Image above: Imants Tillers, Mount Analogue, 1985, National Gallery of Australia, Kamberri/Canberra, purchased 1987 Courtesy of the artist
As part of the Sharing the National Collection initiative, the team at HOTA are privileged to welcome the artworks by distinguished artists David Hockney and Imants Tillers.
The artworks will be on loan for a two-year period, giving visitors to HOTA Gallery the chance to view two significant artworks previously housed in Canberra. The loan comes at an exciting time as HOTA has recently become part of the super entity, Experience Gold Coast, with the focus on being Australia’s premier tourism destination alongside Destination Gold Coast, Study Gold Coast, Placemakers* and Major Events Gold Coast.
The first piece by internationally renowned contemporary artist, David Hockney, A Bigger Grand Canyon, is a 7.4-metre-long landscape painting consisting of 60 canvases. Painted in 1998, the large-scale piece is a vibrant and contemporary vision of America’s Grand Canyon, a portrayal of the American West from many viewpoints.
The second piece was created in 1985 by senior Australian artist, Imants Tillers, and presents a vision of the Australian landscape titled Mount Analogue. Featuring a largescale 5-metre wide rendering of the view from the top of Mount Kosciusko, the momentous piece is a reimagining of the work of colonial landscape painter Eugene Von Guerard.
Image: HOTA Gallery. Photography by John Gollings
Image: Installation view of Pop Masters: Art from the Mugrabi Collection, New York at HOTA Gallery. Photography by Fullframe Photographics and Film
Image: HOTA Gallery. Photography by Brett Boardman
Mayor Tom Tate said 'The HOTA Gallery is a world class Gallery, built for the residents of the Gold Coast and our visitors. We knew that this building would attract great art and participating in the National Gallery’s Sharing the National Collection initiative is a wonderful endorsement of the City’s vision for arts and culture on the Gold Coast. These two works are truly magnificent. They will sit perfectly inside the Gallery, and I am looking forward to welcoming the works to HOTA in June next year.'
'As soon as we heard about the National Gallery’s Sharing the National Collection initiative, we knew HOTA just had to be a part of it. The opportunity to bring masterpieces from this amazing collection direct to our audiences on the Gold Coast was too good to miss out on.'
'We are thrilled to proudly display these paintings alongside some of the great artworks in the HOTA Collection. The two selected landscapes, one by the legendary artist David Hockney and another by Australian master Imants Tillers, are epic in scale and subject matter - perfect for our big, beautiful gallery. We can’t wait to welcome them here,' said HOTA’s Interim CEO Mik Auckland.
These artworks will hang alongside works from the HOTA Collection, available for free public viewing in Gallery 3 as part of multiple curated exhibitions throughout the loan period.
'Here at HOTA, we are fortunate to have a collection that is rich in contemporary artworks that depict the Australian landscape in all its complexity. Now, bringing the National Gallery collection into dialogue with our own, we can open up conversations on a whole new scale.'
'These big, beautiful paintings from the National Gallery are full of big and bold ideas. Showing them alongside some of the masterworks in the HOTA Collection will create world-class exhibitions for our visitors,' said Bradley Vincent, HOTA’s Acting Director - Gallery and Visual Arts.
The award-winning HOTA Gallery, the largest regional gallery in Australia, was opened to great acclaim in May 2021. Since then, it has hosted a diverse range of exhibitions across five world-class gallery spaces and welcomed almost 500,000 visitors.
These works of art will be on long-term loan from the National Gallery of Australia with support from the Australian Government as part of Sharing the National Collection. #artacrossaustralia
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