Gold Coast City Art Gallery is expanding its footprint beyond the wall and onto two outdoor tin sheds. Does this opportunity have your name sprayed all over it?
The Gallery is offering two commissions to artists with ideas to move the gallery outside, applying the appeal of street art to a prominent parkland site.
Gallery Director Tracy Cooper-Lavery said the Gallery is broadening its programs and tapping into a wider audience, starting with an exciting street art exhibition called Signs of the Time.
Australian artists are being given the opportunity to join the ranks of international and national street artists including the original stencil pioneer Blek le Rat and the face of the art form Banksy, who will featurein the accompanying exhibition.
Two sheds
Gold Coast City Gallery is housed within The Arts Centre Gold Coast and surrounded by vast parkland which also includes two storage worksheds, or to the more artistically minded, two blank canvasses.
Image of the two sheds, looking from the lake towards the Arts Centre. Source: Gold Coast City Art Gallery
Artists or artist groups are being called on to pitch their ideas of how they can transform these unassuming sheds into active, creative sites.
The artists will be in the running for two separate commissions, one for $13 000 and another for $17 000, including materials and production costs.
See more details about the shed dimensions in the expression of interest form.
The works will be completed during the exhibition’s opening weekend (18 & 19 February) when visitors can observe and engage with the artists while soaking up the festival atmosphere of food, talks and music.
Not a ‘street artist’? Don’t worry. The call out is to all creative individuals with experience working in public places, on public commissions or large-scale formats.
Cooper-Lavery said, ‘Street art is developing, and something that many artists may not traditionally identified as street artists, are now moving into. It is a great way to expand an artist’s practice’.
The works will receive great exposure long after the ‘Signs of the Time’ exhibition.
Not only do the grounds and gallery receive up to 10 000 visitors on a weekend, but thanks to the winding canals surrounding the parkland, they will be visible from the Arts Centre and beyond.
Why street art?
New ideas, spaces and walls are being explored as part of the Art Centre’s transition into a wider Cultural Precinct.
Cooper-Lavery described street art as a litmus test that provides an opportunity to reflect on society’s concerns and inspire conversation about the social and political issues of our time.
Street art culture is expanding from urban to regional areas of Australia with popular festivals popping up in Fremantle (WA), Toowomba (Qld), Wollongong (NSW) and now, Surfers Paradise.
The Gold Coast City Art Gallery’s diverse program includes an exhibition of art from the collection of art consultant and collector Ken McGregor including work by Bambi (UK), who is well known for his portrait of Amy Winehouse and A1One’s (Iran/Germany) anti-corporation imagery.
The foyer gallery will also feature the work of Australian artists who have been commissioned by the Gallery, including Gold Coast artists Claudio Kirac and Kiel Tillman. These works will be auctioned with proceeds going to the artists and their selected charities.Cooper-Lavery hopes the project will be an opportunity to attract younger audiences and the wider community, many of which do not even know the Gallery exists.
‘It is time to get the gallery positioned where it should be, which is one of the largest regional galleries in Australia. We want to build our profile and get people talking about us as a player,’ she said.
Be a part of the change
Cooper-Lavery said the Gallery is keen to hear from as many artists as possible.
‘The expression of interest is an opportunity for me to gauge what other artists are creating. I am always looking for new things we can be doing here and working with artists on new projects,’ she said.
Applications close Monday 9 January 2017 and the exhibition will run from the 18 February-9 April 2017.
