Polymorphous - Polly Borland: Polyverse
DATES: 28 September 2018 – 3 February 2019
LOCATION: NGV Australia: The Ian Potter Centre at Federation Square
WEBSITE: https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/exhibition/polly-borland/
FREE
Polly Borland celebrated in new exhibition featuring her iconic images of The Queen, Nick Cave and Gwendoline Christie. The National Gallery of Victoria presents an exhibition of new and recent work by renowned Australian artist Polly Borland, who is famed for her beguiling photographs of noted figures, including Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, musician Nick Cave and actress Gwendoline Christie.
The exhibition includes 60 works spanning the last 10 years and reveals Borland’s celebrated ability to render the body in alluring, enigmatic and surreal compositions, often inviting the viewer to see the human form in unfamiliar ways. A new tapestry work of Borland’s celebrated photograph of The Queen, taken for Her Majesty’s Golden Jubilee in 2002, is a highlight of the exhibition. The tapestry was created in collaboration with Fine Cell Work, an English prisoner’s advocacy organisation that trains prisoners to undertake paid, skilled needlework from their cells. A further selection of tapestries based on Borland’s photographs are on display, presented double-sided to allow viewers to admire both the composition and highly skilled construction of the work.
The exhibition also includes works from several of Borland’s recent series, including Bunny, in which Gwendoline Christie’s distorted figure is used to subvert the idea of a Playboy bunny girl, and the carnivalesque Smudge featuring Nick Cave, in which her subjects – disguised by garish wigs, stockings and make-up – oscillate between the masculine and feminine, fantasy and reality. In a mesmerising large-scale display, Borland showcases a new series of large lenticular works, taking the illusive quality of her portraits to new, three-dimensional scales. A never-before-seen body of new work, Morph, created especially for the NGV exhibition, is also on display.
‘Borland shoots on film, taking many rolls to achieve the final images, and never altering the works in post-production. The works reveal Borland’s finely crafted skill for capturing uncanny moments that stretch our understanding of the human body,’ said Tony Ellwood, Director, NGV. Further information is available from the NGV website: NGV.MELBOURNE
Bohemian Rhapsody Club and Magazine is proud to officially cover this exhibition (media: Susan Reynolds) Please stay tuned for more information coming up soon.