Image: Pierre Auguste Renoir Tete de Venus, 1915. Bronze with black patina. State Art Collection, Art Gallery of Western Australia. Purchased with funds presented by Swan Portland Cement Ltd, 1980.

There Were Moments of Transformation explores the power and fragility of transformation through video, jewellery, glass, ceramics and sculpture. Featuring works by international artists including Auguste Rodin, Pierre-Auguste Renoir and William Kentridge alongside local pieces by WA artists such as Lucy Yukenbarri and Bethamy Linton, the exhibition asks you to consider through the creation of these works, how materials change, how they change us, and the world around us.

While the exhibition contains several key works from the State Art Collection such as Renoir’s Tete de Venus and Rodin’s 1880 bronze La Faunesse à genoux [Kneeling fauness], AGWA Curator of 19th Century Arts, Melissa Harpley explained the focus was on materiality, creative process and applying a different lens of looking at the transformative nature of art.

Image:  Mari Funaki Ring, 2006. 20k yellow gold. State Art Collection of Western Australia. Purchased through the Art Gallery of Western Australia Foundation: TomorrowFund, 2014.

“With this exhibition, we wanted to explore the process of transformation that occurs through art and the process of making works. Our approach lies in drawing out how materials are transformed as works are created, how artists engage and transform the environment during their development processes, and lastly how we are transformed, by the experience of considering process, the emotional response generated, and our connection to the works.” she continued.

All objects start with two things, an idea … and raw materials: clay, tin, copper, sand, wax, paper, steel. The process of bringing those two elements together leads to many questions connected to the idea of change.

There Were Moments of Transformation brings together 40 works of art from the State Art Collection, most of which have not travelled outside the Gallery before now. It includes works by Western Australian, Australian and International artists, made in media that range from traditional bronze casts to video-based, and with works made as early as 1880 and as recently as 2017.

This is an ART ON THE MOVE and Art Gallery of WA touring program developed as part of Freighting Ideas project.

This project has been made possible through the Regional Exhibition Touring Boost managed by the Department of Local Government Sport and Cultural Industries, supported by Royalties for Regions and delivered in partnership by ART ON THE MOVE and the Art Gallery of Western Australia.