Hello Dollies

Presents a range of artwork by accomplished artists who, within their practice, have identified with this potent symbolic resonance. The exhibition features a work by celebrated Australian artist Joy Hester, whose poignant series of paintings depicting Gethsemane, a doll belonging to childless art patron Sunday Reed, a seminal work that underpin the exhibition’s focus on dolls as human substitutes and holders of desires, fears and fantasies.

Over twenty artists have been selected for this exhibition with work dating from the 1940s until the present day. Hello Dollies is a thorough exploration of the doll showcasing artwork across diverse mediums including a life size woolen knitted sculpture, intricate pen drawings, photography, painting, assemblages and projection. Exhibition Curator Dr Shirley Daborn states:

when I started research for Hello Dollies everyone said what a great idea for a show and I think this is because the doll represents the complexities contained in each and every one of us.

The doll in Destiny Deacon’s work is a politically charged personality. These black dolls are invested with an Aboriginal identity role-playing hardships and stereotypical identities within a fully orchestrated mise-en-scene. Deacon states:

Humour cuts deep. I like to think that there’s a laugh and a tear in each picture.

Adrienne Doig commissioned ten craftswomen around the world to create a doll in her likeness, dressed in a replica outfit. Relying on photographs, each doll-maker’s portrait of the artist displays a shared likeness but also reveals variations in their perception of her appearance. Adrienne states:

The work is self-portraiture but the imagery is a bit fantastical really… they don’t show just what I physically look like, I think they really do say something about me, about the kind of person that I am.

Creating varied narratives, Di Holdsworth’s kinetic assemblages are functioning music boxes whose characters are animated by turning a handle.

As a child my introduction to myths and fairy tales was essentially through television. My gods and goddesses, heroes and villains came from old Hollywood movies and American television shows.

Come and enjoy the variety of artwork on show and be inspired by these silent reminders of childhood.

Exhibiting Artists include: Peter Baka, Penny Byrne, Gunter Christmann, Will Coles, Matt Coyle, Destiny Deacon, Adrienne Doig, Fiona Fenech, Rosalie Gascoigne, Barbara Hanrahan, Joy Hester, Di Holdsworth, Linde Ivimey, Kate Just, Deborah Kelly, Alasdair Macintyre, Tracey Moffatt, Mirka Mora, Janet Parker-Smith, Joan Ross, Sally Smart, and Peter Spilsbury. Also included is a variety of exquisite miniature doll tableaux’s.