For years I have viewed the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery (TMAG) as a place to visit for its quirky objects, lumpy renderings of prehistoric marsupials and skilfully taxidermied road kill arranged in pseudo realistic habitats. Its majestic interiors draped in muted hues and antiquated carpet echo an era long before the ipod left its blueprint. Kicking off from university as a young arts writer, it was not a place I visited for contemporary art.
Attacking this problem head-on, in 2004 the TMAG joined forces with Contemporary Art Services Tasmania (CAST) to curate a series of exhibitions exploring the breadth of Tasmanian contemporary art. ‘Group Material’ 2004 centred on artists who use mundane and familiar objects while ‘Acidophilus’ 2005 invited participants to create work directly responding to selected objects from the TMAG’s permanent collection. Each exhibition has built on the success of its predecessor and this year’s offering was no exception.
‘Register: Tasmanian Artists 2006’ presents the work of ten artists loosely linked by their focus on process and the considered development of an idea over time. Co-curated by Craig Judd, Senior Curator of Art at the TMAG and Michael Edwards, Director of CAST, ‘Register’ stretches over two galleries to encompass a range of sculpture, painting, photography, installation and video.
While the previous projects with CAST have included artists repeatedly seen on the Tasmanian exhibition circuit, this collaboration between Judd and Edwards creates a generous space for new artists to step up to the podium. Immediately garnering attention is a suite of nine black and white photographs by Burnie-based artist Lisa Garland. Capturing in portrait form the enduring personalities found in her hometown, Garland’s large-scale images reflect the sincere reverence