“Visual images do not merely replace words but do things that words cannot do.” – Ivan Durrant
Ivan Durrant, a leading exponent of photorealism, and natural raconteur, will be celebrated in a major survey paying tribute to five decades of his extraordinarily diverse career since the 1970s, at The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia from 1 May 2020.
Ivan Durrant: Barrier Draw is the most comprehensive survey of Durrant’s work to date. Featuring over 100 multi-disciplinary works from the Melbourne-born artist, the exhibition will also unveil a new larger-than-life sculpture inspired by his controversial back catalogue. Drawn extensively from Durrant’s personal collection, the exhibition also includes major works from public and private collections from across Australia.
‘A prolific artist and provocateur, Ivan Durrant has created one of the most audacious bodies of work in Australian art,’ said Tony Ellwood AM, Director, NGV. ‘With his work first exhibited at the NGV in 1979, we’re delighted to welcome Ivan back to pay tribute to his extensive career and provide a platform to unveil an unmissable new work.’
The exhibition chronicles the evolution of Durrant’s diverse career, including his earliest folk paintings depicting an idyllic childhood in the countryside, which were a sharp contrast to his own experiences having grown up in an orphanage; his realist paintings, short films and sculptures of the 1970s and 80s, including his race track and movie star series; politically motivated installation works including Butcher Shop 1977/78, held in the NGV Collection; and more recent evocative ‘soft-focus’ paintings of the 1990s and 2000s.
A large proportion of Durrant’s later works employ a technique the artist refers to as ‘supraphotorealism’ – an abstract-like technique which mimics an out-of-focus photograph through the use of vibrant colours, softened edges and select focus, extending beyond the traditional parameters of photorealism.
Inspired by the deliberate intention to shock, Durrant first achieved public notoriety in 1975 when he deposited the carcass of a cow in the NGV forecourt. Soon after, media began referring to him as the ‘enfant terrible of Australian art’. Struck by the apparent double standard whereby people could buy, cook and eat meat but could not acknowledge where it came from, Durrant hoped to highlight the hypocrisy of killing an animal for human consumption.
The artistic context for Durrant’s work in the 1970s related to the distinguishing shift in Australian art with a new generation of artists beginning to explore socio-political issues and experiment with artistic mediums and techniques. Durrant was inspired by the potency of performance art and its ability to make a statement and elicit emotional responses in an unconventional way. Durrant also harnessed the power of the media to promote his work on a broader scale outside the traditional confines of the gallery space.
In ‘The Severed Hand Happening 1975’, Durrant generated the perfect media storm when he drew on his skills working in a prosthetics laboratory at the Royal Melbourne Hospital, and exhibited what appeared to be a severed human hand. Coming under police investigation, he revealed the hand was actually an intricately detailed resin sculpture.
Ivan Durrant: Barrier Draw includes a mini-documentary featuring an exclusive interview with the artist. The film will be exhibited alongside newspaper archives contextualising the Australian media’s response to Durrant’s most notorious works and the artist’s enduring fascination with playing the role of the larrikin.
The NGV will publish an exhibition catalogue featuring contributions by Australian playwright and actor Barry Dickins, writer and curator Rodney James, and NGV exhibition curator David Hurlston.
Ivan Durrant: Barrier Draw will be on display at The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia from 1 May to 25 October 2020. Free entry. Further information is available via the NGV website.
