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Details
- Date
- 2012
- Media category
- Painting
- Materials used
- synthetic polymer paint on canvas on hardboard
- Dimensions
- 118.0 diam. x 6.0 cm board
- Signature & date
Signed with initial bot.c., grey synthetic polymer paint "L.R.". Not dated.
Signed and dated lower c. verso, black fibre-tipped pen "Luke// ROBERTS/ 2012".- Credit
- Purchased with funds provided by the Contemporary Collection Benefactors 2013
- Location
- Not on display
- Accession number
- 199.2013
- Copyright
- © Luke Roberts
- Archibald Prize
- - 2012
- Artist information
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Luke Roberts
Works in the collection
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About
Luke Roberts' subject is Richard Bell, an acclaimed, provocative artist and political activist, who came to prominence when he won the 2003 Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Art Prize for his painting 'Scientia E Metaphysica (Bell's Theorem)' which featured the text, 'Aboriginal Art - It's a White Thing'.
'Richard grew up in a tin shanty with his family in an Aboriginal encampment on the outskirts of Charleville in Queensland,' says Roberts. 'I remember those camps in the 1950s and 60s. His rise from such humble beginnings to his status as an internationally respected artist is a triumph of intelligence and hope over ignorance and exclusion. Richard is a leader not only as an artist, but as a social activist and spokesperson for his people and for a better, fairer Australia. My painting acknowledges his achievements.'
The format of the portrait refers to the fact that Bell 'speaks of Aboriginal currency; about the Dreamtime tourism and Aboriginal art industries and the ongoing plight of his people and other Aboriginal nations in Australia,' says Roberts.
Born in the rural town of Alpha in Queensland in 1952, Roberts studied at the Julian Ashton Art School and the Queensland College of Art. He has a Master of Fine Arts degree from the Queensland University of Technology. He was the Australian Fellow at PS1, New York in 1996-97 and takes up the Australia Council residency at the British School at Rome April-June this year. He has been exhibiting since 1975 in solo exhibitions and numerous group shows including Australian perspecta at the Art Gallery of New South Wales in 1991 and 1995, the Australian Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art (APT) at the Queensland Art Gallery in 1996, the 2002 Sydney Biennale and, most recently, Ten years of contemporary art: the James C Sourris AM Collection at Brisbane's Gallery of Modern Art in 2011-12. His portrait of Mary MacKillop was a prize-winner in Mother Mary: a tribute at the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney in 1995.
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Exhibition history
Shown in 2 exhibitions
Archibald, Wynne and Sulman Prizes (2012), Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 31 Mar 2012–03 Jun 2012
Archibald, Wynne and Sulman Prizes (2012), TarraWarra Museum of Art, Healesville, 10 Jun 2012–08 Jul 2012
Archibald, Wynne and Sulman Prizes (2012), Newcastle Art Gallery, Newcastle, 14 Jul 2012–26 Aug 2012
Archibald, Wynne and Sulman Prizes (2012), Cowra Art Gallery, Cowra, 01 Sep 2012–04 Oct 2012
Archibald, Wynne and Sulman Prizes (2012), Western Plains Cultural Centre, Dubbo, 20 Oct 2012–02 Dec 2012
Archibald, Wynne and Sulman Prizes (2012), Grafton Regional Gallery, , 07 Dec 2012–20 Jan 2013
Archibald, Wynne and Sulman Prizes (2012), Hawkesbury Regional Gallery, Windsor, 25 Jan 2013–10 Mar 2013
Archibald, Wynne and Sulman Prizes (2012), New England Regional Art Museum, Armidale, 15 Mar 2013–28 Apr 2013
Luke Roberts: ...AMOROMA...BURNING LOVE, Milani Gallery, West End, 04 Jul 2013–20 Jul 2013
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Bibliography
Referenced in 2 publications
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Art Gallery of New South Wales (Editor), 2012 Archibald Prize, Sydney, 2012, n.pag. (colour illus.). cat.no. 27
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Andrew Taylor., The Sydney Morning Herald, 'Minted: a flipping fuss', Sydney, 18 Mar 2013, n.pag.. viewed 31.01.2013, http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/art-and-design/minted-a-flipping-fuss-20120317-1vbzf.html
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