10 years of collecting at the ANU. Various artists. ANU Drill Hall Gallery, Kingsley Street, Acton. Until May 28.
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University art collections are frequently referred to as Cinderella collections as they are generally invisible to the general art public.
Artworks are tucked away in foyers of university buildings, offices, libraries and public teaching spaces with a role to enlighten and inspire the university community. However, at some universities where the quality of donations and acquisitions has been particularly high, special art galleries and museums are established. Melbourne University has the finest university museum in the country, and possibly the finest art collection, while Sydney University is in the process of building and opening its dedicated art museum building.
The Australian National University art collection is a particularly distinguished one and a few years ago I published a catalogue of some of its "treasures" that include Sidney Nolan's Riverbend and Len French's Seven Days of Creation. The university does not have a dedicated permanent gallery space – the display of Riverbend at the Drill Hall Gallery is the obvious exception – and it is difficult even for insiders to have a good idea of what is in the university's collection.
This exhibition is a selection of artwork that has entered the university collection over the past decade through a mixture of modest acquisitions, gifts and donations under the federal government's cultural gifts program, where donors receive generous tax concessions. It is obviously a mixed bag with something to please everyone and with plenty to annoy others.
Understandably, for an exhibition of this nature, there is no catalogue and little attempt has been made to mould some sort of visual coherence. Two of the major icons that have entered the collection are Dick Watkins' Spitfire (2006) and Timothy Cook's Kaluma (2013), the first a donation through the cultural gifts program by James Erskine, while the latter an acquisition. There are a number of great Ken Whisson drawings; a strong work by the printmaker John Loane, Gauloise, cigarette de la Some (2014); a good Peter Maloney; and an outstanding Brian Blanchflower, Canopy XLVI (Eclipse I), (1999).
The highlights also include an impressive wall of works by Aida Tomescu, especially the wonderful Cruce IV and Cruce V (2004); and early major Michael Taylor, Pink Sky (1975); and the sprawling installation Articulation IV, V, VI (2011) by Peter Vandermark.
Regular visitors to the Drill Hall will have seen many of these works before in various exhibitions and it is interesting to see how they have gravitated into the university's collection.
