Page 81 - Annual Review 2010

ReVeAL 81
donald friend
Adam and Eve c.1957–61
in his search for tropical and exotic
environments, prominent australian
artist donald friend (1915–89) made
numerous visits north to queensland
and also spent time in nigeria, ceylon
and finally bali. Adam and Eve (see
p.4) depicts the popular biblical story
and, together with a scene of orpheus
taming the animals and other quasi-
mythological scenes, is embellished
with gold leaf skies to reflect the
style of early renaissance sienese
painters. it comes from a series of
decorative painted doors, the first of
which he painted in 1955 in brisbane
for robert haines, then director of the
queensland art gallery.
Adam and Eve is a decorative tour de
force and is the most significant work
by donald friend in the collection.
it was acquired with funds generously
provided by philip bacon, am.
scott redford
Reinhardt Dammn/Paper
plane made solid, huge,
invincible, strong/Milking
Adam Cullen 2008
scott redford is a leading queensland
artist of national significance and
the subject of the solo exhibition
‘scott redford: introducing reinhardt
dammn’ at the queensland art
gallery, from 19 november 2010 to
13 march 2011.
Reinhardt Dammn/Paper plane
made solid, huge, invincible, strong/
Milking Adam Cullen, a gift from dr
michael welch, is a major example of
redford’s development of the fictitious
character reinhardt dammn, an
archetypal young gold coast surfer,
rock musician and artist, and the
subject of redford’s proposed feature
film. through this project, he aims to
demonstrate that the true meaning
of art now resides in a kind of group
fiction rather than in art objects
themselves.
possibly the irreverence of adam
cullen’s painting led reinhardt
dammn to single him out as the
object of this work. Like a paper
plane thrown in the classroom, this
sculpture is reinhardt dammn’s
single biggest gesture of defiance
to ‘art’s powers-that-be’.
this work was a gift of dr michael
welch, through the queensland art
gallery foundation.
installation view: scott redford | australia b.1962 | Reinhardt
Dammn/Paper plane made solid, huge, invincible, strong/Milking
Adam Cullen 2008 | enamel on aluminium; applied stencil text |
140 x 600 x 170cm | gift of dr michael welch through the
queensland art gallery foundation 2010. donated through the
australian government’s cultural gifts program | collection:
queensland art gallery | photograph: silversalt, sydney | image
courtesy: breenspace