Saatchi Gallery in Adelaide: British Art Now

Venue: Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide
Dates: To 23 October 2011
Cost: Adult $20; Concession $15; Members $12;
Students $10; Children (under 14 years) Free

Click on the image for a larger view

The Art Gallery of South Australia is currently showing 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 is 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 said. ‘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 showcases works from its collection by over 40 of the UK’s most important and challenging emerging contemporary artists, and occupies over half of the Gallery.

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. ‘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 said.

‘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’.

Saatchi Gallery in Adelaide: British Art Now will give Australians the once-in-a-lifetime chance to experience the best of cutting-edge, ground-breaking British art here in their own backyard.

Works in the exhibition include installation, assemblages, painting, sculpture, drawing, photography and printmaking.

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.

In conjunction with Saatchi Gallery in Adelaide: British Art Now, the Art Gallery of South Australia will also be exhibiting Tracey Emin’s ‘My Bed’. This is an incredibly rare opportunity for Australian audiences to see one of the most iconic works of art from the twentieth century, a work which fundamentally changed the cultural landscape and altered the direction of British art into the next decade.

‘My Bed’, a major work by one of the most renowned Young British Artists, illustrates the influence and importance of Charles Saatchi as a collector and promoter of British contemporary art. The value and excitement of Saatchi Gallery in Adelaide lies in the ‘of the moment’ aspect of the artists and works exhibited. It is anticipated that this ‘unknown’ element of the exhibition will challenge and provoke audiences to talk about the nature and importance of art, and the future direction of British art. Including My Bed in the exhibition is a way of prompting audiences to consider who will be the next Tracey Emin or Damien Hirst and demonstrating that they are witness to new movements in British art.

In addition, the AGSA and Adelaide Film Festival are presenting BRITFILM, showing the best of British filmmaking from the last decade. The program, specially curated by AFF Festival Director Katrina Sedgwick, will be an exclusive addition to Saatchi Gallery in Adelaide: British
Art Now.

Image: Maurizio Anzeri, Giovanni, 2009
photographic print with embroidery, 51 x 41 cm
Courtesy of the Saatchi Gallery, London
© Maurizio Anzeri, 2010