Art beat of the Coast
A PORTRAIT of the Gold Coast made entirely from lace, a “living sculpture” of edible plants and a homage to the city’s iconic lifeguard towers – HOTA’s Gallery is just days from opening its doors.
Nineteen major commissions by Australian artists will be unveiled as part of the first exhibition in the gallery, to officially open on Saturday.
Among commissions for Solid Gold: Artists from Paradise is Gold Coast-based ceramist Claudia De Salvo, presenting 100 clay “vessels” on a large plinth filled with water. She has displayed work at Swell Sculpture Festival and in galleries across Australia.
HOTA CEO Criena Gehrke said: “You don’t get to call yourself Home of the Arts without having a deep commitment to local artists. The Gold Coast has a rich history of innovation and creativity, so it’s absolutely fitting we’re putting our local talent front and centre in the first-ever exhibition.”
From Monday, the gallery is open to the public and free to visit from 10am, but bookings are required.
Information on the 2021 exhibition program can be found at hota.com.au.
Commissioned artworks presented in Solid Gold: Artists from
Paradise include:
• Torres Strait Islander artist Lisa Sorbie Martin’s suspended sculpture will be installed in the new gallery’s 11mhigh foyer. Created with 120 fibreoptic strands, the luminous work will remain for the year.
• Melbourne-based artist Jason Haggerty will relay real-time wave data from the region’s coastline to create a hypnotic digital installation spanning 14 metres.
• Ali Bezer’s practice explores the experience of sound processed as image and has created an 8m aluminiumand-bitumen sculpture, coated in blue and silver, to represent the repetitive sound of the ocean at shore break.
• Japanese-Australian artist Hiromi Tango will present a new immersive installation with the colours of the rainbow looping out over the visitor.
• In the parkland around the gallery, Gold Coast artist Erica Gray will present a series of soft sculptural forms using textiles to represent corals and other elements of the coastline.
• Quandamooka artist Libby Harward will explore water systems and sovereignty in a new film work, positioning herself among pipes and hoses against a background of mangrove and tea tree swamp muds from Gold Coast wetlands.