In the largest solo exhibition of his career to date, leading contemporary Australian artist Archie Moore will present a new commission at Griffith University Art Museum from 8 March — 21 April 2018.
Curated by Griffith University Art Museum Director Angela Goddard, Archie Moore: 1970—2018 takes the form of a multi-room installation based on a combination of recreated spaces and memories that reference Moore’s childhood, schooling and early life in rural Queensland.
The exhibition builds on concepts of history and architectural spaces explored in Moore’s previous installations ‘Whipsaw’ (2017) at TARNANTHI, Adelaide, ‘A Home Away From Home (Bennelong/Vera’s Hut)’ (2016) commissioned for the 20th Biennale of Sydney, ‘Relocating Land, Memory and Place’ (2015), at System Gallery, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK, and ‘Dwelling’ (2010) at Accidentally Annie Street, Brisbane.
Visitors will be invited to enter the multilayered installation of seven rooms, created using reclaimed building materials and found items — some inspired by specific events in Moore’s early life, and others that evoke broader emotional states.
“Memory has been in all of my work somewhere,” Moore says of his almost three-decade-long practice. “I’m still intrigued by who I am, what I think I am, and the reasons why.”
Using an array of sensory effects, the artist will explore philosophical questions about personal and transgenerational memory.
“The spaces in this exhibition activate the emotive and disorienting potential of objects, architecture and other markers of place and identity,” Goddard says. “Through this work, Moore tenders the inevitable openness of memory, and sensitively contributes to conversations around empathy and perception in Australia.”
Archie Moore: 1970-2018 will be accompanied by the first monograph of Moore’s career, published by the Griffith University Art Museum.
This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body and is supported by the Queensland Government through Arts Queensland.
ABOUT THE ARTIST:
Archie Moore
Born 1970, Toowoomba, Queensland
Lives and works in Brisbane
Archie Moore’s work explores the intersection between identity, nationhood and authenticity, regularly referring to the relationships between these concepts and the private landscape. His multidisciplinary practice questions key signifiers of identity — skin, language, smell, food, home, politics, religion, flags — and Australia’s contested histories. His practice is embedded in Aboriginal politics, the wider concerns of racism, as well as a recurrent theme of uncertainty pertaining to his Kamilaroi heritage.
Moore completed his Bachelor of Visual Arts at Queensland University of Technology in 1998. In 2001, he was awarded the Millennial Anne & Gordon Samstag International Visual Arts Scholarship allowing him to study at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague. He has exhibited regularly nationally and internationally in solo and major group exhibitions including: Defying Empire: 3rd National Indigenous Art Triennial, at the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra (2017); the 20th Biennale of Sydney (2016) curated by Stephanie Rosenthal; TARNANTHI – Festival of Contemporary Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art, Adelaide (significant solo presentations within the Festival in both 2017 and 2015).
Other group exhibitions include Sixth Sense, at NAS Galleries, Sydney (2016); Courting Blakness: Recalibrating knowledge in the Sandstone University, at The University of Queensland, Brisbane (2014); My Country, I Still Call Australia Home: Contemporary Art from Black Australia, at Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane and Auckland Art Gallery (2013 & 2014); and Mémoires Vives: Une Histoire de l’Art Aborigène, Le musée d’Aquitaine, Bordeaux (2013-2014).
In 2010, Moore was the winner of the Woollahra Small Sculpture Prize, and has been shortlisted six times for the Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Award (2005-08, 2011, 2013). In 2013, he was invited to participate in the University of Queensland’s National Artists’ Self-Portrait Prize, for which he created his seminal work Black Dog, later acquired by the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra. In 2015, he was shortlisted for the Western Australian Indigenous Art Award at the Art Gallery of Western Australia.
Archie Moore’s work is in the collections of Griffith University, Brisbane, Jumbunna Indigenous House of Learning, UTS, Sydney; National Gallery of Australia, Canberra; Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane; Monash University Museum of Art, Melbourne; Newcastle Region Art Gallery;Queensland University of Technology Art Museum, Brisbane; the University of Queensland Art Museum, Brisbane, and many others.
In late 2017, Moore was awarded a major public art commission for the T1 Terminal of Sydney International Airport. The permanent public artwork is the first partnership between Sydney Airport and the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia. When installed, the work will be a larger, site-specific version of his critically-acclaimed United Neytions flag series exhibited as part of The National: New Australian Art at Carriageworks, Sydney in 2017. The commission is due to be installed mid-2018.
In 2011, Moore began a musical collaboration, ∑gg√e|n, with fellow artist, David M. Thomas, which continues today.
Archie Moore is represented by The Commercial, Sydney.
ABOUT THE EXHIBITION
EXHIBITION: 8 March – 21 April 2018. Tuesday to Saturday, 11am — 4pm, or by appointment.
WHERE: Griffith University Art Museum, 226 Grey Street, South Bank
CONTACT: Visit the website or call 07 3735 3140.
