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Twelve Degrees of Latitude

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Gallery 1 February 12 - April 3, 2011

Queensland is home to a growing network of about 80 regional and public galleries, many of which hold collections of local, state and national significance. Twelve Degrees of Latitude is an important tribute to the outstanding contribution our State’s regional galleries and collecting institutions make to our social, economic and cultural wellbeing. They are a vast treasure house of cultural assets for the state of Queensland, collectively holding over 30,000 works of art.
 
The title of the exhibition Twelve Degrees of Latitude refers geographically to the approximate distance in degrees of south latitude from the northern most participating public regional gallery in Queensland to the southernmost. The exhibition title also references the many degrees of latitude artists apply when making artworks and alludes to the similarities and differences among regional and university galleries, Collections, policies and communities.
 
Co-curated by Bettina MacAulay and Brett Adlington for Queensland’s 150th year,Twelve Degrees of Latitude features major Australian, Indigenous, Pacific and European artwork dating from the 17th to the 21st century. The exhibition contains a range of visually spectacular small and large-scale wall works, three-dimensional, experimental and freestanding works, including works by leading Queensland artists, many of whom have come to define our understanding of Queensland such as William Robinson, Vida Lahey, Scott Redford and Kenneth McQueen.
 
The selection reveals some frequently observable Queensland characteristics such as a sense of place in 19th Century landscapes which is generally civic or communal, rather than a projection of ownership or antipodean preening for European views which is commonly seen in large oil paintings from southern Australia. There is a vein of broad humour with laconic and quirky elements in some of these early works.