Art-felt messages come to fore in gallery's glass act

Megan Bottari’s Post-Modern Tokenism III 2007-2013 (detail) lost wax cast crystal. Photo: Wagga Wagga Art Gallery.

The Wagga Wagga Art Gallery and the National Art Glass Collection are presenting an exhibition that seeks to comment on the coexistence and unity of opposites as well as duality in politics, spirituality and morality.

Curated from the National Art Collection, You can’t see White, if you won’t see Black will be on show at the gallery until 9 October.

Gallery curator Andrew Halyday said the amazing jewel in the crown was the National Art Glass Gallery.

Mr Halyday said for the exhibition, the gallery chose to focus on monochromatic areas for the National Art Glass Collection.

“Specifically black and white – the opposite ends of the colour spectrum,” Mr Halyday said.

“The curation of the exhibition began with the work by Megan Bottari called Post-Modern Tokenism III.

“There’s a real sting in the tail of this work … entirely political. And that informs the title of the show.

Mr Halyday said the show title You can’t see White, if you won’t see Black had hidden meanings behind it.

“Duality of black and white, opposite ends, night and day and good and evil,” he said.

“It’s a combination of comments on duality … we can see those dualities throughout the works in social stances, in politics and spirituality. It’s all here in front of us.”

The gallery said the contrasting metaphors represented as white and black were steeped in human history, and across cultures, including in the Judeo-Christian tradition, ancient Chinese yin and yang and ancient Persia.

As seen in this exhibition, the use of black and white creates a focused attention upon content, form, pattern, texture or upon how the object has been made.

The glass itself presents as a particularly expressive medium to explore abstract ideas.

Both solid and fluid, glass absorbs and refracts light and, in so doing, communicates spiritual purity and intensity of feeling, such as how the oneness of the universe might be felt.

Wagga Wagga Art Gallery’s collections hold more than 2600 items and are constantly growing thanks to acquisitions and donations.

The collections focus on contemporary Australian art glass and prints, with a smaller but significant group of works by artists from the Riverina region.

Throughout the year, works from the collections are on display in permanent exhibitions or specially curated shows.

You can’t see White, if you can’t see Black will be on display at Wagga Wagga Art Gallery until Sunday, 9 October.