Collection receives major funding boost

09 May 2005

TSB Collection Show
Govett-Brewster Art Gallery
14 May - June 13 2005

Govett-Brewster collection receives major funding boost

Exhibition favourites will return to the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery in The TSB Collection Show, May 14 - June 13, a presentation of the significant new additions to the Gallery's collection with funds donated by the TSB Community Trust to the Govett-Brewster Foundation worth $100,000.

Govett-Brewster Art Gallery Director, Greg Burke says: "The Gallery is very grateful for this major contribution from the TSB Community Trust to the Govett-Brewster Foundation. It enables the Gallery to enhance the depth and importance of the permanent collection, ensuring both current and future generations of visitors have the opportunity to enjoy a world class contemporary art collection".

Chairman of the Govett-Brewster Foundation, John Eagles adds: "The vision of the Govett-Brewster Foundation is to support the Gallery and play a key role in the development of the Gallery's permanent collection, which can only be achieved through generous donations and strong local support from organisations such as the TSB Community Trust".

Many of the works purchased with the TSB Community Trust funding are audience favourites from previous exhibitions. Hiroyuki Matsugake's Star was a total hit in the immensely popular exhibition Mediarena: contemporary art from Japan. Star is an interactive work based on karaoke. When an audience member interacts with the microphone, the crowd of girls depicted in the wall-to-wall photograph scream adoringly back at them. The work is a wry comment on the karaoke phenomenon that reveals the comedic and fleeting nature of do-it-yourself stardom.

Chairperson, TSB Community Trust, Colleen Tuuta comments: "The TSB Community Trust is pleased to be supporting the Govett-Brewster Foundation in its development of the Gallery's collection which will benefit the local community for years to come".

The Gallery further strengthens its holdings of Taranaki art with a work by Filipe Tohi who is one of New Plymouth's best known and most popular practicing artists. Haupapa (female) 1998 is a welcome addition to the collection which up until now has only held work of Tohi's dating from the early 1990s. Since the Govett-Brewster exhibition and catalogue Genealogy of lines in 2002, Tohi's practice has taken off internationally and he has been included in major exhibitions in Lyon, Athens, Shanghai, and Osaka.

Multiple descent (Taranaki) 2004 by Australian artist, Shaun Gladwell, identifies a strong local connection with the Gallery. Gladwell's video work was commissioned for the Govett-Brewster exhibition Gridlock: cities, structures, spaces 2004 and shot on location at Centre City car park in New Plymouth featuring local skaters. In a reflective way his video, and the skaters in it, transform the car park into a surprisingly picturesque space. Based on the amazing views afforded by the car park, and good skating conditions, Gladwell has called it "the most beautiful car park in the world".

Callum Morton's work, Billyput was commissioned by the Gallery especially for the exhibition of German art Come-in 2003. The work plays with the history of Billy Apple's Altered staircase a centre-piece of the Govett-Brewster and an icon of New Zealand art history. Morton became fascinated with Apple's staircase when he was at the Gallery in 1997 as the international artist in residence. The pea-green door was a crowd favourite in 2003 and again when it was exhibited in Lights>camera>action in 2004. Callum Morton who now resides in Los Angeles is one of Australia's most internationally acclaimed artists and regularly exhibits world wide.

The other artists included in the TSB Collection Show include Mladen Bizumic, Richard Killeen, Hye Rim Lee, Saskia Leek, Ani O'Neill, Peter Peryer and Boyd Webb.

Opening in conjunction with The TSB Collection Show the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery presents MAKEOVER: Paintings by Seven Pacific Rim artists, 14 May - 24 July 2005, an exhibition about painting today, featuring artists whose work moves between genres and makes over art-historical and pop-cultural visual languages.

ENDS

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