An art gallery exhibition that looks at itself is only as interesting as the story it reflects.
Fortunately, in Shepparton Art Museum’s latest show, Stories from the Sam Collection, the story is as dynamic as it is engrossing, just like the river that flows past it.
In one of his first tasks since returning to SAM as head of curatorial programming and collections, Danny Lacy faced the mind-boggling challenge of sorting through more than 4000 items from the SAM collection to present a coherent journey across 88 years of acquisitions and donations.
So, we have the earliest acquisitions, two small quiet oil landscapes in the formal colonialist style of Fred McCubbin through to the more recent joyous and bold Aboriginal art from the donations of arts patrons Carrillo and Ziyin Gantner.
Along the way, we see the gilt-framed portraits of notable people, more landscapes and early abstractions, and the beginnings of SAM’s now-celebrated Australian ceramic collection in the 1970s.
What the display does, along with all great art, is reflect the changing cultural landscape in which it was made.
So in pre-war years, the art is conservative, white and homogenous, with no disruptive or confusing elements — just like Shepparton.
Post-war and into the ’60s we see abstraction appear, then in the ’70s artworks get busier, louder and more complicated just as the population of Shepparton increases and becomes more diverse.
Into the ’80s and ’90s, as Aboriginal art begins to make an appearance, and the ceramic collection increases with wilder and more experimental forms and shapes, Shepparton puts itself on the world map with increasing numbers of migrants and refugees who bring new colour and customs to the cultural landscape.
Through the 2000s and up to today, the exhibition features more Aboriginal works, reflecting the greater recognition and practice of our First Nations artists.
However, the centrepiece for me is Tony Tuckson’s abstract piece Untitled, which bounces off the wall every time I see it. On an intellectual level, it defies explanation because it’s just big blocks of roughly painted colour. It sits in the philistine’s category of “My five-year-old can do that”.
Yet, with its mix of the old and the new, its presence and energy are undeniable. It hits me in the solar plexus rather than the mind — much like a lot of Aboriginal art.
Mr Lacy called the piece ‘Our Blue Poles’ because of the negative reactions it provoked from civic leaders when then gallery director Peter Timms proposed buying it in 1975. Luckily for us, his artistic eye and persuasive talent won the day. Today, Tuckson is considered an Australian master and sits alongside his inspirations Mark Rothko and Jackson Pollock in the pantheon of great expressionist art.
Mr Lacy said he did not see the exhibition in purely linear terms stretching across the decades. He said different areas of the display had different coloured walls to illustrate different themes. He said the gallery on Level 2 of the SAM building would always be a place to display works from the collection, with zones rotating every few months to show different artworks.
“We want to champion and celebrate the permanent collection,” he said.
“Each work tells a story about the artist who made it, and how it came to be in the collection.”
For anyone interested in Shepparton and how we came to be the dynamic and diverse community we are today, Stories from the SAM Collection is a must-see.
John Lewis is a former journalist at The News.