Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane, Australia - Queensland Art Gallery

Arlo MOUNTFORD
b.1978 England/Australia
Lives and works in Melbourne, Australia
Arlo Mountford makes digital animations that are often filled with art historical references. Habitually peopling his works
with stick figures who rummage through the canon of twentieth-century art, he embarked in 2007 on an ambitious project
to animate three paintings by Pieter Bruegel the Elder: The hunters in the snow 1565, The harvesters 1565 and
Landscape with the fall of Icarus c.1558. Mountford set in motion the action implied in each painting, which occurs
successively as the soundtrack leads the viewer’s attention from one animation to the next.
Moataz NASR
b.1969 Germany
Lives and works in San Francisco, United States
Moataz Nasr’s combines art and cultural activism to address pan-Arab issues, often using the language of global media
and communications. Nasr’s Propaganda fabric appliqué and embroidered wall hangings represent the design and
content of United States’ propaganda leaflets, distributed over Iraq and bordering nations prior to the beginning of the
second Gulf War. His re-use of propaganda materials in his art constitutes a vehicle through which we can consider the
use of language and image to violent ends, as well as the effects of indifference and ignorance. These messages are
transformed through Nasr’s use of appliqué — a longstanding artistic practice in Egypt. The detailing of leatherwork with
figurative appliqué and decorative stitching was considered one of the highest cultural forms in ancient Egypt, figuring in
both cosmogony and mythology.
Rivane NEUENSCHWANDER
b.1967 Brazil
Lives and works in Belo Horizonte, Brazil
Rivane Neuenschwander’s unique and multifaceted practice reflects on language, the natural world and the passing of
time. The recognition of her work Contingent 2008 that geographies are dependent on the rate of consumption is
particularly resonant at a time when the globalisation of industry and climate change has brought to the fore issues of
responsibility to the environment and to finite resources.
Chris OFILI
b.1968 England
Lives and works in London, England
Chris Ofili’s paintings, watercolours, and assemblages came to broad attention in the 1990s and he has continued to
paint and sculpt works that reflect on black culture and its portrayal. Early works featured characters from B-grade
‘blaxploitation’ films and funk, hip-hop and reggae music scenes. Ofili reworks them as politically engaged superheroes
expressing the need for change.
Julian OPIE
b.1958 England
Lives and works in London, England
Julian Opie is renowned for his highly simplified and effective visual language. Paradoxically, while his works employ a
high degree of abstraction and abbreviation to produce a figurative image, they often retain a strong connection to their
actual subjects. In discussing his processes, Opie has commented that 'my work isn't about paring things down but
about starting from something simple and building the image up until I achieve a kind of singularity'.