Firebrand I: In Focus - Laurie Nilsen and Michael Nelson Jagamara
20th Anniversary Group Exhibition
This year FireWorks Gallery (FWG) celebrates 20 years of operation since first opening in 1993 in George St, Brisbane. Evolving from the Campfire Group studios and networks established between 1988 - 1992, FWG has always premised an inclusive exhibition program integrating works by Indigenous and non-Indigenous artists, often through layering diverse cultural perspectives and overlapping histories.
Artworks
During May 2013 we welcome Michael Nelson Jagamara (MNJ), a true legend of the Aboriginal art movement, who is travelling over from Papunya in Central Australia. His new collection of energetic and glossy expressionist paintings will be on show. Such works have won the artist numerous national and international tributes such as inclusion in the 2nd Asia Pacific Triennial 1999 at QAG, winner of the Gold Coast Art Prize 2001 and winner of Tattersalls Art Prize 2006. MNJ will exhibit alongside Laurie Nilsen founding member of Campfire/FireWorks –a local legend and prize winning artist himself including the 2007 Telstra 3D prize!
Laurie Nilsen presents a mini survey of paintings, prints and sculptures alongside a major new work from his current series, Unfinished Games. Another work from this series has just been preselected for the 2013 Telstra awards. Laurie continues themes of crossing cultural boundaries alongside his fascination for combining rustic materials with found and fabricated objects. All this amidst his omnipresent wry Aboriginal humour!
MNJ has also collaborated with Imants Tillers since 2001. Their two most recent collaborations – Fatherland (2008) and Hymn to the Night (2012) – are monumental appropriations of The Nine Shots by Imants Tillers, a pivotal work in art history. Fatherland – which will also be exhibited at FIREBRAND – has recently been curated into an important international exhibition at The Aquitane Museum, Bordeaux France opening in October 2013.
FIREBRAND will also showcase affordable acrylic works from Warlukurlangu Artists (Yuendumu, NT), Kintore (NT) as well as oils by prominent artists from South-east QLD including Yvonne Mills-Stanley, David Paulson and Geoff Williams.
Artworks displayed in FIREBRAND include small, medium and larger paintings; sculptural installations and limited edition prints.