An exhibition surveying 10 years of work by award-winning Australian artist Danie Mellor will open at The University of Queensland Art Museum on Saturday 18 January.
Danie Mellor: Exotic Lies Sacred Ties brings together more than 50 works on loan from public and private collections around Australia and shown together for the first time.
UQ Art Museum Director Dr Campbell Gray said Mellor worked in media including ceramics, drawing and mixed media installation, always with an eye to Australia’s colonial past.
“Mellor came to national prominence when he won the 26th Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award in 2009, and his work has continued to demand attention for compelling images of this country’s shared history,” Dr Gray said.
Mellor was born in Mackay in 1971 and maintains strong links to his mother’s country in the Atherton Tablelands of Far North Queensland.
He is descended from the Mamu and Ngagen rainforest people with connections to the Jirrbal.
Exhibition Curator Maudie Palmer described the 10-year survey as a landmark in the artist’s career, foregrounding core themes in his work, and the first to consider in depth his contribution to contemporary Australian art.
Danie Mellor: Exotic Lies Sacred Ties opens at UQ Art Museum (18 January to 27 April), and will travel to Healesville’s TarraWarra Museum of Art (10 May to 27 July) and the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory in Darwin (29 August to 16 November).
Mellor is available for interviews and photographs at the UQ Art Museum, University Drive, St Lucia from 3 to 4pm on 14 January and from 11am to noon on 31 January.
View and download images for news and review here.
View biographies for Mellor and Maudie Palmer here.
Media: Maudie Palmer, 03 9899 3064, 0439 899 306, maudie@netspace.net.au; UQ Art Museum Coordinating Curator , Samantha Littley (Tues-Fri), 07 3346 8782, 0416 198 632, s.littley@uq.edu.au;. UQ Art Museum Digital Communications Officer Sebastian Moody (Mon-Thurs), 07 3346 8761, 0419 789 006, s.moody@uq.edu.au.
