On Country: Australian Aboriginal Art from the Kaplan-Levi Gift
At The Met Fifth Avenue
August 11–December 17, 2017
This exhibition features six spectacular works of contemporary art by leading Australian Aboriginal artists. Monumental in both scale and ambition, the paintings are part of a 2016 gift that introduces an electrifying new dimension into The Met's representation of global contemporary art. On Country: Australian Aboriginal Art from the Kaplan-Levi Gift explores aspects of nature and the elements—the flow of water, the shine or shimmer of rain and lightning—and their relationship to time and the ancestral landscape. Mastering dynamic resonance, or shimmer, and finding ways to capture it on canvas is a highly valued visual effect in Australian Aboriginal art, and one on which these Aboriginal artists have built international reputations.
"... this small delight of an exhibition should be required viewing." —Australian Book Review
The exhibition is made possible by The Modern Circle.
Read a Now at The Met interview with exhibition curator Maia Nuku to learn more about the works on view and the centuries-old art-making tradition they represent.
Gunybi Ganambarr (Australian, born Yirrkala, 1973). Buyku (detail), 2011. Ocher on incised laminate board, 35 7/8 x 71 1/4 in. (91 x 181 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Gift of Robert Kaplan and Margaret Levi, 2016
