Safe Space contemporary sculpture touring exhibition at Toowoomba Regional Art Gallery

A major touring exhibition of contemporary sculpture showcasing the works of 12 acclaimed Australian artists is on display at Toowoomba Regional Art Gallery until February 2, 2020.

Toowoomba Regional Council Library and Cultural Services portfolio leader Cr Joe Ramia said the Gallery was proud to present Safe Space, which featured the works of Australian artists Abdul-Rahman Abdullah, Alex Seton, Claire Healy and Sean Cordeiro, David Cross, Franz Ehmann, Karla Dickens, Keg de Souza, Michelle Nikou, Rosie Miller, Tim Sterling and Will French.

Featuring a diversity of sculptural materials, techniques and scale, Safe Space explores different notions of space — abstract or real, physical, psychological, political and social — to spark the viewer’s curiosity.

Many of the exhibition’s works take as their point of departure the human body: its dimensions, the spaces it occupies, the narratives that contain it and the theatre or spectacle that unfolds around it.

Exhibition Curator Christine Morrow said the title of the exhibition coaxed viewers to consider the ways these artworks engaged the themes of safety and its lack; space in all its rich possibility and, perhaps unexpectedly, in all its difficulty.

“Sculpture is conventionally defined by the way it occupies three dimensions. Yet these works project into other psychological and cultural dimensions; those that cannot be contained within the physical realm,” she said.

Museums & Galleries Queensland’s Executive Director Rebekah Butler said Museums & Galleries Queensland was committed to developing and presenting high-quality, diverse touring exhibitions — Safe Space is no exception.

“We trust audiences will enjoy engaging with this thought-provoking, diverse, often playful, sometimes confronting exploration of Safe Space.”

Safe Space will be displayed at Toowoomba Regional Art Gallery as a part of its national tour to regional and metropolitan centres in Queensland, New South Wales, South Australia, Tasmania and Victoria.

A twilight tour will be held at 5.30pm on Thursday, January 16 to explore the exhibition more intimately.

Keg de Souza, one of the contemporary artists, will be delivering two free Star Story Art workshops on Thursday, January 9 at the Toowoomba Regional Art Gallery. Bookings are essential, please call 131 872 to confirm.

Cr Ramia said the Gallery was pleased to offer residents a major summer holiday season attraction following on from last year’s highly popular exhibition, Bill Bolton’s Vision – 60 Years On, which featured works of national significance that were collected by Toowoomba entrepreneur and philanthropist, the late W. R. F. (Bill) Bolton MBE (1905-1973) and his late wife, Marion.

“Toowoomba Regional Art Gallery is fortunate to host another national touring exhibition that offers residents a chance to see the creations of some of the country’s leading sculptors,” Cr Ramia said.

Image: Claire HEALY and Sean CORDEIRO / Downstairs dining room – Octopus 2014 / Lego, IKEA chair and plant with hanger / 96 × 100 × 72 cm / Photograph by Ivan Bulijan / Image courtesy of the artists and Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery / Reproduced by kind permission