Sunday, November 30, 2014

WICKED ART SCENE GOES APE

Superchimp
The Northern Territory capital seems to be awash with art . At the Museums and Art Gallery of the NT (MAGNT) visitors are warned that viewer discretion is advised for Evolution : A Disrespective , described as 20 years of wicked and irreverent reflections by local artist Rob Brown taking on culture, history and religion .The 165 works ,from 42 collections, include paintings , prints, drawings and sculpture . There is Jesus making the peace gesture, averring he loves Darwin and that his Mum and Dad went to Katherine . Elvis , Hitler, weird animals, pop stars , Renaissance art on drugs get a run in this lively exhibition which stops visitors in their tracks .A huge poster ,left, at the front of the building, showing a chimp’s head atop Superman’s body, draws attention. Brown came to Darwin in 1998 to study visual arts at the Charles Darwin University . At the same time the Contemporary Art Space in the Chan Building was showing a range of works with a strong Asian content ,including an unusual video about Pakistanis who have settled in Indonesia, one of them a sex therapist who makes herbal  potions.