Echo

The second major exhibition based on the TarraWarra Museum of Art collection, Echo, presents the works of modernist Australian painters in creative dialogue with selected pieces of decorative art and found objects. Each painting selected for the exhibition is paired with an object which references it in some way, whether formally, conceptually, or through their social or historical significance, demonstrating how creative parallels can occur even where objects have been made many years, or even cultures, apart. The objects cross all art forms and also include items not usually associated with art, craft or design, such as the folk art swan displayed alongside Sidney Nolan’s Leda and Swan, 1960, or the collection of 1950s hats which echo the one worn by Joy Hester’s Woman, 1955.

With objects loaned from private and public collections to complement paintings from the TWMA collection, Echo is designed to offer a personal, subjective response to the paintings in the collection and, thereby, provide new ways of engaging with some well-known and much-loved works of art. In turn, the audience was invited to proffer their own connections and suggestions for alternative readings of the social and art historical relevance of these works.