Saatchi Gallery in Adelaide: British Art Now at The Art Gallery of South Australia (2011) (press release)

Press Release

Photo of Charles Saatchi.

ADELAIDE SET TO HOST SAATCHI GALLERY MAJOR SURVEY

30 July - 23 October 2011

The Art Gallery of South Australia will mount its largest exhibition ever this year – an Australian-exclusive survey, straight from London’s internationally acclaimed Saatchi Gallery.

Art Gallery of South Australia Director, Nick Mitzevich, says that Saatchi Gallery in Adelaide: British Art Now will be the largest exhibition of British contemporary art shown in over a decade in Australia, and the first by the Saatchi Gallery to visit our shores.

‘The Art Gallery of South Australia will be the only Australian venue to display and celebrate this must-see exhibition, curated by the Saatchi Gallery’s team, which is set to engage and fascinate the Australian art audience’, Mr Mitzevich says.

‘The high profile Saatchi Gallery has been arguably the biggest influence on contemporary British art during the past 25 years, and has spectacularly succeeded in its aim to bring contemporary art to the widest audience possible’.

‘British Art Now will showcase works from its collection by over 40 of the UK’s most important and challenging emerging contemporary artists, and will occupy over half of the Gallery space when it goes on show for three months from July.’

Saatchi Gallery Chief Executive Nigel Hurst says that Saatchi Gallery in Adelaide and the Saatchi Gallery’s collaboration with the city of Adelaide and the Art Gallery of South Australia, presents a wonderful opportunity to bring contemporary British art in the Saatchi Gallery’s collection to a new audience.

Spartacus Chetwynd. The Lizard (detail), (2004). Fabric, latex, cardboard, paint, plastic and hessian. 170 x 100 x 60 cm; Courtesy of the Saatchi Gallery, London. © Spartacus Chetwynd, 2011.

‘This is the very first time in Australia for the Saatchi Gallery and this young group of artists. The Art Gallery of South Australia is clearly embracing contemporary art and this exhibition seems like a very natural meeting of hearts and minds’, Mr Hurst says.

‘Saatchi Gallery in Adelaide is a large survey of work by an exciting group of young artists who have recently emerged in the UK. This new generation of artists produces work that provides an arresting insight into the future of contemporary art in Britain’.

The Saatchi Gallery in Adelaide: British Art Now will further cement the Art Gallery’s position as a centre of cultural innovation, and give Australians the once-in-a-lifetime chance to experience the best of cutting-edge, ground-breaking British art here in their own backyard.

‘I am thrilled the Gallery has successfully realised its ambitious vision of bringing this exhibition exclusively to Adelaide, and acknowledge the South Australian Government for its support through the new Major Exhibitions Fund, Tourism Australia, South Australian Tourism Commission and Events South Australia’, says Michael Abbott, AO, QC, Chairman, Art Gallery of South Australia Board.

‘I am also very happy to announce that ANZ, Robert Walters, Qantas and M&C Saatchi have come on board as sponsors of this exhibition. I congratulate these companies for their commitment to supporting contemporary art’.

MEDIA CONTACTS
Marketing & Communications Department, Art Gallery of South Australia, Marika Lucas, Senior Publicist [...]

Fact Sheet: Exhibition summary

> Saatchi Gallery in Adelaide: British Art Now is a dynamic and audacious visual arts program pulling together the best of contemporary British art by artists showcased by the acclaimed and controversial Saatchi Gallery, London.

> The exhibition, to be curated by the Saatchi Gallery’s team, will feature works by more than 40 of the UK’s most important and challenging emerging contemporary artists.

> Saatchi Gallery in Adelaide: British Art Now will show at the Art Gallery of South Australia from 29 July – 23 October 2011.

> The works in the exhibition include installation, assemblages, painting, sculpture, drawing, photography and printmaking.

> The acclaimed Saatchi Gallery is at the forefront of contemporary art, highly regarded for its breadth, focus and excellence.

> The Saatchi Gallery has been arguably the biggest influence on contemporary British art during the past 25 years, and has launched the careers of the likes of Damien Hirst, Jenny Saville, Sarah Lucas, Gavin Turk, Jake and Dinos Chapman and Rachel Whiteread through its exhibitions.

> This will be the first time the Saatchi Gallery’s collection has ever been exhibited in Australia.

> This is the largest exhibition of British contemporary art shown in over a decade in Australia.

> The Saatchi Gallery in Adelaide: British Art Now will be exhibited exclusively in Adelaide, South Australia.

> British Art is the nucleus of the Art Gallery of South Australia’s European collection, and the Saatchi Gallery in Adelaide: British Art Now provides an incredibly rare opportunity to engage Australian audiences with the new generation of UK artists through their cutting-edge works.

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