The proposal is to integrate a contemporary artwork that elevates our own national artistic heritage to the forefront of our Gallery where it belongs. It will promote equal recognition of first people’s art with that of all those who have come since and expanded the rich cultural legacy of Australian creative expression.
The neo-classical facades of the Gallery bear bronze names of European masters, which even at the time of instalment were controversial. This frieze will be reinvigorated by inserting names of Australian artists engraved in the sandstone itself.
Carving the lettering into the stone is at the same time, symbolically appropriate, subtle and easily differentiated. Appropriate; as the names of the Australian artists are embedded in the façade rather than added on. Subtle; because their appearance changes with the intensity of the shadows and, easily differentiated being in different materials, bronze v sandstone.
