When Rodney Pople’s 2012 entry won the Glover Prize, it made national news.
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Port Arthur, which depicts Martin Bryant from the 1996 massacre, was viewed as a controversial choice, but one that has since received recognition outside of the state.
This year, Pople was announced as a Glover Prize finalist with a work he described as “not in the same vein” [as Port Arthur].
“It has a poignant point to it.”
The work will be displayed when the Glover Prize exhibition opens to the public on March 10.
Until then, Pople said the work juxtaposed characters to comment on ideas around colonisation, contested histories and the command of the natural over the human world.
It wouldn’t perhaps spark the headlines in the same way as its winning predecessor, but Pople said he hoped it would foster important discussions.
The attention from his 2012 Glover winner was unexpected, even six years later.
“I don’t want to be known as controversial for the sake of it.”
Instead he wanted to challenge people’s perceptions as art has a role to discuss difficult issues, Pople said.
“They can’t remain buried … art puts [them] into the open and let’s people discuss issues.”
Many well-known artworks started out as controversial before society began to develop and appreciate the works for the conversations they started, he said.
Pople would never be satisfied producing artwork simply to sell, he said. “A lot of my paintings challenge the conventional view of ... Tasmania.”
Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre acting curator Lizzy Marshall negotiated with the Glover Society to include the Pople piece in her exhibition Cultural Landscapes in Sydney.
The painting was important to Tasmania’s history and cultural landscape, Marshall said.
Art has enormous power to create discussions, she said. “I’m passionate about the industry and the capacity of art to convey ideas whether we are comfortable [with them] or not.”
The artwork explored the cultural impacts humans have had on the landscape, she said.
She was excited to see the reaction to the Pople work in Sydney, which will be on show until March 18.
Viewers from the city would still gain from looking at the Tasmanian work, she said.
“Art can transfer ideas that are beyond geography.”
Once the focus had been to foster work that showed our differences, Marshall said.
“Now we look at what binds us and keeps us together.”
- The Glover Prize exhibition will open from March 10 to 18 at Falls Park Pavillion in Evandale. The prize winner will be announced on March 9.
Tess Brunton
I recently returned from across the ditch where I worked at New Zealand Fairfax paper The Timaru Herald and developed a love of mountains. Originally I'm a mainlander from an area known for cheese, the Bega Valley, who also dabbled in radio at ABC RCAFF before finding a place in newspapers. I can often be found hiking, caving or climbing when I'm not cursing at my work computer or technology in general.
I recently returned from across the ditch where I worked at New Zealand Fairfax paper The Timaru Herald and developed a love of mountains. Originally I'm a mainlander from an area known for cheese, the Bega Valley, who also dabbled in radio at ABC RCAFF before finding a place in newspapers. I can often be found hiking, caving or climbing when I'm not cursing at my work computer or technology in general.
