Scores of people flocked to the inaugural Biennale of Australian Art (BOAA) which opened to the public on Saturday in Ballarat.
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The unique experiential exhibition, supported by several major sponsors, including the City of Ballarat, has been years in the planning and is a major coup for the city.
BOAA artistic director Julie Collins said she was “rapt” with the response so far.
“It has been really busy with lots of people around; I really, really pleased with the way things had turned out.”
Hundreds of people visited The Mining Exchange, the Eureka Centra and the George Farmer building and Lake Wendouree and other locations across the city to view more than 1000 unique pieces of artwork and sculpture from 150 Australian artists.
Ms Collins said the aim of BOAA Art was to “tell Australian stories, stories of our past present and future, reflecting what it means to be Australian today.”
Ms Collins said about 75 per cent of the artists were selected from an expression of interest 18 months ago and the remainder came from more specific selection.
“I did not want to inflict my own curatorial framework on it. I wanted to allow the artists to express their own style and portray their specific messages,” she said.
The artists are also able to sell their work and Ms Collins said there had already been a bidding war for the work of Wathaurung artist, Marlene Gilson, who lives on country at Gordon.
Gilson had about 30 pieces on display, including eight large-scale works, four of which had already sold over the past two days.
The City of Ballarat and the National Gallery of Victoria have both purchased one of Gilson’s works.
A unique display at the Eureka Centre is from NSW artists Ken and Julia Yonetani, who have recreated “The Golden Pyramid” made from approximately 3000 metres of 24-carat golden thread.
The artists explain that, “gold and pyramids historically have great spiritual significance and the global wealth ‘pyramid” is a symbol of inequality of wealth.
Ms Collins said Ballarat is the perfect setting for the six-week art, sculpture, photography, fashion and music exhibition, and the response has been so positive she is already thinking about Ballarat BOAA 2020.
Melbourne artist Peter Burke has embarked on an ambitious project in Ballarat’s Mining Exchange space. With paint roller in hand on Saturday, he began painting the 30-metre length of canvas that he will add to each day.
”It is a mobius loop,” he explains,“It only has one side and forms a loop with one twist, so the canvas will be suspended from the roof and I’ll be on the ground working on it each day.”
Mr Burke, who lectures in art part time at university has been making this type of art for 25 years, and is particularly interested in art in public spaces. His canvas will evolve over the next seven days and will be based on a particular word that he hears each day. Saturday’s word was ‘reverb’ and he hopes his art will “start conversations.”
Full time fabric artist and part-time mermaid, Ally de Groot from Darwin has a different art style and an environmental message.
She has installed 100 jellyfish hanging from trees as part of the Lake Sculpture Walk depicting the story of how jellyfish populations are increasing because of overfishing and global warming.
“Through my art I am trying to weave in the environmental message of the tagedy facing sea life in the plastic age,” she said.
Ms de Groot has brought colourful nets down from the Northern Territory to weave in the jellyfish-making workshops.
The workshops will be held from 10am each day until Friday at the Mining Exchange and she encourages the public to join in.
“About 360 000 tonnes of old fishing nets are dumped in the ocean each year and they still catch fish without people operating them, which is why I call them ‘ghost nets’,” she said, “so I want to use them creatively and to send a message.”
Daylesford artist Kim Percy, who does design and media for the BOAA, has her contemporary art work ‘Fourteen’ on display at the George Farmer building.
Through her photography and digital image installation, she depicts the developmental journey of her son at 14 and the pivotal developmental journey from childhood to adulthood.
Exhibition sites are open 10am-4pm until November 6.
Details: www.boaa.net.au