Prior to relocating to Bowen Hills in August, FireWorks Gallery would like to announce that the final exhibition at Doggett St will be Anniversary Group Show I: Country Lines; over thirty artworks by four artists – Joanne Currie Nalingu, George Hairbrush Tjungurrayi, Yvonne Mills Stanley and Rod Moss – will be showcased. Since 1993, FireWorks Gallery has been in four spaces throughout Brisbane: George Street, CBD 1993-1995; Ann Street, Fortitude Valley 1995-2001; followed by Stratton Street 2002-2007 and later Doggett Street 2007-2018 (both in Newstead). Director Michael Eather comments that “the ongoing curatorial theme underpinning the gallery’s exhibition program and associated projects remains the desire to present artworks by Indigenous (remote and urban) and non-Indigenous artists alongside each other.”
The selection of artists for Anniversary Group Show I: Country Lines highlights the diversity FireWorks represents. Joanne and George’s linear abstract acrylic paintings tell stories of Country and Dreaming. The immaculately crafted and highly textured paintings created by Joanne speak of her journey as an artist moving within cultures. She was the feature artist for the (George St) 1994 exhibition South West Queensland Stories and in 2008 was awarded the prestigious AGNSW Wynne Prize. Around the mid-1970s George (Hairbrush) affiliated himself with the Papunya Tula artist group where he launched his career. Since 1989, FireWorks gallery has been exhibiting and promoting the artists’ colourful, bold yet subtle paintings. George was recently selected for the 2018 Biennale of Sydney.
Rod and Yvonne’s styles, in contrast, are more representative. Rod’s graphite & polymer paint images show Aboriginal daily life in Alice Springs; this arresting imagery offers viewers a closer look into Aboriginal daily life in the desert, simultaneously challenging both ones’ knowledge and ignorance of Indigenous life. Local, Mt. Glorious, based artist Yvonne Mills-Stanley paints tranquil landscape scenes concerned with the colour, structure and movement of grass, and the relationship between areas of where grass has once been and where grass is now travelling to. Coincidentally, Country in Mind: Dorothy Napangardi and Yvonne Mills-Stanley was the final show at Stratton Street.
Alongside Country Lines, for a limited time up until mid-July a large range of stockroom works – RELOCATION SALE – will be discounted from 10- 40%. FireWorks gallery will be open for extended hours in late June on Saturday 23rd June (10-4pm) and Sunday 24th June (12-4pm). Throughout its 25 years, the gallery has developed a national and international reputation for exhibiting and promoting artworks by some of Australia’s best contemporary artists with works being acquired by major collections – public, corporate and private. Country Lines alongside the Relocation Sale are both tremendous opportunities to celebrate and to come into the gallery over the next weeks to discover and acquire some true gems.
Image: Joanne Currie Nalingu Maranoa River Morning light
