiences will get a look in (Western Australian Museum 27 July – 16 November). This one is a must on our ArtsHub hits.
Following a traditional line, the National Gallery of Victoria announced its Melbourne Winter Masterpiece for 2014 will be Italian Masterpieces from Spain’s Royal Court, Museo del Prado (16 May 2014 – 31 August), including over 100 works from this iconic collection exclusive to Melbourne. Director Tony Elwood said, ‘This is the first time the Prado has toured an exhibition of their renowned collection of Italian masterpieces in the world. We are thrilled that Melbourne has secured this world first.’
The Prado’s Italian Masters come to the NGV in 2014
The Queensland Art Gallery / Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA) in contrast is “going Japanese” this year. It will continue its focus collection shows that started with The China Project and Unnerved: The New Zealand Project, this year looking at Japanese Art after 1989 (6 September – May 2015).
There is an odd frequency of Japanese shows in 2014. GOMA will also present Future Beauty: 30 Years of Japanese Fashion (1 November – 15 February 2014) and have commissioned Japanese artist Akira Isogawa to make a work for the Children’s Art Centre.
The National Gallery of Victoria International (NGV) have scheduled Bushido: Way of the Samurai (4 July – 30 November), showcasing armour, costumes, calligraphic scrolls, and lacquer objects as well as woodblocks and studio photographs.
Jumping forward a few centuries, the MCA’s Senior Curator Rachel Kent will deliver a comprehensive survey on the Japanese artist Tabaimo (3 July – 7 September). Drawing on woodblock tradition, Tabaimo’s multi multi-screen video works will immerse gallery visitors within constantly changing environments that combine hand-drawn imagery and sound. This is also one of our hot hits for 2014.
Perth Institute of Contemporary Art (PICA) is also making a statement with media art and drawn imagery. They will present the Australian Premier of William Kentridge’s epic five-channel video and sculptural installation The Refusal of Time (13 February – 27 April), originally commissioned for dOCUMENTA (13). Kentridge’s piece comes to WA as part of the Perth Festival in collaboration with AGWA.
William Kentridge is coming to PICA in 2014
And the ultimate commercial spectacular for 2014 will be the Melbourne Art Fair. Returning to the Royal Exhibition Building 13 – 17 August, this grand dame of the fair circuit will stage its 14th edition, promising to be as robust and as energized as ever with Barry Keldoulis at the helm.
The big-name exhibitions are not the only reason to go to the galleries in 2014. Design and media arts are also promising as you can read in Beyond the blockbuster in 2014.
