MEDIA KIT - Queensland Art Gallery - Queensland Government

SOLOMON ENOS
b. 1979 Wai’anae, Hawai'i, United States
Lives and works in Kalihi, Hawai'i, United States
Solomon Enos is a self-taught artist, illustrator and cultural activist. He conjures imaginative tales that convey his
interest in local history and issues of representation, with a focus on how historical readings are made. Polyfantastica
2006, is a futuristic storytelling project recounting 40 000 years of Hawai’ian history, developed in collaboration with
scholars from the Bishop Museum in Honolulu. Beautifully illustrated and divided into four 10 000-year epochs,
Polyfantastica calls forth associations of exploration and voyaging, grand battles and conquests, as well as diminishing
resources and land disputes. Drawing on Hawai’ian and wider Polynesian mythology, Enos’s intricate storyboards
feature fantastical characters battling and romancing against a dramatic backdrop of volcanic mountain ranges and
urban landscapes. Some are distinctively Hawai’ian, sporting leg tattoos, rain capes and customary weapons, while
others resemble sci-fi figures with fins for hands, bulbous anemone bodies and menacing teeth. Enos plays with nonlinear
narrative forms to blur the distinction between past and present, fact and fiction, while questioning the
subjectivity of how we see and interpret the world.
MONIR SHAHROUDY FARMANFARMAIAN
b.1924 Qazvin, Iran
Lives and works in Tehran, Iran
Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian is a senior figure in contemporary Iranian art, with a distinguished career spanning
over 50 years. Farmanfarmaian spent many years living in New York as an art student and later as a fashion illustrator
at department store Bonwit Teller, where she worked alongside Andy Warhol. She returned to Iran in the 1960s and
established herself as an artist, holding major exhibitions in Tehran, Paris, Venice and New York. After the Islamic
Revolution of 1979, she took refuge in New York, returning to Tehran in 2000 where she continues to work today. Her
distinctive aesthetic translates Persian pictorial language into modern forms by combining mirror mosaic and reverse
glass painting techniques with contemporary abstract styles. Her shimmering installations draw upon Islamic geometric
patterning, Sufi symbolism, symmetry and traditional craftsmanship. Farmanfarmaian is creating a major six-panel
mirror mosaic work for APT6, based on the form of the hexagon, reflecting the six virtues of generosity, self-discipline,
patience, determination, insight, and compassion.
Exhibitions (solo): Leighton House Museum, London, UK, 2008; The Third Line, Dubai, UAE, 2007; Victoria and Albert
Museum, London, 2006. Exhibitions (group): ‘East-West Divan’, 53rd Biennale of Venice, 2009; ‘The Power of the
Ornament’, Belvedere, Vienna, Austria, 2008; Biennale of Venice, 1964 and 1958.
SUBODH GUPTA
b.1964 Khagaul, Bihar, India
Lives and works in Gurgaon, Haryana, India
One of India’s most prominent contemporary artists, Subodh Gupta works in a wide range of mediums, including
painting, installation, photography, video and performance. He is perhaps best known for his large sculptures
constructed from dozens of stainless-steel and copper utensils, which translate the conceptual art format of the
readymade into a rich exploration of everyday life in India and shifting notions of artistic and economic value. Born in
the predominantly rural state of Bihar in central India — renowned as a traditional centre of Buddhist learning — Gupta
now lives in the rapidly growing city of Gurgaon, a satellite of New Delhi. His works draw upon the everyday products
and materials of Indian village life, such as milk buckets, cow dung and kitchen utensils, and often reference utility,
travel and mobility — evident in his bronze cast sculptures of motorbikes, taxis and bundles of luggage. Gupta will
present several major sculptures in APT6, including Line of Control 2008, an enormous mushroom cloud formed from
brass utensils, shifting an image of destruction into one of explosive abundance. Through his seductive use of
materials and interest in spectacle and excess, Gupta’s work reveals the contradictions and tensions that exist in India
today as it fluctuates between tradition and modernity, rural and urban life, and poverty and wealth.
Exhibitions (solo): Hauser & Wirth, London, UK, 2009; Arario Gallery, Beijing, China, 2008; Baltic, Gateshead, UK,
2008. Exhibitions (group): ‘Altermodern’, Tate Triennial, Tate Britain, London, 2009; ‘Indian Highway’, Serpentine
Gallery, London, 2008; 51st Biennale of Venice, Italy, 2005.