After a year-long redevelopment, The Art Gallery of WA will relaunch on Saturday November 6 with a gallery-wide exhibition and the unveiling of its new 500-person indoor-outdoor rooftop space.
The View From Here will be the gallery’s largest ever exhibition of West Australian art, featuring over 230 artists and 361 artworks (including 111 specially commissioned works).
Exhibiting artists include Sarah Bahbah, the WA-raised, LA-based artist with over one million Instagram followers; Tim Meakins, whose giant 3D-printed sculptures of "weightlifters, posers and grinning weights" offer a playful interpretation of modern fitness culture and will occupy AGWA’s new interior rooftop gallery; and Bruno Booth, whose Adidas-wearing cats appear in unexpected places. Plus, artists Abdul Abdullah, Ngarralja Tommy May, Yok & Sheryo, Danielle Freakley, Tyrown Waigana, John Prince Siddon and Tarryn Gill.
The relaunch will also reveal the new-look AGWA building, including the new 500-person rooftop bar, gallery and sculpture walk, featuring the showpiece commission by Minang/Wardandi/Bibbulmun artist Christopher Pease, a 34-metre light-based work wrapping around the rooftop wall.
A centrepiece of the exhibition will be Collective Ground, created from the AGWA Foundation’s $1.5M artist stimulus package provided in response to the pandemic. The exhibition within the exhibition will present some 60 works from over 120 Aboriginal Art Centres and Aboriginal artists across Western Australia.
“The launch of the all-new AGWA is a major moment for West Australian arts and artists alike,” AGWA director Colin Walker said in a press release. “AGWA will be a champion of WA artists, and the reopening gives a celebration of our local talent and our unique view on the world from this special place.”
AGWA will reopen on November 6.
