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For many, the Gold Coast exists in the greater Australian consciousness as the destination for a multitude of childhood, caravan beach holidays, of sand in the sheets, motel dinners and oddly shaped sunburn. For others it remains a bastion of eighties glamour and excess, of white shoes and gold accessories, and shady business deals––a monument to bad taste in the absence of an ironic love for kitsch, and worse, the last frontier of parochialism. The Gold Coast is torn between its national role as the capital of awkward nostalgia, and its reputation as a playground for the filthy rich and culturally challenged. As the millennium approaches, it would be difficult to find a city more resolutely confident in the knowledge of its importance in the grand scheme of all things Australian (well, they do get the lndy Carnival, and they still have Meter Maids). So much so, that the terminally hip, Gold Coast bound tourist for whom the obligatory stay at the ironically kitsch Pink Poodle Motel is de rigueur, could be forgiven for thinking that not much has changed in the 'Venice of Australia' (according to a 1970s' canal frontage property push).
But much has changed. The city is becoming just that, a city with traffic problems, faux celebrities and employment opportunities. In the past, Coast artists have found it necessary to look to Brisbane for a successful commercial show, but a new space at Currumbin is taking the initiative, and is offering local artists a new venue with an emphasis on the contemporary. Pandanus Art is owned and run by Fran Cummings (with her business partner Susie Briggs), who is well known in local art circles for her