Big new things are happening at Newcastle Art Gallery as artists of scale move in
by Simon McCarthy · Newcastle HeraldAn international heavyweight and Australian star have been unveiled at the Newcastle Art Gallery in a double-header Australian premier exhibition this week.
The works of Newcastle-based artist Angela Tiatia, and Tokyo and London-based art duo A.A.Murakami in dual exhibitions opened on Friday.
Gallery director Loretta Morton said the major overhaul leading to the gallery's reopening in February had allowed both space and the scale to show world-leading art to full effect.
"The expansion gave us physical scale, but the real transformation came from expanding our thinking about what our state-of-the-art institution should offer," she said.
"We celebrate local and national artists and champion artists of global impact, creating world-class exhibitions that engage people with the transformational power of art."
Newcastle will also host the first gallery showing outside of the National Portrait Gallery of 'The Matildas, 2025' - a monumental 23-minute, single-channel 4K video portrait - also by Tiata.
Filmed across three continents, five cities and seven shoots, the 23-minute video portrait captures the presence, emotion and mental focus of all 23 players from the CommBank Matildas FIFA Women's World Cup 2023 Squad, including Newcastle's own Emily van Egmond and Clare Wheeler.
A.A.Murakami's New Spring is on display for the first time in Australia thanks to the Newcastle Art Gallery Foundation as the major global exhibition supporter.
The multisensory work was created by Azusa Murakami and Alexander Groves as part of their ephemeral technology series, in which the artists make their own machines to recreate natural phenomena.
Newcastle Art Gallery Foundation chair Suzie Galwey said the foundation was thrilled to help bring such an important international exhibition to Newcastle.
"We are incredibly proud to play a part in making this possible, and I would like to sincerely thank our donors for their unwavering generosity and support. Their commitment enables the gallery to deliver extraordinary experiences for the Newcastle community and beyond," Ms Galwey said.
Included among the new works on display, the gallery's Darby Street windows now showcase Hunter-based artist Indeah Clark, whose large-scale graphic depicts a network of faces, reflecting the people and places that shape our sense of self and belonging.
Tickets for Angela Tiatia: Muse are on sale via the Newcastle Art Gallery website. Entry to The Matildas, 2025 is free to the public, with both exhibitions running from September 26 to February 7.
New Spring will be on display from September 26 to January 31 with free entry to the public, while Clarke's window commission will remain in place until September 26, 2027.
The new exhibitions are opening alongside City of Newcastle's flagship multi-arts festival, New Annual, which features 10 days of art, music, theatre and performance from September 25 to October 4.
The full program for New Annual is available online.