AN unusual exhibition at the ANU Drill Hall Gallery brings together the work of two painters from two ancient cultures, Angelina Pwerle of Australia and Hu Qinwu from China.
The idea, as the name of the show, “E(merge): Two spiritualities – Angelina Pwerle/Hu Qinwu”, indicates, is that their art shares a spiritual sensibility deeply anchored in connections with an ancestral past.
Pwerle, born in Utopia, NT, inherited ownership of the Bush Plum Dreamtime story, which is central to her painting of country, where she builds movement out of tiny dots that could be the seeds of the bush plum blown by the wind, or, the curators suggest, the cosmos whirling through time.
Hu Qinwu works in Beijing as a painter, photographer and printmaker. He paints layers of individual marks that create a harmonious whole suggesting infinity, such as the Buddhist idea of “kong bai” or empty space and says paintings should speak of what is inside, not outside.
The exhibition is curated by Reg Newitt and presented in association with China Art Projects and Niagara Galleries.
“E(merge): Two spiritualities – Angelina Pwerle/Hu Qinwu,” at the Drill Hall Gallery, Kingsley Street (off Barry Drive), Wednesday-Sunday, noon-5pm. Admission free.
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