![“Groovier than anything on [previous album] Smell Smoke, swapping out the fiery theatrics for more of a simmer.” Stereogum “Hints of new wave rolled into tight little hooks and succinct, catchy verses.” Consequence of Sound “Either Light shows Vundabar graduating from being a buzzy indie-rock outfit to a group carving out their own lane” NYLON Vundabar are today sharing a new track, ‘Montage Music’ alongside an essay on Talkhouse by guitarist/singer Brandon Hagen, which explores the mythology of American life and culture through the symbology of cars. Hagen explains, "Montage Music is a meditation on the way capitalism takes beautiful cycles of birth, death and rebirth and makes them ugly by making future regenerations impossible. The song uses a car as the primary symbol for this as it exemplifies the unsustainable, though sometimes intoxicating, aspect of modern life. The narrator becomes fully engrossed in the vanities and demands of this life, and only at the end of the song notices a cloud of burning black smoke rising from tea being made without water, now impossible not to notice.” ‘Montage Music’ is from Vundabar's upcoming album, Either Light, out March 13th, 2020 on their own Gawk Records, and was released alongside a lyric video created by the band. It follows earlier singles ‘Petty Crime’ and ‘Burned Off’, which won praise from Stereogum, Consequence of Sound, NYLON, Under the Radar and more. Either Light is Vundabar’s fourth album, and their first with producer Patrick Hyland (Mitski). It is available for pre-order. Either Light follows Vundabar's critically acclaimed 2018 album Smell Smoke. The record received critical praise across the board, including Pitchfork ("a winning, cathartic album"), NPR ("spiky, caustic, fundamentally good-natured rock & roll"), Stereogum, FADER, Consequence of Sound, Paste, VICE, SPIN, Uproxx and more. Vundabar will kick off their North America headline tour in March. On the road they will be joined by a rotating cast of support including Great Grandpa, Boyscott, Ohmme, The Ophelias, Destroy Boys, Boyo and Dehd. For all press enquiries, please contact: katie@someonegreatpr.com Bio: Vundabar is a great guitar band. In an age where critics argue endlessly over whether or not the guitar is dead, the Boston band could clearly care less. Trends be damned, Vundabar continue to play and be who they are. Along the way they’ve sold out 1000+ cap rooms across the country, self-released and sold thousands of their records, and built a dedicated fan base for their quirky indie pop that follows them wherever they go. In March, Vundabar will release their fourth album, Either Light, on their own Gawk Records. “The album is about the transitional lightness that follows a period of heaviness” singer/guitarist Brandon Hagen explains, “After years of being caught up in a dark period marked by sickness, strife and worry, and using it as the context in which I saw myself, I suddenly found I'd outgrown that story. With that came a feeling of lightness that was opposite the feeling which preceded it.” The album’s title refers to that duality - “light” is used as a descriptor for the weight of feeling, the quality of illumination that frames that feeling and the spectrum that spans both. The songs themselves contain numerous symbols that are key to understanding the album’s central theme. There is an acknowledgement of awful circumstances, an acceptance of them, and the decision to move forward regardless. It’s a universal trope that rings especially true at this point in history. Cars, water and even Tony Soprano feature in the lyrics, each imbued with their own meaning relevant to Either Light’s themes. The paradox of being willfully doomed, which is arguable uniquely American, is embodied in Tony Soprano. Cars and driving appear continually in the lyrics, as songwriter Brandon Hagen explores the idea of being along for the ride, where the passenger isn’t necessarily in control. While writing the record, Hagen went swimming each day in a lake by his home. He was often struck by the relationship between light and water - how water divorces light from its source. The mysterious nature of refracted light and the sense of confusion it causes plays into the themes of the album as well as begs the question - from where and what? For Either Light, Vundabar worked with producer Patrick Hyland (producer for Mitski's Be the Cowboy, Puberty 2, Bury Me at Makeout Creek). It makes the first time they have ever had someone produce one of their albums. Their original bass player, Zackery Abramo, re-joined the group to play on the record, and Emily Massey from Slow Pulp contributed backing vocals. While in the past Vundabar’s recording process has always been very self contained, this album is notable for having had more people collaborating than ever before. Recorded at Gradwell House and Retro City Studios, Vundabar came in with the song skeletons and built out the arrangements in the studio. The difference is apparent and there are a host of new sounds on Either Light, including a sequencer, vibraphone, synth, drum machines, and more layered vocals than ever before.](https://thepartae.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/VUNDABAR-SHARE-UPLIFTING-NEW-TRACK-MONTAGE-MUSIC.jpg "VUNDABAR SHARE UPLIFTING NEW TRACK ‘MONTAGE MUSIC’")
