Brook Andrew

A gentle and meditative exhibition, “seeing time” was in that way slightly uncharacteristic for its maker, Wiradjuri and Celtic Australian artist, writer, and curator Brook Andrew. Across the course of his nearly three-decade career, Andrew has confronted many aspects of colonial trauma head-on. For instance, in 2016 he made with Trent Walter a public memorial to Indigenous warriors Tunnerminnerwait and Maulboyheenner, who were executed in Melbourne in 1842. Many of Andrew’s works address the museological holdings of ancestral human remains and ceremonial objects. They frequently include items from the vast archive of historical images and objects he has collected. Conspicuously devoid of such references, the large-format square canvases in “seeing time” offered a more open and reflective space for contemplation and for the experience and registration of time. This turn to abstraction may reflect the sense in which, in 2021 as opposed to earlier in the artist’s career, all the world’s museums now appear to be striving to decolonize, thereby allowing Andrew to zoom out and capture a bigger picture. – Helen Hughes, Artforum, 2022

 

18 Lives in Paradise (the installation) 2011
Installation view Artspace, Sydney
18 Lives in Paradise (the installation) 2011
Installation view Artspace, Sydney
Loop. A Model of how the world operates 2008
Installation view Museum of Contemporary Art, Australia
Palestinians serenade survivors in Israel 2009
Screen print on hand made shiro mashi 3-gou Japanese paper
212 x 151 cm
How did Obama win over white blue collar Levittown 2009
Screen print on hand made shiro mashi 3-gou Japanese paper
212 x 151 cm
Bomb Blast Kills Tourist Near Bazaar In Cairo 2009
Lithograph with chine collé on Japanese paper
48 x 55 cm
Leaders highlight the crisis-prevention role of an institution 2009
Lithograph with chine collé on Zerkall paper
48 x 55 cm
Edition of 5
Legions of War Widows Face Dire Need in Iraq 2009
Woodblock print on hand-made kikuban hankusa kouzosi tansyoku Japanese paper
97 x 67 cm